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Do cats really control mice?


Debbi in Texas
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For the second time this year, we have a mouse problem. The first time, it took Forever to get rid of them. We had out about 10 traps, then called the exterminator and he set out some more in a single wide trailer. Still, it took another month or so.

 

I really want this to end. Would a cat help me?

 

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Experience from growing up- if the cat wants to catch the mice and get rid of them, it will. Or you have the cat who does not give a poop and watches them in the house from whatever piece of furniture it chooses.  

 

We had one cat who was great and did rodent removal well in the house and yard.  The other couldn't give a poop and barely lifted his head to look at anything.

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IME, yes. The only times when mice have set up camp in our house was during times we did not have a cat. Once we got one (or two) cats, mice didn't come in any more.

 

The same is true at my MIL's farm. Now that there are no cats there, the mice are going insane.

 

All of my cats have been natural mousers. I don't know if that's luck or heritage or what, but we haven't had any "cushion" cats; our cats have been useful as well as dear pets.

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We've had both types. From my experience, a cat that comes from a mother that is mouser will be one too. They have to be taught how to hunt or else they just won't do it. If you go for it, ask around for a kitten but probe into habits of the mother.

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Rats can help. They are the best pet for this!

 

From what I understand, and it worked for us: If you have pet rats in the house, the mice will come into your house and smell them. The mice will then leave because they don't want to mess with rats. 

 

When we had rats we had no mice problem, and didn't for almost a year after they died. 

 

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If you get a cat that's a good mouser, it will control the mice. I have four cats. One of them catches anything that moves; the other three are lazy and completely useless, lol. Your best bet would probably be to try to adopt an adult cat that has a good track record with catching small furry creatures.

 

And keep in mind that if you let the cat outside, it's also going to control the rabbits, and the birds, and the small reptiles... Cats that like to hunt mice will also hunt anything else small enough for them to eat.

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Yes. We used to live in the country and always had problems with mice. Lots of live-trapping and relocating.

 

We adopted a stray cat who showed up at our back door. Our mouse problems disappeared. However, we suspect he was a former barn cat. You may want to adopt a kitten from a farm.  :)

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they can.  my sil had a farm - with LOTS of mice.  she took in any cat someone wanted to get rid of.  she fed them, she vaccinated them . . . their job, was to keep down the mice population.  and they did.

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If you get a cat that's a good mouser, it will control the mice. I have four cats. One of them catches anything that moves; the other three are lazy and completely useless, lol. Your best bet would probably be to try to adopt an adult cat that has a good track record with catching small furry creatures.

 

And keep in mind that if you let the cat outside, it's also going to control the rabbits, and the birds, and the small reptiles... Cats that like to hunt mice will also hunt anything else small enough for them to eat.

 

rabbits????

that just might be motivation for me to get dudeling a cat . . . .

what a good hypoallergenic breed?

 

I hate the resident rabbits.  they've been eating all the violets off my plants.  they're neatly trimmed ... . .

 

eta: years ago, our neighbors had a cat that took care of the mole population..  . . . no one had a mole problem until the cat moved/died.

Edited by gardenmom5
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rabbits????

that just might be motivation for me to get dudeling a cat . . . .

what a good hypoallergenic breed?

 

I hate the resident rabbits. they've been eating all the violets off my plants. they're neatly trimmed ... . .

 

eta: years ago, our neighbors had a cat that took care of the mole population.. . . . no one had a mole problem until the cat moved/died.

Easy solution for the rabbits- human hair. You sprinkle it around the area you don't want them. You will have to replace it every couple of weeks to keep the smell. They don't like it.

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rabbits????

that just might be motivation for me to get dudeling a cat . . . .

what a good hypoallergenic breed?

 

I hate the resident rabbits.  they've been eating all the violets off my plants.  they're neatly trimmed ... . .

 

Yup. My big orange male (who's really more of a small tiger than a large cat, lol) catches and eats rabbits. We regularly find, er, leftovers out in the yard. :blink: 

 

Siberians are supposed to have less of the protein that causes the allergic reaction, and are supposedly very large and athletic, though I haven't had one myself.

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I agree with others. I've had two mousers. They will either eat the mouse or leave it as a present.

 

We used to have a problem with mice outside, but no more.

 

I also have had cats that would watch the mice. Never made a move to catch them.

 

I'm not certain how to tell which cats would be good mousers though. It's just luck of the draw for me.

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For the second time this year, we have a mouse problem. The first time, it took Forever to get rid of them. We had out about 10 traps, then called the exterminator and he set out some more in a single wide trailer. Still, it took another month or so.

 

I really want this to end. Would a cat help me?

 

Yes.  You need 10.  I'll be right there. 

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Experience from growing up- if the cat wants to catch the mice and get rid of them, it will. Or you have the cat who does not give a poop and watches them in the house from whatever piece of furniture it chooses.  

 

We had one cat who was great and did rodent removal well in the house and yard.  The other couldn't give a poop and barely lifted his head to look at anything.

 

 

give a poop...... :lol:   that made me LOL.

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We have a dog who chases them and often kills them, we often say she is more like a cat though.  She won't come when you call if she doesn't feel like it, she doesn't need a lot of cuddling or attention, she prefers attention on her own terms, and she catches all sorts of things.  

She has killed mice in the house, caught squirrels outside, brought us dead snakes, kills moles, caught wild rabbits, and has tried to pick up a turtle with her mouth.  Oh, and a bazillion lizards.

 

She is a strange dog, but definitely a hunter.

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Like previous posters have mentioned, it depends on the cat. We had one that liked to play with mice, but wouldn't dream of harming them. He would literally put his paw on top of a mouse and stop it, then lift his paw to let it go and watch it run, then chase it and stop it again, but he would not bite it, or even put his claws out. It was entertaining, but didn't really keep the mouse population down. :lol:

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Serious time.  IME, your better mousers are the unaltered females.  Your worst mousers are the unaltered males.  Tom cats have a reputation for a reason and OMG are those buggers lazy!  That said, please spay and neuter any cats you get.  They, and you, will be happier.  Although everyone says kittens are adorable, it is, IME, nigh on impossible to find homes for homeless kittens.  It breaks my heart. 

 

But back to your mousing problem.  For best results you want to be able to have the cat be an indoor-outdoor cat.  The mice need to be controlled BEFORE they get in your house which means kitties need to patrol outside of it.  I don't know your living/neighbourhood situation, so I don't know how possible that is for you. If it isn't, at least make sure kitties can go in every part of the house easily -- basement, attic, etc. 

 

If you end up with kitties that like to bring you dead mice, try not to freak out on them.  They are just concerned for you.  If they bring you dead prey, it's because they think you're an incompetent cat who can't feed itself and they're trying to help you.  It's pretty much as high up on the chain of cat love signs that you can get.  "Here. Eat something, you pathetic non-cat.  I'd rather you not die."   So sweet. :001_wub: 

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For the second time this year, we have a mouse problem. The first time, it took Forever to get rid of them. We had out about 10 traps, then called the exterminator and he set out some more in a single wide trailer. Still, it took another month or so.

 

I really want this to end. Would a cat help me?

We live in a house in the middle of a field.  When we first moved here, we did not have a cat.  That changed after the mice started taking over.  Then we got a cat.  Unfortunately, she wasn't spayed and had kittens, then she disappeared and we were left with five kittens.  We kept a male and a female from the litter.  We had them both fixed.

 

As mentioned previously, the cats need access to virtually every part of the house in order to keep the mouse population at bay.  In our case, that means the attic and crawlspace and all of the outdoors.  The male resembled a Russian Blue and was the most amazing mouser you could imagine (he died a few years ago).  He would often catch three mice each day outside, even in the wintertime when there was snow on the ground.  His sister was pretty decent at catching mice in the house, but didn't really like to go outside.  Together it took these two cats about a decade to reduce the mouse population around our house to the point where we do haven't seen anything inside for several years (we've lived here about 20 years now).

 

Note that we have to worm them every few months because they get worms from eating the mice.  Fortunately, Walmart sells worm medicine fairly cheaply.

 

We now have three cats, including the female mentioned above and two young spayed males.  They all have access to both the indoors and the outdoors.  The female prefers being in the house while the males *usually* prefer the outdoors.  They drag dead voles, shrews and occasionally mice to the house, but not too many.

 

So, yes, good mousers *can* control mice, but it can take a long time to turn around the problem.  We have gotten there with our cats and we would not consider living here without them again.

 

One final note:  Our mouse problem usually gets worse as cold weather comes on in the fall.  That is when the mice start to look for a warm place to nest for the wintertime.

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Yes. Get a Cat. Hopefully one that enjoys being a "Mouser" and hunting. They have tremendous patience...

 

We live in a huge rural subdivision, in the Tropics, and we have cats as well as dogs. The cats are primarily here to control mice.  They are indoor/outdoor cats.

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We are rural and the only time in 25 years we have had a mouse in the house is when one of the cats brought a LIVE mouse in the house and let it go......three days and $5 bounty later our foster son caught it and we rehomed it. We have 1-2 barn cats at all times as well as an indoor cat most of the time.

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We got 2 cats about 11 years ago. They caught 1 mouse, and we never saw signs of another in the house.  Outside and in our crawlspace, there's clearly lots and lots of field mouse activity, but they've never come inside since that one kill.  (And we're down to one cat.)

 

I wish this topic hadn't been brought up, because I've been looking forward to eventually having 0 cats.  But I really don't want mice!!!

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My experience has been that when we have cats around, even just indoor cats, we have no mice problem. We also have no mole problem, which is an issue in our area. We have two indoor cats now who have no mice to catch so they catch flies instead. Seriously, they never miss! Our previous indoor/outdoor cat was a great hunter and would occasionally bring his "gifts" to the back porch.  :ohmy:

 

My mother had a stray show up on her property. The stray took care of her mouse and mole problem and then eventually left.

 

Our local animal shelter is advertising barn cats to help with mice for people who don't want a house cat but are willing to adopt a cat and keep it outside. I'd love to do that but we have too many outdoor cats in our neighborhood already and our previous cat was always getting injured and then one day was hit by a car. 

 

All of our cats have been rescue cats. They have all been awesome. 

 

Yes, get a cat. I think your mice trouble will end. 

 

Edited by samba
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We've always had at least 1 cat. We have only ever had mice one time. We ended up calling an exterminator because we were just about to put the house on the market. Can you imagine having a mouse run in front of you at an open house?!? 

 

The exterminator said he couldn't see any signs of a mouse infestation. He said if he didn't know from us telling him that there were mice in the house (the indoor-only cats used to bring them up to my bedroom to play with them and feast), he would've never said there were any mice in the house. He said there were no droppings, no footprints, nothing to show that there had ever been a mouse.  His theory was that my hunter cat was picking them off as they came in their "mouse door". 

 

We currently live next door to a corn field with 1 cat. He's not much of a hunter in his old age, but we still don't have any mice. My next door neighbor has had a few in the past. Now we have a neighbor who lets her cats out, and that (despite the fact that it irritates me to no end) probably keeps the population down.

 

ETA: funny story on gifts left by cats. I had one cat who used to leave me just the heads. I never knew if that was the delicacy and he was giving up the best part as a show of his love or if it was a "Here you go, you bad hunter. You don't hunt? You don't get the good part." My father used to joke that I should put them on little pikes lining the front sidewalk as a warning to other rodents.

Edited by beckyjo
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We've had cats ever since we've been married, in and outside. I have never in all the time I lived in either of my houses seen a rodent inside.

 

I occasionally see rodents outside, but they don't seem to last long. I've also only seen 1 snake in the last 10 years.

 

Our cats (and dogs) also keep the moles at bay as well.

 

The worst part for me is that the cats do get birds sometimes, and that's just sad, but I'll always have at least a few around here.

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Cat alternatives, for a presumably temporary mouse problem?  Same kid who is allergic to cats and has asthma is also allergic to peanut, which his twin brother is begging me to put on the sticky traps.  We haven't had mice in years, but we had some yard work done while we were on vacation and that might have disturbed a nest or something - lots of field mice in our area.  Upon our return, I found mouse evidence, very small amounts, in almost every room in the house.  The mouse has been taunting me, a la Caddyshack - twice now in the morning, I found a tiny mouse poop right on top of the clothes I left on the closet floor that I had worn the day before.  Hoping there's only one.  What's the best bait for sticky traps?

(ETA, I wouldn't mind one of the neighborhood bull snakes coming to live in the yard, but not in the house...)

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Serious time.  IME, your better mousers are the unaltered females.  Your worst mousers are the unaltered males.  Tom cats have a reputation for a reason and OMG are those buggers lazy!  That said, please spay and neuter any cats you get.  They, and you, will be happier.  Although everyone says kittens are adorable, it is, IME, nigh on impossible to find homes for homeless kittens.  It breaks my heart. 

 

But back to your mousing problem.  For best results you want to be able to have the cat be an indoor-outdoor cat.  The mice need to be controlled BEFORE they get in your house which means kitties need to patrol outside of it.  I don't know your living/neighbourhood situation, so I don't know how possible that is for you. If it isn't, at least make sure kitties can go in every part of the house easily -- basement, attic, etc. 

 

If you end up with kitties that like to bring you dead mice, try not to freak out on them.  They are just concerned for you.  If they bring you dead prey, it's because they think you're an incompetent cat who can't feed itself and they're trying to help you.  It's pretty much as high up on the chain of cat love signs that you can get.  "Here. Eat something, you pathetic non-cat.  I'd rather you not die."   So sweet. :001_wub:

 

 

This is hilarious.  And true.  

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Yep! Get a female cat and you are good to go :) Some color strains of cats are more known for their fiesty ability to hunt mice. The torti colored short haired females are usually really great mousers. They aren't always the best pets so there is a trade off. They are often stand offish and much prefer to be left alone.

 

I learned this while working in a vet clinic as an undergrad so when we moved somewhere with mice we got our female Torti who does a REALLY great job. :)

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Apparently at least one of our new cats like to catch mice.  One of them left us a gift in our bedroom this morning...yuck :eek:

 

 

thank the kitty.  you want them to catch mice.

 

our neighbor's cat brought in a live vole and gave it to them to admire. the GSD promptly ate it.  :lol:   the cat was like  . . wha . . . ????. but, but, that was mine    :smilielol5: 

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I'd get a cat or kitten from a rural family or a farm family that has been socialized with the family. You don't want a barn cat that is from half-feral parents, but you are more likely to get a cat who doesn't care about mice from a cushy suburban family. I have had 3 cats- one is an excellent hunter, the other is sort of interested in moths but not enough to actually exert effort, the other didn't hunt anything. My hunter is a humongous male orange from a very rural shelter. The others were random strays one found on the street in a city and the other from a rural shelter, so you never know what you will get.

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They don't even have to be great mousers. Just if they're putting in some effort and leaving their smell everywhere, it'll usually do it IME.

 

But I also agree that if you don't want a cat, don't get one. Look into plugging up the house instead. Also IME, borrowing for a few weeks won't really do it.

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We've had both types. From my experience, a cat that comes from a mother that is mouser will be one too. They have to be taught how to hunt or else they just won't do it. If you go for it, ask around for a kitten but probe into habits of the mother.

 

Maybe.

 

Our cat is a wonderful mouser, but she came to us at about 3 weeks old (her mom was feral and she and her brothers were found abandoned).  Is 3 weeks old enough to learn?

 

I think a lot of it is inborn.

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in short, no....in fact, ours would catch them and drop them live on dd's bed in the middle of the night as a "gift".  The poor girl could hardly sleep for months.

 

We tried everything .... snap traps, bait, etc, etc, etc and the oddest thing worked.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Hotel-Mousetrap-Capture-Transparent/dp/B00KHFJ48C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501118460&sr=8-1&keywords=mouse+hotel

 

We just release them into a forest.  They love peanut butter sandwich cookies.

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