High-flying feline clashes with doves

Meet Miko, Teresa and Russ’s daring and deceptively dog-like feline friend

At the height of the pandemic, Teresa and Russ L. were faring just fine with lockdown boredom. Their kids, though, were a different story.

Bored out of their minds, they begged for a cat—even coming prepared with a presentation for their parents. Purr-suaded at last, the couple decided it was a good time to take the pet plunge. They adopted their first cat, Moka, and because one cat is never enough, added Miko to their family shortly after.

Teresa always had dogs, so the adjustment to not one but two kittens was daunting at first. Fortunately for her, Miko was more canine than your average feline.

“He's as close to a dog as you're going to get with a cat. He's basically a puppy. You tell him to come, and he comes. The only thing he doesn't do is fetch, but I'm sure we can train him,” she laughs.

Teresa and Russ built a little haven for the cats to safely lounge and enjoy the outdoors on their patio (now renamed the “catio” in their honor.) Everything was going perfectly for the kitties until one morning, when a winged intruder landed unannounced on their turf—leading to a fateful leap and this Hambone-nominated feline fiasco.

What happened?

“Around 10 in the morning, I’m downstairs getting the baby fed and ready,” Teresa recalls. “Russ texts me like, ‘Hey, I'm on a work call right now. Can you come and check on Miko? He's pawing at his face. I think he got hurt or something.’ So, I run upstairs.”

Teresa was surprised by what she found. “I [could] see blood coming down from his eye,” she says. “Like a tear of blood … I could see very visibly that something had poked him, because there was a chunk of fur missing.”

Not sure what happened to their kitty, Teresa decided to take Miko to the veterinarian. Meanwhile, Russ was hard at work solving the mystery.

Teresa continues, “While I'm [at the veterinarian], my husband's texting. He says, ‘Hey, I think I found footage of what happened,’ because we have security cameras in the yard.”

A pair of doves had apparently started a nest that day in a hanging planter near the catio. Miko had spotted the flying squatters and made an impressive leap to catch one of the birds—by all estimations, between six and seven feet off the ground. During this mighty hop, he received a bite from the escaping dove, which caused his injury.

Luckily, the veterinarian said Miko only had a minor cut that didn’t require stitches (they were impressed with his vertical leap, however). Soon, he was back home lounging on the sofa.

How Nationwide helped

Miko wasn’t seriously harmed during his wildlife encounter, but Teresa and Russ were ready for the unexpected, nonetheless.

She says, “I’m that person recommending pet insurance. I'm sure I sound a little funny to some folks, but I don't care.”

The family got Nationwide pet insurance for their pets to get a little financial peace of mind.

She continues, “Financially it's been such a great relief to be honest, and I'm not even exaggerating. [Knowing] that we were going to get reimbursed and [can] afford to help them in the moment that they needed help with the vet has been great.… If we can buy a coffee every week, we can [afford to] pay for pet insurance for the month.”