Invoking a method with in a method with out createing a new instance of an object?

Question

I have a button that adds to a panel that adds to a frame. Now when I click this button I want it to call the method eat() which is a method of the Lion class. Now how would I do this with out containing the new object within the mousePressed method the below creates a new instance of the object each time it's clicked. I only want one instance of the object and to call the method on that instance how do I do this?

btnOpenNewFile.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
        public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
            Lion adam = new Lion("Adam");
            Cat meo = new Cat("Meo");
            adam.eat(meo);


        }
    });

Answer 1

Define the object as member attribute of the class:

final Lion adam = new Lion("Adam");
public void clickMe(){
btnOpenNewFile.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
        public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {

            Cat meo = new Cat("Meo");
            adam.eat(meo);


        }
    });
}

Answer 2

Create it outside and use it in the Listener but you will have to make it final . You may initialize it in the constructor though!