Is there any truth to this?

Let me give you some background. My neighbor just knocked on my door and said she has a mouse problem. She explained that we were the only apartment in our wing that didn't have one because of the boys.

I was always under the notion that mice could "sense" the presence of a cat and they would avoid areas that cats were in. Did I convince myself of this because I don't care for mice, or is it the truth?

In all honesty I'm just praying I don't get the gift of a dead mouse anytime soon.

um... no mice are not terriblely smart , remember they do go into unbaited sticky traps ... and they go where they smell food ... but I would say likely they know / sence a predator in your place and thus might try others first

I'm not sure - but I do know that my mouse problem in a previous house went away when I started to let Petunia down in the crawl space on supervised visits.

Well they tend to wander around at night, so there is a chance that there have been mice walking around..maybe saw the boys or alerted them...Not sure if mice would remember the presence of predators though

We have at least a couple of mice invade our home every winter. They obviously don't care about the cats being here. BTW, as much as I dislike mice, I think sticky-traps should be outlawed. If you should happen to have a rodent visitor, put out very shallow containers (like a bottle cap) of carbonated soda. Mice love it, but they can't burp. The carbonation will kill them. ( I know that doesn't sound very nice, but anything is better than a glue trap) Just make sure the soda is fresh; you need to replace it daily.

Originally Posted by sharky

um... no mice are not terriblely smart , remember they do go into unbaited sticky traps

... and they go where they smell food ... but I would say likely they know / sence a predator in your place and thus might try others first

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I thought so... it's funny the lies we will tell ourselves because we don't want to face the truth.

Now it's my mission to try to convince my neighbors and land lord to not use poison. If one of the boys gets a poisoned mouse I shudder to think what would happen.

Originally Posted by libby74

We have at least a couple of mice invade our home every winter. They obviously don't care about the cats being here. BTW, as much as I dislike mice, I think sticky-traps should be outlawed. If you should happen to have a rodent visitor, put out very shallow containers (like a bottle cap) of carbonated soda. Mice love it, but they can't burp. The carbonation will kill them. ( I know that doesn't sound very nice, but anything is better than a glue trap) Just make sure the soda is fresh; you need to replace it daily.

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thank you for the tip/// I was using the stickys with anestetic

I heard the same thing about cats/mice. However this has been proven wrong by our neighbors. They have one cat and always seem to get the mice. Mom has 3 (right now and 7 before). We never saw a live one but they cats had been seen staring at areas. A baby mouse did just enter mom's house last week. Another neighbor demolished their pool deck and the next day many people had mice. I know there is a plug-in sensor that is supposed to scare the mice away. That might be why for many years mom didn't have an issue but her neighbor did.

I hate the sticky traps too. Most of the time they won't die & are tortured trying to free themselves. My old boss used a plastic box filled with peanut butter. Once the mouse was inside they were trapped. He would then free them in the woods.

I'm not sure if it's true or not....but at our shelter we have a bit of a mouse problem too. Only- they like to hang out in between the walls of the dog kennels....i have never seen one in the front cat room or in the back isolation room where we keep the sick animals (mostly cats). I have however seen several mice who have been killed by the dogs and put in their water bowls just like Jasmine puts her sparkly pom balls in her water dish Poor mice! Anytime i see one scurring around- i safely scoop it up and try to put it outside where it's safer (even though i know they're going to come right back in). We also have quite the bird problem as well..but once again the birds only hang out near the dog kennels/runs.

We have had mice come into the house when we had all the kits in here.So, I assume that mice aren't intelligent when it comes to smelling cats.

We get TONS of mice here because we live in a wood. Pickle has got the most annoying habit of tearing them up and leaving them on the garden path!

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Well they tend to wander around at night, so there is a chance that there have been mice walking around..maybe saw the boys or alerted them...Not sure if mice would remember the presence of predators though

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But i'm not sure.

The reason you don't have a mouse problem is probably more related to cleanliness than anything. If you don't have foods accessible to them and you keep your floors and counters and cupboards free of open foods or spilled foods, they have nothing to eat, so they go else where.

I just remembered about this. Toxoplasmosis actually causes mice and rats to be attracted to cats in a suicidal manner so they can pass the parasite back to cats for the next part of the parasite's life cycle.

I like the answer yes, and Ill try to justify it

If you were extremely anxious, and had highblood pressure and felt fear all the time where you lived, would you move?
I dont think mice are *that* smart (though working with them daily, theyre smarter than you might think) necessarily, but cat odor has clearly been shown in numerous scientific studies to induce anxiety.
for example see Neuropharmacology. 2001 Sep;41(3):400-8 - an article showing behavioural and neurochemical changes consistent with increased anxiety occur in mice following relatively minor exposure to cat odor.
Anxiety or not, I wouldnt want to live somewhere that smelled bad to me, and one thing I can guarantee is that mice have a very sensitive sense of smell. Therefore, I feel safe to conclude that having cats keeps the mice away. For those with exceptions, then I propose they have only 1/10 the mouse problem they otherwise would

I have mice in the walls, but they rarely venture into the house. However, Dushka caught one last week, and ate it in my daughter's bedroom, which freaked her out. I do use the electronic sonic repellants, and they seem effective. And I keep all foods either in the refrigerator or in strong plastic containers.