To kill or not to kill that is the cat's question

Max: a black and white, dominant, A type personality, hunter, lover, demander of nightly or naptime attention, patient with young children animal, missing 8 teeth from a 500 surgery I never thought I would have spent, only pet in my household cat.

I have had my cat Max since late 2005. He is approx 9 years old. I would have to consult his paperwork to confirm or deny the accuracy of that statement. He was actually purchased from a rescue group for a friend of mine living on her own as an 18 year old mom with a mouse problem. She turned out not being a cat person so catless as we were he became ours. He is an great cat, putting up with #4's sometimes bothersome activities, the stress of a not so quiet house and my lack of attention during the daytime hours. There is however one small negative aspect of his personality and that is he WILL NOT tolerate ANY other cats. Dogs have a limited amount of tolerance as well. I think he only allows that because Bear (my parent's dog who lives next door) rarely stays for longer than an hour at a time, and Sugar (my FIL's dog) is here a weekend a year if that.
We have been a shelter for a lost, or stray animal a time or two. The cats found themselves attacked through one or in another situation 2 doors, hissing and spitting was Max. We debated keeping a adorable and sweet kitten that found its way here but on the 3rd day he bopped it with his paw, but was kind enough to keep the claws in. I took that as my warning it wasn't gonna get better. I suppose I could have spent the days/weeks acclimating the two but really who has the time for that with all these kids? Nah, as #1 says when he passes on (I believe his word was dies) we will get another pet. Until then it is fish or nada. Can you see the tear about not having anything ELSE to take care of? I thought not, LOL.
Well, a year maybe a tad more ago Max caught a bird on the deck, carried it into a giant fridgerator box my friend Amy acquired for my kids and ate its head. Yes, folks ate its HEAD! Ewwwwwww! We were not home at the time so as my present (anyone who knows cats knows that they leave you a gift from their hard work), he left the headless body in my closet. The bad part was I did not find it when I came home and discovered the bloody floor and box. He did not show it to me when I inspected him for the source of the blood, or asked him about the sole feather that surfaced. Can you believe he did not answer me? Huh, the nerve of my feline resident after all the feeding, and caring I do for him.
I found the bird as I putting laundry away and nearly stepped on it, screeching loud enough to draw a crowd of 6 kids in the house. By the time they reached me I was laughing hysterically, more so from their confusion then their disgust of awareness. Cats are great, kids are even better.
Until today I thought that was my best Max story. Sure he did several other silly things along the timeline he has been in our home but ya know apathy I guess. We no longer have a bird feeder on the deck so birds rarely sit on the ledge. I still let Max make his outside rounds in the am hours. It is our routine. I leave the door open to remind everyone in the house he is out there. Eating breakfast enjoying a moment here on the computer (all things that NEVER happen in the am), I awaited AA's arrival. I have a good view of the deck minus the blind or two in the way. Yet, I was paying little attention to the outside happenings. I heard the garage door open and AA/his dad making their way to the kitchen. I get up to greet them when I look down and see Max stopped in between the 3 of us near the wall. There is more black on his cheek than normal, maybe even something stuck on his face but before I can get a better look he darts around the corner and into my room. It was about that long a second or two for my mind to register there isn't something stuck on his face but something in his mouth..a BIRD! I make eye contact with AA's dad and say, "He has a bird!" running past them both and into my room. Max has not made it far and willingly drops it when I grab him. He allows me to pick him up and swiftly take him to the bathroom, shutting the door. Killer aside I move back to the bird, now a gathering of the 5 other people in the house as onlookers. I retrieve a paper towel not sure if there is any reason I cannot touch this bird. It remains unmoved, stunned only blinking it eyes while I carry it outside and set down on the table. Meanwhile I ask my oldest son to call Gma for assistance fearing the animal is maimed in some way and unsure how to humanly put it out of its misery. I listen while grabbing my camera because well all scrapbookers want to capture the moment and snap a picture. I hear him screaming into the phone send Gma now, over and over until the message is understood, chuckle at the extreme of his request. I go back to taking the pic. I suppose the flash snapped it out of its trance because off it flew making me jump. Gma appears and provides the quite obvious words it was in shock rather than hurt, uh duh I think. I am sooo not the bird whisperer here. But thank the good Lord all ended well and made for a funny story to tell:)
Hopefully this will be the end of these antics for Max, but something tells me there with be a part 3 someday. May the force be with all the brave birds who arrive on our property. PS the neighbors (aka parents) have a black and white killer too. Except theirs goes outside for real not just on the deck....