Conference misery::feline_v1

    .....and where there is one baby mouse.......
    
    Are your cats indoor/outdoor, or did they catch
    the mouse inside?  If inside, you might have a
    few more "gifts" to be rescued! (-8
    
    Lynne

    They're inside kitties - so it was quite a treat for them
    to catch this guy..
    
    Actually, I don't think it was a "baby" mouse - it might
    have been full grown.  Mice are so tiny to begin with, that
    they all look like babies to me!

    
    
    	Familiar story - I've rescued 3 so far from my indoor cats.  They 
    	sit every night in front of the stove just waiting for a mouse to
    	come out.  I would think the word would be out to the other mice
    	to NOT come out in the open - because there are two blue eyed
    	kitties just waiting.  
    
    	I woke up to a squeaking sound in the bedroom and there are my
    	two furry kids chasing this poor tiny little mouse.  I too got
    	up and caught it and put it outside.  There was one mouse that I
    	was too late to help, found him dead in the dining room in the
    	morning.  I think they used it for a hockey puck - poor thing.
    
    	As long as I live in the country and have cats, I guess we will
    	have stories like these.
    
    
    	-dee
    

    My family and I have participated in "Great Groton Mouse Hunts" at all 
    hours of the day and night.  We have rescued flying squirrels, real 
    squirrels, chipmunks, water vole, and mice of all kinds.  Thank goodness 
    the cats haven't discovered water snakes.  The worst is trying to pry mice
    out of the heating units.  
    
    I hardly turn a hair anymore at seeing a small furry shape scurring along 
    the floor.  One mouse, however, did scare the life out of me when it fell 
    out of the herb wreath that hangs over the settee, onto my knees.
    
    Why do I keep cats!!!
    

I hate to be a wet blanket, but it is probable that the mice already caught
have internal injuries bad enough to kill them within hours.  Cats catch
mice without concern for their internal organs...even if the cat does not
know what to do with the mouse after it is caught (if not taught to kill
and eat game, cats don't know to eat their catches), the process of
getting the mouse is not gentle.

The mouse population, however, is not likely to be threatened by what
your cats catch - they reproduce at an amazing rate - if you see one,
there are/will be 100's.

    If you are interested in catching the mice without use of poisons or
    cats, we had very good luck with those little hav-a-hart traps using
    peanuts for bait. They cost about 1.50 apiece. At our previous abode,
    we caught 7 mice within a week and a half, at which point they each
    became an outdoor mouse, instead of a house mouse! We released them far
    enough away from the house so they wouldn't find their way back.
    
    ng 

    I really haven't seen or heard any other mice other than the one
    the other night.  Since we've been in our apartment (9 yrs. now),
    we've only had three instances of our kitties catching mice, so
    I really don't anticipate it being a problem.  Thanks for the
    advice anyway!
    
    Pam

    With us it's frogs - all sizes.  I suddenly hear this really alful
    noise, something between a meow and a howl, sometimes they wande around
    the garden with them - sometimes bring upstairs in the middle of the
    night.  Hubby and I take it in turns to take them back to the pond. 
    Sometimes its the same one brought in two or three times a day (I can
    almost hear it saying - aw no not again - we know it's the same one
    because it has a deformed foot).  The last time Ben brought one
    upstairs around 5am - put it down and patted my face to say look what I
    have brought you Mum, can I have some crunchies as a reward.  Frog went
    under the bed and I then lost it.  Went downstairs to make a drink -
    Becky, Ben's sister came running downstairs with frog in her mouth and
    gave it back to me by putting it in the sugar basin and looked at me as
    if to say I'm really good - Ben's really naughty - can I have the
    crunchies.  Frog went back to pond thinking it deserved the crunchies
    and all five cats had an early treat.  They never seem to do them any
    harm and hold them in their mouths very gently - wish they would do the
    same when they catch a bird!!
    
    Cheers
    
    Thelma
    

    Did you know that those cute little loving mice can bite!!  A few
    days before Pam had her episode...I saved a little cute mouse from
    6 of my cats that were ready to attack it.  
    
    Well after I cleared away the cats...I went over to try and pick
    the mouse up by it's tail (there cute...but I didn't want to touch
    it)...well it wiggled and fell back to the ground.  So I said If
    your going to save this little guy...just pick him up.  Which
    I did and the little guy got a hold of my finger and wouldn't
    let it go.  I was in total shock...not that it hurt...but I
    couldn't get him to let go.  As I'm shaking my finger...he
    fell pretty hard to the ground...I picked him back up and
    carried him to the edge of the woods.  He didn't look to
    good...so I'm not sure he made it!  I tried so hard to save
    him...but I'm the one that probably killed him.  (sigh)
    
    Sandy
                                                
                                                           

    RE:  picking a mouse up by the tail [slight digression here folks!]
    
    This seems to be the preferred method of carrying mice... but it looks
    so painful and uncomfortable for the poor mouse!  Does anyone know if
    this is the norm for mouse handling?
    

>    RE:  picking a mouse up by the tail [slight digression here folks!]
>    
>    This seems to be the preferred method of carrying mice... but it looks
>    so painful and uncomfortable for the poor mouse!  Does anyone know if
>    this is the norm for mouse handling?
    
it is probably VERY uncomfortable, however, the "regulation" manner of
carrying a mouse would undoubtably be the way a mom mouse carries babies...
by the scruff - however, mice are so small, it is going to be very hard
to get a piece of the scruff....for health and safety of all parties,
I recommend you use a shoe box or other container to cover the mouse,and
then slide a piece of plastic or cardboard under all to scoop up the mouse.
At the very least handling the mouse must terrify it beyone all reason
and could lead to a heart attack...the poor beasts are at the bottom 
1/3 of the food chain and are, therefore, pretty vulnerable to shock.

Actually, I've never thought about this too much as my older cats would
probably come running to me to "get that horrid thing out of the house!"..
I think Dilly would give a go at hunting it, but the rest of the gang
agree with Woody Allen, they want their food DEAD, not injured or depressed,
BUT DEAD!  They show no instincts to hunt at all.

    Well... it seems that I **do** have more than one mousey in
    my apartment after all.  I was lying on my couch late last
    night reading, when I heard this scratching noise coming from 
    the kitchen.  It couldn't be my cats, cause they were all 
    accounted for, and they were just sitting still.
    
    I went closer to the wall between my livingroom and kitchen and
    definitely heard little mousey noises in the wall.  I have a
    built in cabinet in that wall, so I took out one of the drawers
    and saw two little mousey holes (yes - they really do exist - not
    just in cartoons!!).  So, as an experiment to see if that's where
    they're getting out, I left a half slice of bread there, and put
    the drawer back.
    
    Well, lo and behold, this morning the bread was gone.  Next question...
    where do I buy those mouse have-a-heart traps?  At a hardware store?
    I'd really like to set one in the space behind the drawer - that way
    I can safely catch the mouse without the cats getting at it first.
    I'd also be able to move it far enough away from my house so that it
    probably wouldn't return.
    
    Pam

    Re: .12
    
    Ah, the joys of mousies scratching in the walls at night. At least I
    didn't take to feeding mine bread :-)  Humane societies generally have
    have-a-heart traps for larger animals available for loan (with perhaps
    a security deposit), dunno about mouse-sized traps.  I have heard that
    the latter are available at hardware stores.  probably you should call
    a few places to see.
    

    I buy the hav-a-hart mouse traps at the hardware store store - next to
    the snap traps and decon poison.
    
    The first time we caught a mouse, it was soooo tiny that my husband
    thought it was just the peanut still in there ... until he opened it up
    and almost had a mouse in his pocket!
    
    I always put a few extra air holes in them, because it doesn't seem to
    me that there are enough.
    
    ng