I live in the country, in the woods. There is some farmland, however it is mostly woods. As a result there is a lot of wildlife here, it is normal to see deer in our yard eating our cedar trees or watch the pack of turkey run across our driveway. We also have a huge mole problem and we now have a small mouse problem. This is a concern because I have a total of 5 cats. 2 cats are great, they are cold, calculating, merciless killers who normally bring me 1-2 moles/mice a week. These cats are spoiled with canned cat food every night and as much dry cat food they want. These are my barn cats, they were born in a barn, have never known a warm house and are the best barn cats I could have ever wished for.
I also have 3 indoor cats that I have had for numerous years. These have never been outdoor cats, except my little tabby who we adopted from a rescue and probably lived outside. They live the life of luxury keeping the house safe from vicious birds that perch upon the birdfeeder by the window, sleeping in sunbeams and staying available for being disturbed. Until lately, the house cats' job was to be disturbed for my entertainment. Sleeping cat? Disturbed. Cold lap/toes and warm cat belly? Disturbed. Look lazy? Disturbed. Since we have moved in the country and we now have some mice that have taken residence, I figured the problem would be automatically solved.
How mistaken I was. These lazy indoor cats may attempt to chase gerbils that are in cages but they do nothing for mice in walls. Or mice chewing the dog food bag and stealing dog food. Or mice that steal pieces of toilet paper, napkins or tissues. Alas I finally broke down and bought mouse traps, despite having 3 (obviously not) mouse killers. I have now caught my third mouse within a week and am patiently awaiting a new catch. I have no idea how big of a problem I have, but am expecting the worst so I will continue my hunt. Which my lazy cats are not doing. Come spring, some can become indoor/outdoor cats and they can learn to earn their keep, they need to be schooled by the real killers I employ outside. Lazy cats.
ROFLOL! Yep the indoor cats almost never seem to be good mousers. I had a horrible mouse problem last year and I kept trapping and trapping and trapping and more just kept appearing so I finally gave up and bought poison. I got the green kind that is supposedly safe for dogs. That took care of the problem. Most of them would stumble out into the open and then sit there in a daze and we were able to get rid of them. I always worried that the dogs would get hold of them and Jackal did get a dead one and carried it to the couch! Ew! I changed the sheets on the couch and was tempted to wash his mouth out, but just put him outside all day instead. We only had one that died in the walls or something and smelled horrible, but it didn't last long and it was so much better than the wasted food and mouse poop all over the place. Ugh! I hate mice! I hope you get your problem taken care of quickly. If you think the traps aren't working don't hesitate too long to get poison because I heard somewhere they're taking all poison off the market because it's "too dangerous". *rolls eyes* I don't know what we will do for bad infestations after they do that. Hopefully it was just a rumor. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have caught 6 mice so far, waiting to see how many more I get. I was watching tv last night and heard the trap go off so after making sure it was dead I tried giving the dead mouse to my indoor cats to see what they would do. The small tabby I thought for sure would go after it ignored it. The large tabby kept picking it up but didn't know what to do with it. Ugh! Not planning on resorting to poison simply because of the outdoor cats, but we will see.
ReplyDeleteHmmm I never even thought about the outside cat . . . err I'm glad she never got one of the poisoned ones lol. I just never thought about them going outside since they had it so good in my warm, cozy house. Ugh. Mice drive me crazy. I hope you're making a dent in the population lol.
ReplyDelete