Arthur: Is having a cat an effective way to eliminate mice from my home?
I live in a house with 15 people and we have mice. We tried humane solutions for about a year with not good results, so we tried the poison traps, which worked beautifully. Then we got a cat to kill the mice (and because we love cats anyway). It doesn’t seem to be helping with the mice, but now we can’t use poison traps because we do not want to poison the cat inadvertently. Will the cat eventually kill all the mice, or do we need to do something more, and what should we do?
Answers and Views:
Answer by eric S
it will only kill the mice if you dont feed it. go back to poison but use the cat proof covered ones.
A cat has to be taught that mice are good to catch and eat. If your cat has a full food bowl all the time and has never tried mice, it may find them curious. But, it doesn’t know that they’re food. And, they should be taught at a young age.
I lived in a trailer that had mice and got a cat as a kitten. I left him outside all the time, which was fine with him. One day, I found a baby mouse in the driveway. It was still alive, and so young that it was hairless and hadn’t opened its eyes yet. So, I started playing with the mouse with my kitten, pawing it back and forth with him. After a few minutes, I turned my back on him and turned back in time to see him carrying the baby mouse off to eat it.
About a month later, I noticed that the cat wasn’t eating his food. But, I also noticed that I didn’t hear mice scurrying around the walls and attic anymore.
I used to watch the cat sitting patiently in front of a clump of grass or something, listening intently. Then all of a sudden, he would dip his paw into the clump and flip his paw, and a mouse would come flying out. The cat would torment the mouse for a while until it was near death, and then carry it off to eat it. Sometimes, I would get a stick or whatever and knock the mouse around, playing with the cat. He liked that. And, interestingly enough, he never left any “trophies” in front of the door like some cats are known to do.
Answer by JulieNo. You might have less mice, but if my several cats don’t completely eliminate mice your one cat won’t either. Your best bet is to take away the mice’s food – store all grains, cereal, pasta in sealed plastic containers or in the freezer. Store your dry cat/dog food in trash cans or bins that are mouse-proof. Get rid of piles of newspaper & magazines, old cardboard boxes, furniture that is leaking its stuffing, the things mice like to make their nests out of. If they don’t find what they need in your house they will look for it elsewhere. Congratulations for first trying the humane solutions 🙂Answer by c.alonso04
We moved into a house that had a mice problem and already had a cat. It’s been a year and 10 mice later she only caught and killed one. So I would say that no, they aren’t really effective.
What you gotta do is investigate where they run to when they get scared or where they may be entering from, look for where they poop the most. Then set your trap there. Most of the time they went behind the stove or fridge and the cat couldn’t get there and is where we’d set the traps at.
But no matter what you do, you can never fully get rid of mice. We’ve tried everything and are extremely clean people (no clutter, clean up kitchen after cooking very well) and yet we seemed to get a couple mice every two or three months. We haven’t had one since January but we’re crossing our fingers cuz it’s just plain gross and not to mention diseases that are easily spread and I have my two little kids that I worry about.
Just stay consistent, we used regular mouse traps and put peanut butter or cookie crumbs on it and works every time. They might not bite the first day but eventually they did.
Answer by saaanenAll cats don’t kill mice.
Plus, if they start eating them you’ve got the expense of vet bills to get rid of the worms.
Use traps, or poison in places that are inaccessible.
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