Mouse Hunting

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 7:39pm

My wife saw a mouse yesterday. She is having dinner out with a friend. I come home & no sooner do I walk in & I see it. I have baited traps out & the little son of a gun won't come out. She is deathly afraid of them

She is so afraid that now we will be getting a cat on saturday. When I moved in 6 years ago I took my 2 cats & someone adopted them together ( Stroke of luck ) . Now we will get a kitten ( & have it declawed so it does not rip up the apartment ) so it can hunt for the mouse ( hopefully only one ) . To hear my wife say she wants a cat is something I

I thought I would never hear that she wants a cat . Curioser & Curioser

Updated On: 10/7/04 at 07:39 PM

[shesings]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 8:02pm

but how is it going to catch the mouse with no claws?

[Winokur_fan]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 8:48pm

If you are going to declaw your kitten, make sure that it atleast has it's rear claws. Even though a cat could catch a mouse with it's mouth and bat it around to death, it would be more effective to have the front claws. Perhaps before getting the claws taken out you should see if the kitten tears up the appartment. I have 3 kittens and they all have their claws (we live in town too) and they don't tear anything up. We also have mice...lots of them. My newest kitten, Toby, caught her first mouse when she was 5 weeks old (Scared me to death!). I would try not getting it declawed yet. And note, that it would be really horrible to have the kitten just to catch the mouse, but then get rid of it after the job was done. Believe me that you will get attachted and so will your wife--all animals tend to leave a paw print on your heart. Good luck!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 9:09pm

Have no fear. My wife now says she wants to keep the cat. If she saw one mouse , whether or not it is caught, she will want a cat for the rest of her life to keep the invading hordes of mice @ bay

We have a leather couch & loveseat. I know I had a scratching post for my old cats. After 5 minutes, they determined they had more fun ripping my couch to threads. I will have her ask a lot of questions before she gets it. I am also trying to steer her towards the pound so it saves a cat from being destroyed. We have to know if our neighbor will watch it when we go to Las Vegas in January for a week ( & for future vacations). It was a hard decision giving my 2 cats up when I moved in. One I raised from a kitten left on my doorstep & it was huge & had a disposition like it was doped up. Another I got from a neighbor . It died getting the feline equivilent of breast cancer. I spent about $ 1 K to have it cut out only to have it grow back. I cam back from vacation & it was dead on the floor. It did not suffer. I took it to the vet to have it creamated. I replaced that cat ( since my other cat was always used to having another cat around) & the new cat seemed to be on speed

I will keep you posted & thanks for the advice

Updated On: 10/7/04 at 09:09 PM

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 9:14pm

We have mice in my office at the school. They don't bother me so much but they cause my office manager to jump up on her chair everytime one runs by. Which usually makes my day. The maintenance people at the school have taken to putting down glue traps, which I think are horribly cruel. So..everytime they put a new batch down I go around and throw them out.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 9:20pm

If someone has a very real fear of mice ( for whatever reason - my mother did as well ) glue traps ( no matter how cruel you may think they are ) have to be an option. You could say it is cruel to slaughter animals for food so how do you eat meat & square this practice ? If you are a vegetarian, I apologize.

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 9:32pm

i've had a few mice to catch in my current apartment. i tried all kinds of traps and not once did the mice go near any of them. poison has been the key everytime. i'd just set out a paper plate filled with rat poison from the drugstore before I left for the day. i'd get home, the plate and its contents would be all spilled and dissheveled, and the mouse would never show up again.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 9:59pm

Of all the terrible topics for a thread!

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 10:03pm

we could do roaches.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/7/04 at 10:37pm

I got a kitten recently - I had wanted one for a while, and when the mice that seem to love my house started getting too smart for traps, I opted for the natural solution - a cat. It's now been a month, and I haven't seen a mouse, nor a single mouse dropping. Either the cat is getting them and disposing of them deep in the recesses of the basement, or the mice are smart enough to smell or in some way sense the new presence of the cat, and are staying the hell out of the house!

Either way, the cat is adorable and affectionate and entertaining!