argh Wonton is after a mouse AGAIN

first of all, he's an indoor kitty, but this is an old house, and yeah, we have a mouse or two. He's killed two in the last six months, and i managed to rescue a third from him a couple months ago. Tonight, he's chasing another one. i saw it with my own eyes-he actually caught it and had it in his mouth, but then set it down for some reason, and it scurried off...it was gone for a couple hours and i guess it thought it was safe cos it tried to come back out, and now he's after it again. it ran back behind my bed where he can't reach it.

i know some people would be glad, would see it as the cat "earning its keep", but i don't consider the mice a problem-tis not like there's tons of them, they dont get into our food or anything-if it weren't for Wonton catching one every once in a while, i wouldn't even know they were here.

i do have a question tho - he's not vaccinated for rabies because he's an indoor only cat, and our vet is progressive when it comes to vaccines and only likes to give the ones he feels are truly necessary..but with Wonton catching mice, do you think he should be vaccinated for rabies, just in case?

poor little mouse

I think so, yeah because the mice are coming from outside. Granted if a rabid animal got a mouse, the mouse would be dead but still

I don't think mice can carry rabies 'cos they're not mammals, but they certainly do carry all kinds of other diseases. From a hygiene point of view, it's not a good idea to have them living free in your house. Their droppings can carry disease, and the way they navigate is by leaving a trail of urine everywhere, which is um, really ewww when you think about that all over your home!
I'd personally try to catch them in a humane trap and release them outside.

Actually mice are mammals, but they are very filthy animals, just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't being pests, ie getting into stuff, they can be very destructive and where there's one, there are lots. I'd try to exterminate them too. As far as Wonton, I would probably get him the shot just to be on the safe side, just for your peace of mind

mice aren't mammals?

we don't see mouse droppings anywhere...if it weren't for Wonton catching one now and again, we wouldn't even know we have them.

will ask my vet about getting him vaccinated for rabies-he's got his yearly checkup on monday, so i'll talk to her about it then.

Originally Posted by katiemae1277

Actually mice are mammals, but they are very filthy animals, just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't being pests, ie getting into stuff, they can be very destructive and where there's one, there are lots. I'd try to exterminate them too. As far as Wonton, I would probably get him the shot just to be on the safe side, just for your peace of mind

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i dunno, i'd feel bad about exterminating them. tho i probably shouldn't... one time years ago i went to a friends house and she casually mentioned she had glue traps down to catch mice, and that one of the traps had caught one. she showed me and i felt so bad for the poor little thing, i tried to rescue him from the glue-and he promptly bit me. drew blood, so off i went to the ER to get a tetanus shot to be on the safe side.

you'd think i'd learn to stop trying to rescue mice, wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by arcadian girl

i dunno, i'd feel bad about exterminating them. tho i probably shouldn't... one time years ago i went to a friends house and she casually mentioned she had glue traps down to catch mice, and that one of the traps had caught one. she showed me and i felt so bad for the poor little thing, i tried to rescue him from the glue-and he promptly bit me. drew blood, so off i went to the ER to get a tetanus shot to be on the safe side.

you'd think i'd learn to stop trying to rescue mice, wouldn't you?

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Ungrateful little mouse! One thing I just thought of too, mice are notorious flea carriers, and from fleas come worms, so if Wonton is not on flea prevention I'd get him on that ASAP. Mice ARE cute, I used to have a pet one, Sniffles, but house mice are, at best, a nuisance. They really don't serve any purpose At least you know Wonton is a good hunter! Also I love his name!

First of all, mice are mammals. The definition of a mammal is that the females produce milk from mammary glands are warm-blooded and have hair and mice fit this description.

Regarding the rabies, I found this link from the CDC that says "[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bites by these animals are usually not considered a risk of rabies unless the animal was sick or behaving in any unusual manner and rabies is widespread in your area."

Still, mice can carry a number of diseases and can quickly overpopulate your house. It would be good to discuss any preventative measures with your vet.
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Oops! silly me, I thought rodents weren't mammals! All those years of watching National Geographic came to nothing...

We had a problem with mice a year ago in one apartment. My husband set up a humane trap and caught and released several mice over a few weeks. They girls in the apartment were most grateful! Thing is, we've now moved into that apartment....haven't seen any mice so far I'd feel sorry for them if they did show up again now that there's two rambunctious cats living here.
I have nothing against mice (or any animal), I just don't want to share a home with them because of all their germy jims. I hope you get your mouse problem corted. The traps we got were'nt expensive and we just got them at the local hardware store. I'd also talk to the vet about precautionary shots for Wonton - what katiemae1277 said about fleas is worrying too.

I have a mouse story too! We had 1 mouse in our house. And hubby and I didn't really mind too much, cause it was really just 1, it would even come out if we were watching tv. Then we noticed it was eating a box of peppermint patties. Nothing else, just the patties. We kinda thought that was cute too... a chocolate loving mouse! Then it started to get into other foods, and caused things to go stale. Ok, time for it to go. So we got it with a humane trap, and hubby released it 1 block away (we have acres of woods behind and on the side of my house). Well the same mouse came back (they leave that urine trail so they can find they're way), and he brought friends, and they had babies. It wasn't cute anymore. At 1 point I was on my couch, home alone, and 4-5 of them were climbing out from underneath my cabinets... we had to get traps to kill them. I called an exterminator, and he said "lady, if you had 1, you had 10, and they just never came out, if you have 5, then you have 50" So we had to kill them. And we really felt bad because the small ones were SO cute. But the ext guy told me to pull out my frigde, and take everything out of my drawers & cabinets to look for mouse droppings.... he was right, way back in the corners where I couldn't see, in the cabinets above my head, and in every drawer in my kitchen, even in the closet in my bedroom, they're were mouse droppings ! I had to re-wash everything, and vacuum and scrub with lysol .... now we have LuckyGirl, and I haven't seen 1 yet!
(I think they've all heard what she can do with a house fly, and they're very afraid! )

IMO, I would definately get sweet adorable Wonton his rabies shot...just to be safe. He's too precious to risk! I love reading your stories about him, he seems to be all personality!

I thought rodents weren't mammals either

That is one scary looking mouse Heather! here's something kinda strange, about a month ago my rat escaped.... and lived! she was in my house for alomst 2 weeks until I found her again what mighty hunters I have

I would personally FREAK if I saw a mouse in the house, but with Tigger our fearless hunter, they wouldn't stand a chance!

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

I would personally FREAK if I saw a mouse in the house, but with Tigger our fearless hunter, they wouldn't stand a chance!

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No, Susie... I was ok with the 1...it didn't come near me, but I could see it in the kitchen... but when the whole family was moved in, I was whispering on the phone to the exterminator, and holding a flashlight! Tom comes home and I'm peeking over the back of the couch with the cordless phone in 1 hand and the flash light in the other... he's like "a flashlight and a phone? what the H*LL are you gonna do with that? Blind it in the eyes and call 911?!"

Originally Posted by pushylady

Oops! silly me, I thought rodents weren't mammals!

All those years of watching National Geographic came to nothing...

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At least you've watched them. Hubby watches them and I zone out. The mammal knowledge was from high school biology and I'm amazed I remember that much - so long ago.

Random mouse stories. My mom had one die in the fridge motor - boy did it stink.

One night when I still had Petunia (RB), I woke up to her running around my bedroom. All I can see are fuzzies without my glasses so I saw little gray fuzzy and big gray fuzzy. Guessed small fuzzy was a mouse and tried to figure out what to do. Let big fuzzy get small fuzzy and leave it on my pillow; shut big fuzzy out and then deal with being in the bedroom alone with small fuzzy (again wondering about small fuzzy on the pillow ). I ended up putting big fuzzy outside and kind of half-slept the rest of the night. Never did find out what happened to little fuzzy.

I stopped getting mice when I allowed Petunia to run around the crawl-space a couple of times a month. She enjoyed the smells and left smells of her own.

Originally Posted by LuckyGirl

Tom comes home and I'm peeking over the back of the couch with the cordless phone in 1 hand and the flash light in the other... he's like "a flashlight and a phone? what the H*LL are you gonna do with that? Blind it in the eyes and call 911?!"

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lol...

we don't have a flea problem here... i understand everyone's concerns about the mice being a health risk, i just can't bring myself to kill them. heck, i don't even kill bugs (except for spiders, and i only do that cos i have a phobia, but i still feel guilty sometimes afterwards. but its either kill the spider (or have my bf kill it), or stay awake all night not being able to sleep for fear its going to crawl on me while i'm sleeping). but i digress... maybe i'll look into some humane traps. thing is-then what? throw em outside (well not literally throw em, you know what i mean). this house is the only home they've ever known. (lol, i sound like i'm talking about my children).

its amazing how fast cats are tho. i mean that little mousie was fast-but Wonton, even with his gut, was faster.