complete newbie needs advice

[N0tfinished]

Hello.
I've never had a proper cat, but I've been considering it lately.

My major reason, (apart from finding cats appealing) is that we live in the country and are currently plagued by mice. Every time I get rid of them they come back.

So if I adopted a cat what are the possibilities of getting a good pet & good mouser? Are most cats motivated enough to catch mice?

I'd hope to have an indoor/outdoor cat. Full disclosure: I have a very placid & stupid Labrador. He's very friendly with other dogs, but I don't know how he'd get on with cats. I'm pretty sure he'd try to eat it's food and poop

[lljkk]

lol re faeces.

No guarantees you'll get a mouser, BUT hunting is very strong instinct with most cats. One way to hedge your bets would be to get 2 young cats (sibling black cats).

Cats with high play drive are more likely to have high hunting instinct. So if you visit the cats in a shelter & they are keen to play, they'll probably be keen to hunt. Get 2 because kitten siblings are wonderful & you'll double your chances of at least one good mouser.

[Mincepies76]

I've had 4 cats that were pets (have an indoor cat now) and 1 of the 4 occasionally caught a mouse or 2. One only had 3 lets so you can't really include him. His brother was very proud of himself when he killed a nest of baby birds (to our horror) but that's all he did...he saw a frog once and was terrified!
Hopefully other people will have more helpful information! I imagine if you have lots of mice about the cat will go for them!

[Mincepies76]

3 legs!! I had 2 black boy brothers...that was the 3 legs and scared of frogs!

[Tartyflette]

We got two cats, brother and sister, partly because we too wanted to get rid of mice (also live in the country); they were lovely and quickly became part of the family but OMG we have never had so much wildlife in the house.

They kept bringing the fuckers in. Alive and dead. So in addition to mouse carcases, the mice would also escape, often injured, and we would then find loads of flies the dead bodies under cupboards, behind the fridge, etc etc.

And then there were the birds, also dead and alive. Robins, blue tits, sparrows, blackbirds. A couple of baby rabbits.

And RATS. Shudder. We found one in a bedroom once, quickly grabbed a cat and slung him in there too. Completely uninterested in the rat and just sat there washing its bum. (His own, not the rat's.). DH had to dispatch the rat in the end.

We loved them to pieces. Honestly!

[N0tfinished]

Tartyflette! that is horrifying! I did say to DH that no creature is coming into our household unless it can wipe its own arse, but your story is proving my analogy was very very wrong.

On mature reflection, I think I'll forget about a cat. I seem to remember a similar enthusiasm when I convinced him we should get a dog... I am very fond of the dog, but he definitely adds to my workload. I don't have the energy for another passenger.

Thank you ladies xx

[Mincepies76]

They are the best pets and all mine have been really easy to look after. I had two Guinea pigs once...now they were high maintenance!