Cats and rodents

[nw6675]

DD11 has it in her mind that her dream pet is a mouse or hamster. We are a two cat, one dog family. Going to see the big mouse himself isn't enough...

In all seriousness, does anyone have indoor cats with a mouse or hamster? Still alive that is lol.

We've fended off for two years and said absolutely not, but there is now the tiniest crack in the surface. Are their cages that are cat proof and won't traumatize the Itty bitty creature?

 

[BrianL]

It can very much depend on the temperament of the cats. My old cat, a big 'ol boy named Sylvester, he couldn't have cared less about a rodent. He was a very Garfield-like cat! One time a squirrell got in the house and it was scrambling at the door trying to get back out. Syl was lying not 5 feet away. He didn't get up.

Now, my current cat would probably lose her mind! Silvian HATES other animals, especially other cats, but she'll chase stuff and 'hunt' her little feather toy every night. She'd probably be scheming to get at the hamsters. She's much more like Sylvester's namesake then he ever was.

 

[kymom99]

My son had gerbils and we have cats. The gerbils were kept in a glass fish tank. We didn’t let the cats in the room with the gerbils.

 

[barb969]

Don’t get a hampster unless you can keep it far away from the bedrooms. Hamsters are up all night rummaging around the cage and running in their wheel. Mice make much better pets.
My sister had 3 cats, a dog and a guinea pig with no problems.

 

[Imzadi]

We didn’t let the cats in the room with the gerbils.

Have a plan where you are going to keep the mouse or hampster. They are nocturnal. So, if you are planning on keeping the cage in your DD's bedroom, that might not work. It my keep her up all night as it's scratching around, running on the wheel and around it's cage.

 

[Micca]

DDs house is home to a dog, two cats, and a guinea pig. The guinea pig lives in a large cage that the cats used to sleep on top of. How that guinea pig has not been traumatized, I'll never know (but he seems ok.) The cats have never acted aggressively to the gp, and they cats seem to have found more comfortable spots to snooze.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our cat has a high prey drive. He spots a ladybug (well usually Asian ladybeetles but sometimes actually ladybugs) by the front door while he's laying on the couch. He can spot the house centipedes and the spiders so fast. He can hear the birds outside and runs quickly to chirp and paw at the door. His toys are mostly mice with tails so I'm guessing he could at least recognize the shape of a rodent close enough. Our cat is also fairly smart and I wouldn't trust that he couldn't find a way to open the cage or sneak into the room. He hates being locked out of places and we have to be very careful about the basement door because it only takes half a second before he's running down there if we leave the door even cracked while doing something. We already have a kitty proof dry food timed feeder because we know he could get into one that isn't kitty proof.

So I wouldn't get one in our household.

I think you gotta know how your particular cat would act. Also the dog. Don't just assume the dog wouldn't do something depending on the type of dog.

A question I would have is would the hamster or mouse actually get the attention with having the other pets in the household.

 

[Mango7100]

We have 3 cats and 2 guinea pigs. Never thought we would have rodents, but yet here we are after DD had a class guinea pig last year. I love them way more than I was expecting. The guinea pigs live in a huge cage (literally 14 sq feet) with a roof. Our cats slept on the roof for the first few weeks and then stopped. The Guinea pigs have plenty of hiding spaces like tunnels and cave beds. We let the pigs out for supervised floor time and the cats mainly watch them but are slightly scared of them. Now one of the cats and the guinea pigs will all sleep on our lap together.

Just buy a sturdy cage with a good roof and make sure it is big enough (12x24 inches is the minimum for one hamster but should be bigger). As someone else mentioned hamsters are nocturnal, so that may be an issue with being in your kids bedroom. And in all seriousness, consider getting a rat instead. They make wonderful pets—very social, want to play, intelligent, less likely to bite than hamsters, and their body size makes them a bit easier to handle.

 

[Meriweather]

Growing up, DD had a hamster and a couple of birds.
They were kept in her room and the door was closed.
We had 2 cats. They brought us lots of rodents from the yard, we didn't need them to find a member of the family "to play with"

 

[nw6675]

A question I would have is would the hamster or mouse actually get the attention with having the other pets in the household.

This is what I'm afraid of!

And the thought of dealing with yet another creature when we go on vacation drives me nuts. We could stay in a value for a week for what it costs us to house the cats and dog on vacation!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We always have hamsters. We don’t have cats but we have a Cairn Terrier who was bred to flush out and kill rodents. He knows the hamster is part of the family and ignores him (though we don’t ever give him the complete chance to prove us wrong). I think the poster who said it depends on all the personalities is right. That said we have a cage that is safe, and you can always lock it if you need to. Lots of households have a mix of pets that seem to get along. The hamster also sleeps in DD’s bedroom. We have the silent wheel, but she’s also used to the noise if it makes any. She takes him out at night for a while for a vegetable or bread snack and to maybe take a stroll around in his ball (with dogs right nearby). I wish I could find a picture but I can’t right now. Will try to post one later if I can find one.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Can you get her a Minnie or Mickey plush toy, and call it good?

 

[holden]

We have two cats and had one hamster. One cat was very interested in the hamster; one was not. The interested cat cried to get into the room where the hamster was. He basically just watched the hamster, who slept burrowed most of the day (he was up at night).

FYI the hamster died of natural causes 4 months after we got him. I'm thinking they don't live very long. I remember our kids' nursery school was constantly replacing the hamsters lol.

 

[nw6675]

Can you get her a Minnie or Mickey plush toy, and call it good?

I wish!!! Even annual deluxe stay trips and squishmallows galore can't shake her.

I'm just going to have to take a hard line on this. I can't bear another creature.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We have two cats and had one hamster. One cat was very interested in the hamster; one was not. The interested cat cried to get into the room where the hamster was. He basically just watched the hamster, who slept burrowed most of the day (he was up at night).

FYI the hamster died of natural causes 4 months after we got him. I'm thinking they don't live very long. I remember our kids' nursery school was constantly replacing the hamsters lol.

We’ve had probably twelve hamsters. They live about two years, generally.

 

[mrs. magoo]

We have had guinea pigs and now a rabbit with 2 dogs. The dogs always ignored the guinea pigs but our new puppy definitely wants to kill the rabbit. He almost did in the first 2 weeks we had him. We knew this could happen since the new puppy is a hound. The rescue felt he would be ok since he had lived with a cat and he was only 9 weeks when we adopted him. His prey drive is just too much. He cornered her on multiple occasions and she stopped eating. I thought for sure she was going to die but I moved her cage into another room and the dog is not as interested but they can never be alone because he would totally kill her if he could. I feel bad for her since she used to be able to have cage free time every night but now can only be out 2 times a week when Hamilton is at daycare. She does have a large pen but it is still not the same. I would never give her up though since rabbits are so hard to place.

 

[lanejudy]

Also the dog. Don't just assume the dog wouldn't do something depending on the type of dog.

So true! We had a guinea pig for several years. No other pets of our own, but often had dogs who would visit. With one dog we had to put the guinea pig in another room with the door closed; the hunting instinct was very dominant. The other dog was no problem, and in fact we still laugh about the time the guinea pig scared the dog.

DD11 has it in her mind that her dream pet is a mouse or hamster.

Does she know what's involved to care for a small rodent? Is she prepared to do all the work? I'd make any discussion dependent on her agreement to do that -- AND find some loathesome chore that must be done regularly around the house for her to "prove" her commitment. (If she's willing to clean all toilets in the house every day for a month, then maybe she is really serious about taking care of a rodent.)

And the thought of dealing with yet another creature when we go on vacation drives me nuts. We could stay in a value for a week for what it costs us to house the cats and dog on vacation!

That's a good point. We tried getting friends to babysit the guinea pig but it just didn't work well. We ended up boarding it at the vet, which added expense to the vacation budget.

 

[tvguy]

We had a cat and got a hamster. Cat never went near the hamster cage. And we got one of those plastic balls for the hamster to run around the house in. Other than raising her head and looking a little annoyed by the hamster when he rolled by, cat didn't care.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We’ve had probably twelve hamsters. They live about two years, generally.

Which is why I don't care for them as pets I prefer ones with a long life span.

 

[Colleen27]

A decent cage and supervision during out-of-cage play time can make it work. And depending on your cats, you might be worrying for nothing. We have dwarf breed rabbits - just a touch bigger than a guinea pig - and three cats. One cat likes to play, gently, and cuddle with the buns when they're out. One is scared of the rabbits. And one ignores them entirely. Since the rabbits are little cord-eaters, they're always supervised when out of their cages anyway but the cats haven't hassled them at all.

The dog can get a little twitchy - she's a border collie and sometimes tries to herd them back to their proper homes - but is generally pretty gentle/careful with them as well. But she's such a silly animal that when a wild bunny had babies along the fence at the front of our yard, she tried to stand guard and keep other dogs away from the den, not realizing she was panicking the rabbit mom in the process.