Leaving dead mice all over house help!

I would rather find a dead mouse than a live one. Your cat is doing his job getting rid of the mice for you. Thats just my opinion.

I've never had that happen even when my parents had an outside cat a long long time ago. They would always leave the dead mice by the door...never bring them inside. I'm thinking maybe they are catching them from inside the house, try to get poison or something.

Thanks to your cat, I wondered why I haven't seen any mice in these parts J/K of course, but hunting bugs and rodents is what comes natural to your kitty

You cat is trying to tell you something. Either you have a serious rodent problem or your cat thinks you're not eating well enough and has decided to help.

Put out traps, clean up around the house - remove anything that's against the house that may make it easier for rodents to hide in. And consider that if you truly have a rodent problem that you may very well see snakes around as it gets warmer.

Make sure your cat is treated with a flea and tick treatment such as Revolution (takes care of mites and some worms too). Rodents carry roundworms, ticks (nymphs), and fleas. The tick nymphs and sometimes the fleas can carry disease which you do not want the cat or yourself to get.

Also be very careful if you do find mouse nests...not sure what location you are in, but be wary of cleaning up rodent urine. Use a mask if you do.

You're probably lucky your cat isn't leaving them on your pillow!

That's a very good suggestion!

To further clarify on my previous post mentioning tick nymphs. Most people may not know this but in their nymph stage they primarily feed on small animals like mice, and it's in this stage that they pick up and become the most risk for Lyme's disease.

And this is a bad thing because?

The whole reason for humans taking felines into their homes in the first place was to kill mice and other vermin. Your cat is only performing his ancient and proper function.

good kitties

When we lived in a rural area, mice used to get inside the house in spite of the fact that we had a feral colony living outside and 13 cats inside.

And one night, one of my precious angels left a dead mouse under DH's pillow.

Over time I suspect that your cat's scent will drive most of them out of the house. We had less and less of them the longer we lived there.

Maybe cats believe in a mouse fairy?

If you have an in/outdoor cat there's not much you can do to prevent this behavior since its what comes naturally. You can train them to not bring their 'presents' inside assuming that you don't have a cat door.

Our hunting cat Gracie was not allowed in with a present in her mouth and soon learned to leave it on the stoop if she wanted door service.

If they are catching rodents inside, then your cat is giving you a hint that you need to take care of your vermin problem. Do not put out rodent poison with a cat around! They can get secondary poisoning from eating the critters that have eaten the poison. Also check trap types and placement carefully as some of these can break a human finger, goodness knows what it would do to a curious cat foot.

We have loads of experience with this, both live and dead ones.

Jasper eats some by the back door and leaves others for us in the house. Your cat is trying to provide for you, so you're unlikely to stop it. We've had several hundred mice, a large koi carp, a frog (live, I don't think he liked the taste), a couple of birds (he's not very good at getting these though and he doesn't like the feathers) and the other day he brought in two fat baby pigeons (carrying both at the same time)! Occaisionally he brings in a live one, but obviously with every intention of killing and eating it, he's very posessive over the live ones :-)

Delilah on the other hand is a pain in the butt. She doesn't bring in as many but they're always alive and she always brings them into the bedroom to us in the middle of the night. The other night I managed to catch one under the bin and OH ran to get something to take it out in, so I'm stood there holding the bin and another one's looking at me across the bedroom! Another time I started smelling something really bad under the bedside drawers and one had taken up residence under there! And mouse pee is dreadfully smelly and hard to get rid of!

So...from great experience, one or two pieces of advice:
1) your not going to stop it so be prepared! Keep the floor as clear as possible so live ones don't have places to hide, and
2) have some sturdy gloves ready (bites hurt and can carry diseases)
3)Keep the cats flea protected and check regularly for ticks, fleas and injuries around the face (I wipe them with tea tree wipes every other day and give them a johnsons flea tablet if I see any other signs). If the dead ones are on carpets it's worth spraying with flea spray just to be sure.
4) If it turns out you do have an infestation, please DONT PUT POISON DOWN as one person suggested, they don't always die straight away after they've ingested the poison, but they do get slower and easier to catch meaning your poor baby has now eaten a poisoned mouse. I had to have words with the neighbours over this very same thing. Instead use traps. Be careful clearing out nests, mouse and rat pee carries diseases and the little sods bite as well.
5) Deworm regularly, most wild animals carry parasites that your cat will pick up (and worms are totally gross so prevention is better than cure).
6) If you have to clear up half eaten ones, again be careful about disease control and what disinfectant etc you use (not all are pet safe).

Sorry if any of this is stuff you already know, I thought it best to cover everything I could think of, hope it helps :-)

I was going to say that as well...DO NOT TRY TO POISON the mice.....if your cat eats a poison mouse then he will get veru ill...I have one cat that eats mice all the time...I just make sure he gets his tapeworm meds...and all is fine

Most of your advice is good, but please don't use product with tea tree oil on your cats. It's toxic to them!

Goodness I've been using it for years, I was advised to by my vet since jasper is quite delicate and doesn't do well with most flea meds (he drools a lot whatever I put on)!!

Thanks for that I've binned the lot! xxx


Does anyone have any suggestions as to other natural deterants for fleas?

Try PM'ing our member sharky. She does use some alternatives. There's lots of suggestions here and in other threads for safely treating your home, as well.


Garlic is bad for cats, too. So it's best to never let them have more than the tiniest amounts of it (some cat foods have a little and we've all had our cats steal bites of our food).

Always look stuff up for yourself, do research if someone gives you suggestions. Vet, someone at a pet shop, family, even here - look it up.
As for tea tree oil, small animals such as cats and smaller dogs are more likely to be poisoned by any essential oil. If a cat has been fine so far it's simply due to not getting that much, yet - but that's risky to play around with.

Absolutely do not give your cats garlic. Dogs can handle it. Cats cannot.

A natural ingredient that a lot of people on this site recommends is food grade diatomaceous earth (DE). You can sprinkle it in your carpets, on your cats, and is actually edible and can help with internal parasites. But you have to get food grade. A lot of stores carry it, but it has filler ingredients that can be poisonous.

Garlic is part of the onion family and anything in the onion family can be toxic to cats- it gives them anemia.

You should print this out and give it to the lady at the pet store so she doesn't continue telling people this!

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/humanfood.htm

I thought that plants in the alium family, like garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, etc. were bad for cats.

I live in the country, so of course, mice, moles, anything that can live here does. I've only had dogs in the house, but they don't put up with mice. I don't have mice anymore. Now, my barn cats have taken care of the mice problem, and that has taken care of the snake problem. They often bring me things to admire, but now that the population has gone down, they just want to eat regular cat food. So, thank heavens for my girls outside, they have made life much more enjoyable in the country. I now have an indoor cat, and she is so small I think the mice might be bigger than her.

mary

Well, I received my first "gift" this morning when I got out of bed. Alpine left a dead mouse on the floor next to my side of the bed at some point in the middle of the night. I scared my husband to death with my blood curdling scream when I figured out what was on the floor next to my foot. Of course we praised the cat and gave her a treat, but it sure wasn't the way I wanted to start my day!

Hey at least she's taking care of the mouse problem!

When my first ever cat caught a mouse, she brought it inside the house to show me. Then after I gently pat her head and praised her, she hunkered down and consumed the entire thing.

And it was head first so when she was finishing, the poor things tail reminded me of slurping up spaghetti noodles.

You would think it would work that way, but with 13 indoor cats and two big indoor/outdoor dogs we still have mice sneaking in. They do stay pretty much around the plumbing/gas connections where they enter, under the range and water heater where the cats can't get them. Every so often Mitty will catch one and bring what's left of it to me though...

This is a problem because. .. .? Humans first invited cats into their homes to kill mice, rats, and other vermin. Your cat is fulfilling his ancient function.

Cats kill mice; that is what cats are for.

I would rather see dead mice all around than knowing there are mice in my house... running around and squeaking every night.

While it isn't as bad as onion, garlic contains the same substance that causes anemia in cats. I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to use regularly.