4 cats who can't catch a mouse,,,,

Originally Posted by FishTreatsMom

On the Peta.org web site you can find info on humane ways of catching and disposing of mice. Don't use the glue traps, they are horribly cruel.

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After watching my snakes slowly, ssssloooooowly eat mice butt first, with their little hip bones cracking and with them squeaking right up until the very end, I just don't see how glue traps are honestly that cruel. For Pete's sake, you can unstick them and release them, if you REALLY want to.

We don't do TNR on mice, they breed incredibly fast, and living in the city, there really aren't many places that I'm going to go way out of my way to release a little mouse so it can have a happy, carefree mouse life, LOL.

If I lived in the country, and had never had snakes as pets, I might see things a little differently. But since that isn't the case, woe to any mouse that comes back into MY house!

I take no prisoners.

Being a good mouser is a LEARNED behaviour. If the mom never taught them it will be harder for them to figure it out. They can learn on their own, but it takes longer than if they ahd learned as a kitten.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

After watching my snakes slowly, ssssloooooowly eat mice butt first, with their little hip bones cracking and with them squeaking right up until the very end, I just don't see how glue traps are honestly that cruel. For Pete's sake, you can unstick them and release them, if you REALLY want to.

We don't do TNR on mice, they breed incredibly fast, and living in the city, there really aren't many places that I'm going to go way out of my way to release a little mouse so it can have a happy, carefree mouse life, LOL.

If I lived in the country, and had never had snakes as pets, I might see things a little differently. But since that isn't the case, woe to any mouse that comes back into MY house!

I take no prisoners.

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Animals are at times very very cruel to their prey. Humans don't have to be cruel to animals...whether they be mice or chickens or zoo animals.

GOOD GOd gingersmom what kind of snakes do you have??? I have not heard of snakes being that cruel when eating prey I thought they usually killed it first.


WE had a mouse get in our house recently but one of my cats caught and all that was left of it was its head. My cats actually enjoy eating live animals

I lived in "farm country" in Michigan for a short time and there were always field mice getting into the house. I found out that Shadow and Midnight were catching them after trying to slip on my shoes. Good thing I didn't stand or put my weight down on my right foot because there was something in my shoe. It turned out to be a half eaten mouse.

I was proud of them and they turned out be very good mousers. The kittens that I have now were barn cats and there's no doubt in my mind that they would be good mousers, too.

Bryan

At my parents house, there are usually mice because they live slightly rural. When mice are around, they count on Rufus to catch them all. Niles managed to catch ONE once, but Big Head never does anything. Which is amusing, because up until a couple years ago Big Head was a random barn cat whom I bribed into being a family pet just before I moved for University .
At that time, we would regularly see big head out in field decapitating "something"....but since we made him indoors only (Coyote almost got him, the nice fractured pelvis sealed the indoors deal) he has done nothing but be lazy and gain weight. I quite love the jumbo baby

Originally Posted by chausiefan

GOOD GOd gingersmom what kind of snakes do you have??? I have not heard of snakes being that cruel when eating prey I thought they usually killed it first.

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I had a STUPID snake. She ate them backwards more than once - including my very first time feeding her, which was quite an introduction, and hardened me to it immediately. She was a ball python that had to be force-fed pinkies before I rescued her from the home she was in. They had kept her tank right next to ferret cages, so it was no wonder she wasn't eating!

No matter what any PETA supporter says, I have zero pity for unwelcome field mice. They carry diseases and just their droppings could infect me or my cats, and since I live in a city, if I catch and release them, they'll just wind up in someone else's home if not back in mine.

As I said before, since the episode back in March with the little squeaker, I've seen NO trace of mice in my apartment since, and that makes me very happy. If they come back, and the cats don't kill them, I will.

Both of mine are mousers, although they tend to want to bring them inside after they catch them. My lil girl Katie is also big on insects and flies.

Paulena

Originally Posted by reddicequeen

get those little mouse box catchers. I wouldnt suggest glue traps...those are kind of creepy if the mouse doesnt die right away ...shudders from memory

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They have a tendency to chew off their own feet to escape - I know people who have come home to find 4 mouse feet stuck to the thing and a bloody trail across the floor.

Originally Posted by gailuvscats

Finally, one day when I was down there, I checked my no kill traps, and you guessd it, two mummified mice in the no kill trap. My intenetions were good,a but the results were probably worse than if they had their necks snapped in a trap.

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I am guilty of having done that also.

Fortunately my mouse infestation is gone now that I have Radar - he caught his first at the tender age of 4 months, another at 6 months, and I haven't seen a single one since.

I try to take pray away from my cats though if they have it alive. Its just so sadistic and sick what they do, i do like the fact that they hunt because they keep my house and area clean but they are such horribly cruel animals sometimes its shocking!

Originally Posted by GingersMom

After watching my snakes slowly, ssssloooooowly eat mice butt first, with their little hip bones cracking and with them squeaking right up until the very end, I just don't see how glue traps are honestly that cruel. For Pete's sake, you can unstick them and release them, if you REALLY want to.

We don't do TNR on mice, they breed incredibly fast, and living in the city, there really aren't many places that I'm going to go way out of my way to release a little mouse so it can have a happy, carefree mouse life, LOL.

If I lived in the country, and had never had snakes as pets, I might see things a little differently. But since that isn't the case, woe to any mouse that comes back into MY house!

I take no prisoners.

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Can't you give your snakes dead mice? Don't laugh...the zoos bring dead prey such as mice, rabbits, to the animals. I don't think they want the children and squeamish adults exposed to gruesome eating habits. Last time I was at the zoo I saw these little wild cats - and during feeding time the zookeeper brought in a pan of whole dead mice for them! I couldn't even bear to watch that. But there must be a place where you can get dead mice? You can buy raw meat for pets.

I'm not a snake expert by any means, but I believe that most snakes will only eat either live or very freshly killed animals. They aren't scavengers, like wild cats are. Sure, cats are hunters, but they will take advantage of a free meal every chance they get.

Most snakes won't eat dead prey, and what's the difference? Either they die at the factory or they die in the snakes mouth.
As for Peta, I tend not to take advice on what is or isn't animal cruelty from an organization that thinks its cruel to have a cat in your life, and puts more animals to sleep than the local pound. Or one that advocates putting a carnivore on a vegetarian diet.


I'm sorry your little mousers are slacking off Maybe you can borrow my sister's cat-- he caught a bat midair that was in our house and would have drug the poor thing through the house til it died if my BIL hadn't done something.

When I lived on the farm, we had a lot of mice in the house - they ran the gauntlet past the outdoor ferals, then came into a house with 11 cats and 2 dogs. The outdoor cats would catch and eat them. The indoor cats would play with them until the poor mouse died from exhaustion. They had no clue on how to kill mice. Some of them would just sit there and watch them. This, from cats that were born feral and you would think they would know how to hunt!!

My new house has snakes all around. I've not yet seen a mouse either inside or outside, just snakes (both inside and outside).

Originally Posted by Momofmany

My new house has snakes all around. I've not yet seen a mouse either inside or outside, just snakes (both inside and outside).

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I have snakes in the yard, which I have grown to appreciate, cause I think they might eat a slug or two?( I have millions) Unfortunately, the neighbors cat (I think) catches them and chews their heads off, leaving me with a lifeless snake body on the sidewalk, with a bloody stump for a head. Maybe it is a bird doing this, but I doubt it. I wish the neighbor, whom I despise, would keep her cat indoors. Besides slaughtering the mice, he upsets my rescue guy, fang, to no end. Fang runs from one window to the other to see him. The other two could care less, but they spent most, if not all, their lives indoors. My Rescue was a street cat until around a year old. I guess he longs for the good old days when he kicked some cat butt.

I use the old time traps with the big spring, I put peanut butter on the flipper and snap instant dead mouse, I have yet to have one stuck in it still alive. Not much fun getting them out of the trap sometimes though.

We got a couple of those sound things and I think the mice moved out of the kitchen, I need to put one in the basement now to hopefully chase them out of there also.

I once had 2 cats and a Lab. The lazy cats would watch a mouse scurry across the kitchen floor, and the dog had to catch it! Sometimes, the dog would hunt in tandem with them, and go in for the actual kill. (I think; it was in the middle of the night, and I had the door closed, and was afraid to open it and have a live mouse presented to me! This was many years ago, when I was a kid.)

I had another cat who was afraid of the sight of a mouse. Again, this was at my parents' house. Selene saw a dead mouse, and wouldn't look at it, nor would she catch a live one. However, once my then boyfriend (now husband) starting visiting, she proudly presented him with a dead mouse! She normally avoided him for some reason--I think she disliked men--he LOVES cats, so it wasn't his behavior.

Just so you know, these stories happened over a period of decades--Mom keeps a very clean house! We never had much of a mouse problem!

In my own house, I've not yet seen evidence of any rodents--and, with 9 cats, there danged well not be any! I've always felt my females would be great mousers, though.



MargeCat

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Yep

I've heard persian people say "she's so lazy a mouse would run across her feet and she wouldn't chase him"

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Yep, that's mine two persians. Lazy as they come. I am actually fine with it because I also have birds so at least since they can't hunt, they won't hurt the birds.

My puss is a great mouser/ratter. She visits the neighbours place and brings home big rats. I have found 6 so far. Not a mouse prob around here with my 4 big cats.

I had a neighbour get rid of chooks and i ended up with a plague of the buggers. My dog caught a few. Puddems caught 12 in a night and i was constantly snapping them in traps. Right down to the very last lil babies. not really big enough to be away from the nest.

The cats also like to chase the Geckos up the walls. Poor Geckos. If the catch one of them i take them and let em' go.

Yet my cats have never touched my pet rats and mice. They usually run away from the rats.