Um yeah, we have mice!

[Disney1fan2002]

They must be coming in to get out of the cold. Our sweet, killer kitty has killed 4 in two weeks.

Question, do we spend hundreds of dollars we DON'T HAVE on an exterminator, or let the cat take care of the problem? We have not seen a live mouse, just the dead ones when the cat is done with it.

 

[marlynnp]

As long as you don't see evidence of them in the pantry, I'd let the cat take care of them. Sounds like she's doing a good job!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

As long as you don't see evidence of them in the pantry, I'd let the cat take care of them. Sounds like she's doing a good job!

No evidence at all. No droppings anywhere that I can see. DH insisted the cat was bringing them in the house..LOL. Yeah, like I am going to let the cat bring a dead mouse in the house. Last night, while we lay in bed listening to the cat "play" with the mouse for about a half hour, DH finally realized the mice were already in the house. I love when I am right! LOL

 

[goofy4tink]

We have three indoor cats....they catch mice all the time. The truly shocking time was when they got a snake....in the basement!!
Anyway....if they have caught one mouse, you know there are many, many more around. Mice never come in pairs.
The thing to watch for is when they get one, kill it and then leave it. If that dead mouse is behind something, it will start to decompose and the stink will be nasty. My cat got a mouse, brought it up to the living room, while we were away last month. She left that mouse behind the sofa. My dd, who was housesitting, never saw it. When we got home, there was this nasty smell in the living room...couldn't figure it out. All I knew is that it smelled like decomposing mouse. Well, it was!!! Yuck.
At this time of year, the mice are really trying to get in where it is warm. We can't figure out where ours are coming from....found some cracks outside and closed them up. But, still the mice come. The cats have lots of fun at night, down in the basement. The worst thing??? When you go down there and are really quiet you can hear the skittering of little feet above your head...

 

[Frankiesmom]

I would really consider an exterminator, if I were you. What your cat is catching is just the tip of the iceberg-they multiply like rabbits.

I'd have to be in a hotel

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I would really consider an exterminator, if I were you. What your cat is catching is just the tip of the iceberg-they multiply like rabbits.

I'd have to be in a hotel

As long as they are not in our beds, and not in the food, they are harmless. No need to move out...LOL.

 

[Darsa]

I gotta say, back at our previous house we had a mouse issue for a little, until our twin kittehs found out about it. It took a few murders, and a couple of exciting times when I tried to rescue and relocate a mouse, but it seemed like the mice caught a clue after a bit and seemed to be staying away from the house. Yay for kittehs!!

 

[puffkin]

I would call an exterminator.

For some reason, I am absolutely terrified of mice. I can handle pretty much any other creature but mice just freak me out. I would be staying somewhere else til the problem was fixed.

 

[Pigeon]

They aren't exactly harmless in that they do cause electrical fires by chewing the insulation off wiring.

I'd buy a bunch of old-fashioned snap-whack-bang traps. They are cheap and they work. Put them in places the cat can't reach. Mice like peanut butter a great deal.

 

[cepmom]

ewww...mice freak me out. Sounds like you cat is doing a good job, but if it were me I'd put down some of those poison things that they eat and whatever is in the poison makes them want to go outside. That way when they die, they're outside and won't stink up your house

 

[Lady V]

We live infront of a big field. When we moved in 5 years ago I noticed a mouse run across the kitchen floor one night. (It had gotten really cold) Well--it really freaked me out and I called Orkin. They have been coming to spray year round ever since and I have not seen any more mice!!! I was so freaked out!!

 

[MrJT]

We had a mouse in the house once. I was in the living room, watching TV, and I noticed that the cat sprung from the top of the couch and landed over by the computer. I looked over, and I saw that the cat was playing with, what looked like a toy mouse. I got a second look, and realized that it wasn't his catnip mouse (which I hadn't seen in ages), and that it had feet. So I was like "umm, bubbles just caught a mouse". My wife and son both freak out. Bubbles takes it down the hall, and messes with it. I follow him, but when I get to the end of the hall, the mouse is gone! It apparently slipped under the door to the guest room. I open the door, but the mouse is gone! Bubbles follow me in the room, and he eventually figures out that it's under the tv stand. He eventually draws the sucker out, I try to catch in a bowl, but I half way missed! It's half way in the bowl, and halfway out. It eventually dies. We show it to Bubbles, so he knows that it's done, and we throw out both the mouse and the bowl.
Never saw evidence of another rodent.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

I'd be afraid that the mice are carrying diseases that could be harmful to your kitty. Also, I am betting that there are several other mice in the house still sneaking around..........

 

[uprivermama]

Do get to work! You've got to:
1. Throw out anything that was open in your pantry (crackers, flour, etc) because what if, right?
2. Look around for the entry point. Gaps around plumbing pipes coming in the house was where we had a problem. Remember that they will squeeze through almost any space.
3. Get the cheapest snap traps you can (available most anywhere), bait them with peanut butter (or soy nut butter for peanuts allergy families--yes it works just as well!), and place the traps along walls in areas you suspect the mice are travelling. Mice generally stay right along the walls, and don't venture out into open spaces.
4. Praise the kitties when they make a kill! I wish we could have had some kitties inside during our little infestation.
5. Be very conscious of leaving food sources available. Seal everything, place in plastic containers, etc.

We were able to get rid of our little visitors pretty quick with these steps. Good luck!

 

[DisneyMomOK]

We had a mouse in the house once. I was in the living room, watching TV, and I noticed that the cat sprung from the top of the couch and landed over by the computer. I looked over, and I saw that the cat was playing with, what looked like a toy mouse. I got a second look, and realized that it wasn't his catnip mouse (which I hadn't seen in ages), and that it had feet. So I was like "umm, bubbles just caught a mouse". My wife and son both freak out. Bubbles takes it down the hall, and messes with it. I follow him, but when I get to the end of the hall, the mouse is gone! It apparently slipped under the door to the guest room. I open the door, but the mouse is gone! Bubbles follow me in the room, and he eventually figures out that it's under the tv stand. He eventually draws the sucker out, I try to catch in a bowl, but I half way missed! It's half way in the bowl, and halfway out. It eventually dies. We show it to Bubbles, so he knows that it's done, and we throw out both the mouse and the bowl.
Never saw evidence of another rodent.

Definitely, a heck of a mouse obituary!!

 

[jlima]

They must be coming in to get out of the cold. Our sweet, killer kitty has killed 4 in two weeks.

Question, do we spend hundreds of dollars we DON'T HAVE on an exterminator, or let the cat take care of the problem? We have not seen a live mouse, just the dead ones when the cat is done with it.

You have a food source, somewhere, that is feeding the mice. Foliage in your yard, bird seed, pet food, food in your house - they are eating something. Do you keep pet food outside or in the garage? If so, you might want to think about moving it into the house.

You must have a water source, somewhere, for the mice to thrive. Do you have a pool or a spa? That's enough.

I would try glue traps or snap traps; and if you still have the mice after a few weeks, then call an exterminator.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I'm going to echo PP's and say: get snap traps. They work, you can toss them out once you've caught a mousie in them, and they're (surprisingly) the most humane way to kill the pesky little mammals.

My DH and one of our cats used to have a running competition on who could catch and kill the most mice. Seriously, they'd bring each other dead mice. V. weird, IMHO, but it got the job done. We always had mice in our NE home, despite having 3 cats, one of whom was a stellar mouser, because we lived in a 200 year old farm house located at the edge of a big field. It was what it was. We kept our food locked up tight, tried to eliminate as many entry points as we could and then trapped and let the cats hunt as many more mice as we could.

In some environments, you're just gonna get mice every winter!

 

[tlh0726]

My husband always said if you see mice you know you do not have rats, they will not live together.
Personally I can handle mice, if I ever saw a rat I would be packing my stuff and moving.

We use decon. Husband sits them on the top of ceiling tiles in the basement.

 

[JimmyPicker]

My husband always said if you see mice you know you do not have rats, they will not live together.
Personally I can handle mice, if I ever saw a rat I would be packing my stuff and moving.

We use decon. Husband sits them on the top of ceiling tiles in the basement.

Decon, is that the poison?

If so, that's a dangerous situation for a pet owner, especially the OP, whose cat likes to catch the mice.

My little puppy had a mouse in the middle of the floor not too long ago. We don't know if the mouse just died there or if the puppy caught and killed it. Either way, the puppy had been messing with the dead mouse, and my husband freaked out because he had put some poison down (where the pets couldn't get to it).

But it had never occurred to him that the pets might get ahold of a mouse that had been poisoned, and get poisoned themselves.

He had to call the Pet Poison Control Center.

Point is, don't use any kind of poison because even if you think your pets can't get to it, they can certainly get the dying mouse that keels over in the middle of your living room floor.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Caught 2 more mice in the garage. They are living under the stairs that go into the house.We are calling them "Mousey Potter".

The dogs want to eat them. Bleech.

I think the recycling bin is attracting them.