Cats 2, Mice 0

[seebs]

We apparently have mice. Had, at least. We had a mouse a while back, the cats cornered it, Jesse captured it and released it outside some distance from our house. More recently, the cats spent a boring afternoon staring intently at a bookshelf, and experimentally opening their mouths and holding them at ground level in the case of a bit of luck.

Last night, we found a dead mouse in the middle of the floor, with two cat-tooth-spaced holes in it. A bit later, we found the cats playing with another dead mouse.

It appears that they have not quite solved the "how do I eat food" problem, but have figured out how to hunt effectively. So if there are other mice, I'm pretty sure the problem will be self-correcting.

[livius drusus]

My cat has caught two mice as well. The first one I found upon waking. It was fully deceased but Velvet was still playing with it, tossing it around, chasing it, just like she does with the catnip version. The second one she trapped in the hollow leg of the teevee stand and guarded for six uninterrupted, obsessive hours until I figured out how to get mousy into a shoebox and out the door.

[seebs]

One of our cats, long ago, found a mouse hole, which he would guard fiercely until such time as the mouse appeared, whereupon he would run away. I do not think he had quite fully comprehended the advantages of being a twenty-pound animal with claws and teeth confronted with, well, a mouse. (He was a BIG cat.)

I am not particularly opposed to our cats killing mice. Mice wanna live in our house, they take the risks.

[Sock Puppet]

My Dad's Vizla hound dog was an expert mouser. Which was doubly surprising because she was dumber than an underachieving post. But she'd get in the barn and run her long schnozz along the baseboard, and pretty soon you'd hear *chomp*-*gulp*, *chomp*-*gulp*. One chomp and one gulp per critter. :awesome:

[Brimshack]

When I was working at the shelter a lady came in looking for a mouser to clear her barn. After taking some time in the cat room, she settled on a really big cat that we all figured could manage well in a barn and maybe even do some hunting on his own. She brought him back a few days later. Said she found him sleeping soundly, snuggled up in its box beside a perfectly healthy mouse. She picked out another cat, and for the next week or so we had fun trying to adopt out the "Hippy-Cat."

[Kyuss Apollo]

We have renamed teh two orange kitty brothers HK (Hunter-Killer)-1 and HK-2. Most recently they have taken to terminating the squirrels, as the smaller rodents and birds in the yard has apparently experienced an inexplicable population collapse.

[Naru]

No HK-47? :tremble:

[Janet]

At Thanksgiving my friend was telling me about her son's calm reaction to the dead chipmunks their cat leaves on the driveway. They were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks and he matter of factly said, "We had a chipmunk, but it didn't have a head."

[Doctor X]

She picked out another cat, and for the next week or so we had fun trying to adopt out the "Hippy-Cat."

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i26/sugarbug1/pussyfoot77.jpg

Kitty had other priorities. . . .

http://www.tvcream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/feedthekitty.jpg

--J.D.

[curses]

My cats have the catching part down, just not the killing. We usually have to banninate several live chipmunks from the house every year.

[Qingdai]

Flying squirrel, one of my cats brought home a flying squirrel.
I looked in the book case she was guarding and nearly lost it because all I could see were the enormous eyes.

[Angakuk]

Our cat and dog conduct joint exercises against the mice. The dog (who couldn't catch a mouse if her life depended on it) is usually the first of the two to sniff out the presence of a mouse. She then starts to obsessively, and fruitlessly, attempt to get behind or under whatever piece of furniture is providing cover for the mousecreant. Enter the cat. He notices all the hubbub the dog is making and gets up off his fat ass to assess the situation. The cat goes where the dog cannot go and eventually (usually) comes up with mouse and begins to parade about the house, out of dog-reach, proudly displaying the fruits of his prowess as a hunter. Eventually the cat will land somewhere within dog-reach and a tussle over the possession of the mouse will ensue (dog and cat both weigh in at about 15lbs.). If the mouse is not quite dead by this time it usually escapes and has to be recaptured. Upon which occasion the above scenario is repeated. A mouse seldom survives two such treatments. Once the mouse is dead, and the dog has successfully acquired possession of the prize, either the wife or I confiscate the carcass and dispose of it with a minimum of fuss.

With the advent of cold temperatures the indoor mouse population is showing its usual sudden uptick. That means that we are in for some entertainment provided free of charge by the cat and dog team.

[Doctor X]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque.com/media/2009/08/flying-squirrels.jpg

--J.D.