Letting Parents Borrow Cat To Get Rid Of Mice / Moles

[SkittlesTheCat]

I have an orange tabby cat which is a very good hunter. He's caught 3 bunnies (2 were saved and released), and countless mice, birds, and moles. We're not sure how many mice he has caught because I have seen him (both tonight and last night) eat small mice whole. One time my wife tried to save a small mouse and the cat swallowed the small mouse in one gulp. Anyhow, I'm heading out of town for a week and the neighbors who usually watch him are on vacation. My parents will look after him either way, but proposed / joked about hiring Skittles for his mousing services and have him live with them for the week that we are gone. We let Skittles out during the day (he's generally good-natured with us, but will start clawing furniture if we don't let him out by 9 AM) and he always comes back a couple times during the day for food and at night. We let him sleep on the end of our bed every night. So he has a good routine. We found him as a stray cat about a year ago at my wife's parents house and brought him home to find a family for him, but when things did not work out with one family from work, we decided to adopt him. Based on the fact that he ended up homeless once (not sure what happened...he had been previously fixed, but no chip), we're a little concerned about changing his environment. Would it be a bad idea to let our parents borrow Skittles?

 

[sargon]

Cats don't handle environmental changes well int he best of circumstances, and a new environment when you are away is a recipe for stress. A new outdoor environment may be a recipe for losing your cat. he comes back inside to your house every night, because the environment is familiar, but if let out of your parent's house, your cat might well try and find his way back to your house instead.

If your parents have rodent issues, I suggest poison or traps. Even a good mouser really cant' compare to those options.

 

[susieqz]

you parents need their own cat,
i must disagree with sargon. i have used traps. i have used poisons.
a cat is the only way to eliminate vermin.
my traps used to take several mice every week in my garden.
now that feral cat is here, they stay empty.
she is the most valuable animal i've ever had, even if i can't touch her.