Very…Very true! Small terriers are the same way with mice and our dogs do not make a mess with them. They break their neck and then you get hubby to pick them up and give the dog a treat lol
A home I work in uses an exterminator. There’s a new poison out that kills quickly & then dries up the remains quickly - no smell. Don’t know what it’s called, but it does work. They found one in a trap last week. Didn’t know it was there because of no smell. You could probably find some.
I another home I used to work in, the mouse left when we found the leaky pipe under the sink. When the water supply left, so did the mouse.
Loved the cat stories. I saw on TV years ago where they watched cats & saw that the mother has to teach the kittens that mice are food & how to hunt them.
When I was 16 our neighbours knocked down their coal shed and the mice who lived there moved into the surrounding houses. Our dog had died the previous year so we decided to get a cat (we are more cat people than dog people anyway, but the dog was rescued by a friend who already had a dog). Even though he was only a kitten just the smell of the cat was enough to drive them away. He has brought home presents of a mouldy green sports sock he “caught” in the football field at the back of the house, a sausage he found in the back alley and a mouldy pork chop which he wouldn’t let us take, so he ate it and was sick. He also used to bring in small brown leaves he caught in the back yard as they fell off the tree, and kinda looked like mice I suppose.
He’s 14 now and isn’t much good at catching things as he gets too excited and makes too much noise and the “prey” is well warned in advance, and he’s also getting lazier as he gets older. He did try and get my sister’s goldfish until he realised that involved getting his paws wet. He isn’t much interested in my sister’s hamster either unless it’s running around in it’s ball, then it’s a giant toy - so the hamster is kept separated at all times.
My friend’s cat however ate all of her sisters goldfish, and then was sick on the bed. Another friend has a cat who brought home a rat that was bigger than him.
Suppose it depends on the cat really, but if the smell of the cat was enough to drive away our mice, maybe you could borrow some used kitty litter and leave it in strategic places for a few days
I haven’t read all the replies but I think I will add to the general gist that cats are not a good solution. Domesticated pampered cat food fed cats don’t [I]need[/I] to catch mice. Some might anyway but it’s not reliable. Some will play with and torture the poor mice but not kill them. A barn cat might do the job quite well in that setting but in a house they don’t have too.
Call a non toxic exterminator.
When I was growing up, my parents had a vegetarian Barn cat
he would eat cat food, milk, and the like, but when we put him in the chicken coop to take care of the rats that were eating the eggs (my father said the cat would change the direction he was facing before his feet hit the ground, and if the door was not slammed shut fast the barn cat would escape)
in the morning my father would go to check on them (Chickens rats and cat) and as soon as the door was opened a tiny bit there was this golden streak of lightning, out the door, and he would find various rats with their throats neatly dispatched lined up at the door
but not one nibble out of any of them
Much later in my life I had a cat who brought my Xh many MANY gifts, snakes, mice, and twice a Pigeon (now this cat was not much bigger than either of these pigeons) and when we moved here to Maine, we had the Animal Control officer come warn us some kind of Bobcat or Lynxx may be about because something had attacked a Fox (very shortly after the cat came home with evidence of having been in a fight)
she was a good cat till she ran away or got taken down by a fischer
and I find the snap traps may be a bit gross, but they do wonders
especially the Snap Traps
smear peanut butter on the inside top, and set
to dispose of just pinch the back over the toilet and flush
the trickier/tippyer ones do not work as well
Mice… ewww.
I have a toy poodle named Zoe that will hunt out anything very well. We did have have a few mice… until she brought them to us (Blech) She’ll attack every squirrel, insect you name it.
Now just stop making her EAT the crickets…
Jennifer
I have had mice before, and I have a cat. She could have cared less about the mice. I can not rely on her to be a mouser.
I got rid of the mice by traps and poison (in places my pets can’t get to).
Not the green way, but I am sure glad the mice went away. It was that stuff that makes them really thirsty so they leave in search of water, but you have to turn off all your water r they will die somewhere in your walls and not actually leave.
Only thing my “indoor” cats hunt (and bring too me) is my yarn projects and my bamboo needles (with neatly chewed up ends):passedout:
I love that there are so many cat people on this forum!!
Here’s my 2 cents - we lived in the woods for 6 years and we know that there were mice on the outside, but we never had a single one in the house. I’m convinced that the cats had something to do with it - maybe the mice could smell the cats in there or something?? We did find cricket parts (legs, etc.) in the basement a lot, which we knew were from the cats. One of our cats especially would come up out of the basement with cobwebs on her whiskers. Who knows what she was looking for and/or finding!!
And yes, there are gazillions of cats in the shelters. The sad fact is that foreclosures and economic problems are leading more and more people to give up their (perfectly wonderful) pets. It’s heartbreaking! So ANYONE:
<standing on soapbox>
- If you want a pet, please go to a shelter rather than a breeder.
- Before you get a pet, make sure you are in it for the long haul (for better or for worse…)
- SPAY/NEUTER your pets!! Unless you are a reputable breeder, there is no excuse not to!
<off soapbox>
Good luck with that!
CHJ
Also consider that cats can get tapeworms from eating mice. And if the mouse has been exposed to poison of any kind & kitty eats the mouse…
Sorry I work in a vet clinic.
I am in the camp that if you want a cat as a pet, get a cat. They are fun but they also live between 10-20 years and it is a commitment. I adore cats but I have had cats that love to catch things and other that could care less.
I listened to a podcast where the man that owns Victory mousetraps was interviewed. It was either Science Friday or Scientific American. They are cheap (a buck for three) and they work something like 98% of the time. There is no better mousetrap.
Happy hunting.
Bambi