See, I thought cats were meant to eradicate the local mouse population - and for years that's what my cat has done. But two weeks ago he brought a live, healthy mouse indoors, placed it on the carpet and just sat there as it ran off and took refuge behind the furniture. For about ten minutes he tried to flush it out, then gave up and went to sleep.
For the next three days and three nights, the mouse was scurrying round and round the skirting boards of my living room, ignoring or outwitting any traps I put down at night and running rings around my cat on those few occasions he bothered acknowledging the mouse's existence. In the end, after three days and nights, the mouse escaped from my home under his own steam by climbing up a cable onto a bookcase, jumping from there onto the windowsill and then exiting via the open window while I looked on in silence, barely daring to breathe.
This morning, just after breakfast, the cat brought in another live mouse and unleashed it in the living room again, with exactly the same effect. As previously, he rapidly lost interest and it was left to me to spend three hours pursuing the creature round and round the room until I managed to chase it into the jaws of a mouse trap. All my plans for today, a nice sunny Saturday with blue skies, have been wrecked and I'm now sitting here wondering how to stop this situation ever arising again.
My cat's lived here for eight years and has never pulled this stunt before. I count myself very lucky indeed that neither of the mice got further than my living room, but luck like that can't last and I don't fancy a mouse holing up in a cupboard and giving birth to a family in there. How can I make my cat understand that unleashing live mice in my home is unacceptable? I don't want to keep him shut indoors for the rest of his life just to make a point.
Thanks for your thoughts.
For the next three days and three nights, the mouse was scurrying round and round the skirting boards of my living room, ignoring or outwitting any traps I put down at night and running rings around my cat on those few occasions he bothered acknowledging the mouse's existence. In the end, after three days and nights, the mouse escaped from my home under his own steam by climbing up a cable onto a bookcase, jumping from there onto the windowsill and then exiting via the open window while I looked on in silence, barely daring to breathe.
This morning, just after breakfast, the cat brought in another live mouse and unleashed it in the living room again, with exactly the same effect. As previously, he rapidly lost interest and it was left to me to spend three hours pursuing the creature round and round the room until I managed to chase it into the jaws of a mouse trap. All my plans for today, a nice sunny Saturday with blue skies, have been wrecked and I'm now sitting here wondering how to stop this situation ever arising again.
My cat's lived here for eight years and has never pulled this stunt before. I count myself very lucky indeed that neither of the mice got further than my living room, but luck like that can't last and I don't fancy a mouse holing up in a cupboard and giving birth to a family in there. How can I make my cat understand that unleashing live mice in my home is unacceptable? I don't want to keep him shut indoors for the rest of his life just to make a point.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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That sounds funny, but it could also be VERY TRUE!!
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