Mousie question

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Kreisleriana - 21 Feb 2005 20:52 GMT

When any of your little darlings materializes with a (still-alive)
mouse, do any of you do anything to intervene? Normally, I don't do
anything, I just pray for him to kill it quick so I can get rid of it.
But Stink tends to take his time with them, since he's more interested
in playing with them than anything else. Maybe I'm a slovenly,
cat-centered housekeeper, but I don't feel like there's much I can do
in the circumstances. Either he'll kill the poor thing, and I can
dispose of it then, or he'll eventually let it go, and it wisely
lights out for the Territory. :P

But when my mom is around, she absolutely freaks out at the sight of
a live mouse. She cannot deal with it at all. She cannot abide the
idea of a live mouse running around somewhere. She makes me feel like
there is something I can or should be doing about it, but I just don't
know what. Any thoughts?

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

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Katz - 21 Feb 2005 21:07 GMT

I don't know how to deal w/your Mom. When my cats get a mouse, I try to
get it away from them so I can release it outside. I'm not usually very
successful. They won't let me get near them. They, also, prefer to play
a poor mousie to death. :( What happens most often is that the mouse
eventually gets away. I don't know whether they live or die after they
escape. :(

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PatM - 21 Feb 2005 21:29 GMT

No wise thoughts on mousie problems, I'm kinda like you. But, with
your mom in mind, I have to share a story. When I was a little girl
I used to go stay with my half-sister. Her 2 boys were just about my
age. At that time she lived in a trailer out in the wilds of Montana,
with no running water or "facilities". I thought it was quite a
lark--like camping! At night I would sleep in a built-in bunk in a
sleeping bag and the mousies would scamper and play across my feet all
night (she had no cats). I also thought that was great! Years and
years (enough with the years!) later we were reminiscing and I told her
about that...she just wanted to die!LOLOL PatM

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jmcquown - 21 Feb 2005 23:19 GMT

> When any of your little darlings materializes with a (still-alive)
> mouse, do any of you do anything to intervene? Normally, I don't do
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
> My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Sorry, can't help you. Persia has never caught a real mouse. I found one
dead in the kitchen once and she halted in the doorway and squeaked at me.
She wouldn't go into the kitchen until I removed the tiny mouse corpse.

Jill

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Mary - 21 Feb 2005 23:59 GMT

"jmcquown" <jmcquown@bellsouth.net> wrote :

> Sorry, can't help you. Persia has never caught a real mouse. I found one
> dead in the kitchen once and she halted in the doorway and squeaked at me.
> She wouldn't go into the kitchen until I removed the tiny mouse corpse.

My cats are of the same mind. If I were to skin, filet and sautee the
mouse, there is still no guarantee they would be interested!

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Lesley Madigan - 22 Feb 2005 13:35 GMT

Persia sounds nearly as bad as Isis. Our neighbours got mice and one
night I saw a little mouse scampering across my kitchen floor.

Then it saw Isis and froze. I wouldn't like to be a mouse who's just
seen a large tabby cat stalk towards them

She sniffed it as if giving it a little kiss and walked off again
leaving the mouse in a state of shock. It recovered after a minute and
ran off probably thinking "No-one at the nest will believe me!"

That damn cat watched too many wildlife programmes on the telly, she
must have become an ecologist or something

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

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Ted Davis - 22 Feb 2005 01:19 GMT

>When any of your little darlings materializes with a (still-alive)
>mouse, do any of you do anything to intervene? Normally, I don't do
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>dispose of it then, or he'll eventually let it go, and it wisely
>lights out for the Territory. :P

As it happened, I had an opportunity to create a short photo essay on
the end-game part of such and encounter this evening:
<http://gearbox.maem.umr.edu/tdavis/cats/2005/mouse_hunting_1.html>.
(No blood and gore - too far away, but it does include Mudpie caught
in a classic pounce.)

Signature

T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu)

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Katz - 22 Feb 2005 02:11 GMT

Ooh! Your kids are lucky. They have a big field for hunting.

Katz

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Ted Davis - 22 Feb 2005 03:35 GMT

>Ooh! Your kids are lucky. They have a big field for hunting.

Not just my 6.27 acres, most of which is overgrown pasture - the
property to the back and one side is essentially abandoned ... and
beyond that lie woods and pastures for miles. They still like to play
with their catches inside or in the open - and mowed - back yard,
regardless of where they catch them. The seldom venture very far
toward the road (a Good Thing).

Signature

T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu)

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Marina - 22 Feb 2005 04:26 GMT

> When any of your little darlings materializes with a (still-alive)
> mouse, do any of you do anything to intervene? Normally, I don't do
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> there is something I can or should be doing about it, but I just don't
> know what. Any thoughts?

I don't have any advice for your mother. I usually just let the cats get
on with it when they bring home a vole on the island. It's usually
Nikki, and since she has given up on teaching me how to hunt, she
usually brings them home dead. Luckily, our Mum doesn't freak out over
dead voles. She's not thrilled at having to clean out half-eaten
carcasses from our shed when I've left the cats in her care, but she's
quite pleased that the cats keep the voles in check and out of her
vegetable garden.

Signature

Marina, Frank and Nikki
marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

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