When I had an older cat and mice under my refrigerator, I put him in front of it but he just sat there like nothing was going on. I'd guessed it was a combination of him being too old and getting plenty of his expensive prescription dental cat food so he did not need to hunt for his food.WiseOne wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:16 pm Nice, CT-Scott! Great that your little furballs came in handy for your Great Mouse Adventure.
My cats have killed one critter each, while in my mom's backyard being walked on leashes. One cat flushed out a rat from the next door neighbor's rock garden and went after it with great gusto. He got it in his mouth and killed it, then held it while growling and spitting like a freight train. i swear he became a much more confident cat after that - before that, he was a bit skittish after having a really traumatic experience as a kitten (bowel obstruction from a toy). He's also the one I'd vote Most Likely to Kill a Mouse, just from the way he plays.
I know I have mice under the stove, but they don't venture out beyond that - the cats are great deterrents. They sometimes camp in front of the stove daring one of those critters to come out.
Totally different story with these three young ones I now have.
I used to ALWAYS see signs of mice activity in various places in my house. The first winter I had these three cats, I saw ZERO signs. I thought the mice who did venture here quickly left and put out the message to all the rest of the mice in the neighborhood that my house was NO longer a safe house for mice.
This past winter the cats did get two that were in my bedroom. Tried to save one by giving it its own aquarium home but it did not last long and died.
One morning I was laying in bed and heard furious activity in this bedroom among the three of them. I quickly got up to see what they were then looking at and saw one of my gerbils sitting underneath my electric piano amplifier.
I quickly threw all three cats of the room and shut the door.
Miracles of miracles it only took me only a few minutes to catch it. Gerbils are extremely quick and my bedroom is the ultimate haven for which a gerbil can hide -- even out of the reach of the cats. He then got reunited with his 3 other gerbil-mates and they all seemed to be quite happy to be whole again.
Final mice story. Last Tuesday when I last shopped for food I stocked up on some semi-perishables, e.g., oranges, and I put them in boxes in the basement, since its cooler there. On the top box I put some old expensive ferret food in hopes that any mice in the basement would get their fill of that food and not bother with my food. A week later that ferret food has remained untouched so I think the word is back out there that this is NOT a safe house for mice. There is, though, some unidentified animal continuing to come into my garage to eat the ferret food I put in the bowl.
Vinny
Vinny
