Mousers!

[hmorton92]

Hey everyone!
Just wondering what you guys do with mice? We’re surrounded by farms so mice are normal for us. Our boy, Theo, catches them from time to time and when we are home we usually get them away from him and get rid of them outside of the house. Does anyone else get rid of them or do you just let your cat have them?
Just curious! Thanks guys

 

[susanm9006]

I grew up with indoor/outdoor cats and they did bring alive and dead mice in. We always took them away and threw them out. You don’t want them crawling off to die somewhere you can’t find until they smell and you also don’t want to watch your cat torture a mouse to death.

 

[hmorton92]

I grew up with indoor/outdoor cats and they did bring alive and dead mice in. We always took them away and threw them out. You don’t want them crawling off to die somewhere you can’t find until they smell and you also don’t want to watch your cat torture a mouse to death.

That was my thought too!! Ours are strictly indoor, so I love that they catch them so we can dispose of the mice. It’s always fun trying to get the mice away of a kitty that just wants to play with it.... extreme pain in the butt. But! I don’t want to watch the cat do that to the mouse.

 

[DreamerRose]

I let them play with the mouse. Before I got my cats, I had a terrible problem with mice. We are near a prairie preserve and they came in the house continuously and set up housekeeping. I had two or three traps out all the time and caught about that many each week. Since I've had the cats, my mouse problem has gone. The cats can hear them when they first come in and dispatch them right away, so no setting up housekeeping. I do everything I can, praise them, let them play with the mouse, even eat it once or twice, to encourage their mouse-catching skills. I have had a few times when the mouse died in an inaccessible place and the smell was awful. But better that than a house full of mice.

BTW, spring and fall are the worst times for mice to get in. They are leaving the nest in the spring and looking for a winter home in the fall.

 

[Uncled]

Mine are indoor only and have not seen a mouse, but given how quickly they dispatch house flys I doubt a mouse stands a chance since I have two cats Im sure they would eat it before I could intervene.

 

[Etarre]

We haven't yet had any mice or rats in our apartment (fingers crossed this will continue) but Juniper is great at catching the occasional cockroach (fact of life in this city) and last week she alerted us to a bat that had somehow snuck into our apartment and cocooned itself in our curtains. I guess she heard it or smelled it? I shudder to think what would've happened if she hadn't sat and stared at it until we discovered it.

 

[hmorton92]

We haven't yet had any mice or rats in our apartment (fingers crossed this will continue) but Juniper is great at catching the occasional cockroach (fact of life in this city) and last week she alerted us to a bat that had somehow snuck into our apartment and cocooned itself in our curtains. I guess she heard it or smelled it? I shudder to think what would've happened if she hadn't sat and stared at it until we discovered it.

Cats are such funny animals, they try and protect us in their own little ways.

 

[hmorton92]

I let them play with the mouse. Before I got my cats, I had a terrible problem with mice. We are near a prairie preserve and they came in the house continuously and set up housekeeping. I had two or three traps out all the time and caught about that many each week. Since I've had the cats, my mouse problem has gone. The cats can hear them when they first come in and dispatch them right away, so no setting up housekeeping. I do everything I can, praise them, let them play with the mouse, even eat it once or twice, to encourage their mouse-catching skills. I have had a few times when the mouse died in an inaccessible place and the smell was awful. But better that than a house full of mice.

BTW, spring and fall are the worst times for mice to get in. They are leaving the nest in the spring and looking for a winter home in the fall.

Unfortunately because we aren’t home throughout the day, we don’t get to keep many away from them. So often we come home and find half eaten bodies, but the mouse are usually kept at bay.
The main reason I like to try and get them away from the cats is worms or something else the mice might carry. We deworm the cats once or twice a year because of the mice just to be safe though!