Like this?
A small lizard woudn't do it. A stuffed big cat... that freaks them out.
We live sorta harsh around here. They were with me when I did the mountain man thing. And the catz did the 'hunting chuckle' thing catz do when a 2000 lb bull wandered up onto the front porch. Took me a minute to clear my eyes and figure out it wasn't a mouse or a blue jay.
I bring parts of large dead critters into the house weekly. They expect that from me.
One of their own? Not so cool.
/johnny