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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think a dead baby mouse shouldn't cause a breakdown?

96 replies

deadmousesage · 13/07/2016 16:53

Got a lodger in May, a female teacher in her late 30s. Lovely person who said she had always had cats and missed them so would look forward to living with the 2 here.
huge garden which she loves and the cats obviously have a cat flap.
2 days ago one of the cats bought in a dead baby mouse it had killed.
I got rid of it and apologised and saidit happens only a few times a year as both cats lazy.
however lodger has had a complete meltdown, said she can't eat or sleep and is not able to concentrate at work.
I'm at a bit of a loss, I know it's horrid but not that bad for someone who has had cats?.
She now wants them.shut in the kitchen when she is home.
Much as I like her I think she would be better somewhere else?.
She has been crying and shaking Tec for 2 days?
Aibu?

OP posts:
KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 13/07/2016 17:17

Maybe she thought Cinderella was a documentary and was counting on the local mouse community to provide her with a new frock?

amusedbush · 13/07/2016 17:17

I'd be a bit upset seeing a dead baby mouse but she needs to get a grip, she sounds unhinged!

OhTheRoses · 13/07/2016 17:17

Do you think she might be unwell/have an underlying mh condition which this has brought to the surface.

Glares at evil cat: A sparrow, a finch, a frog (and spring cleaning I found a dessicated one behind the tv) and a vole. Last month a bat flew into our bedroom too!! Evil cat puts the mice next to his food bowl. When I was ill in Jan, he brought me a mouse and put it next to me on the floor. I was too ill to pick it up and gazed at it until DH got home.

Send her round here op. We'll sort her out x

OhTheRoses · 13/07/2016 17:19

Oh, the sparrow, frog, finch and vole are since Sunday Grin

Cacofonix · 13/07/2016 17:20

FGS! Just put the next one in her bed. She will leave herself then. Job done!

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 13/07/2016 17:20

My cats bring birds in in threes and arrange them in a triangle in bits and pieces under a stack of chairs.

Oh, the joy of picking all of the bits up.

Last time I found three heads but only five legs. No idea where the sixth leg went. Probably best not to think about it.

PoisonWitch · 13/07/2016 17:22

Does she have ishoos? Unless she is newly qualified and you live in expensiveville she should be able to afford a flat.

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 13/07/2016 17:22

Ah, yes! The frogs!!

Both neighbours have ponds. Frogs everywhere.

They never kill the frogs though. They just release them into my house to hop about in confusion until I pick them up and sheepishly try to sneak them back into the neighbour's garden.

NotdeadyetBOING · 13/07/2016 17:23

She sounds phobic about rodents. I understand that, and it's not her fault, but equally what does she expect if she lives with a cat? If she can't take it then she will have to move out…. And I speak as someone who HATES mice so have sympathy with her reaction.

MadameCholetsDirtySecret · 13/07/2016 17:24

She wouldn't like what my dog finds in the woods. Wink

IceMountain · 13/07/2016 17:24

Maybe she has a phobia

Dontneedausername · 13/07/2016 17:25

She does sound a bit erm, emotional....
My cats were forever bring half dead birds in and shooting past you to play with them under our beds Confused

Then there was a time he actually tried to drag a seagull upstairs.....

PansOnFire · 13/07/2016 17:29

I take it she never sees roadkill then? Ridiculous overreaction, tired or not. She sounds like she'd be happier elsewhere if she's going to react like that every time the cats bring a present home. I'm sure there aren't many people who'd be over the moon at having to see a dead animal but she should be mature enough to just get over it.

If she hasn't sought help for MH issues I think now is the time she should.

Original poster
deadmousesage · 13/07/2016 17:29

Yes I think it must be a phobia, going to suggest she would be happier without cats somewhere else.

Strange that she never realised it could happen but there you go.

OP posts:
diddl · 13/07/2016 17:30

Does seem quite an overreaction.

Our dog was once sniffing repeatedly at his basket.

He stepped in gingerly & squeezed himself up at one end.

The cat had left a dead mouse in there!Grin

Original poster
deadmousesage · 13/07/2016 17:31

I don't think she has issues, but she does get stressed at a lot of things which might be the job, she's late 30s been qualified a while but even so west London is expensive to get a flat on your own

OP posts:
TheWindInThePillows · 13/07/2016 17:32

Someone with a phobia is very unlikely to like cats and move into a house with cats, because they would be predicting and controlling their exposure to the feared thing.

This is odd, and I suspect there's more to it than just the mouse. Having said that, you need to have a chat with her, because cats bring in mice, this is normal, and she obviously can't live somewhere where this is likely to occur again, which it is.

pictish · 13/07/2016 17:32

Dear God she'd not do well here...one of our cats (we have two) brings kill in daily, sometimes more than once. Shrews mainly...and their babies. It is a bit gruesome but two days of crying and shaking seems very extreme.
She'll have to move out imo.

SooWrites · 13/07/2016 17:32

Has she never seen anything dead before? Can you even get to thirty without seeing dead things?

I live near a beach. There are dead things everywhere. The dog loves finding dead seals and porpoises. He likes rolling in their decaying corpses.

I'd take a dead mouse on my hearth over eau de rotting sea creature any day.

Oldraver · 13/07/2016 17:32

Has she finished work yet OP ?

AprilLoveJ · 13/07/2016 17:36

I'm going to say she has underlying issues with death, as well as some hormonal imbalances. It's an overly emotional reaction. Sounds like she has some problems she needs to work through.

Your cat is absolutely gorgeous op! Let him be free, he clearly loves the couch! :)

First time mine brought one home it was still alive in his mouth. He kept setting it down then gobbling it back up with just the tail hanging out. I was so scared I had to wake dh up. I managed to shoo our lovely kitty off so mousey could escape to live another day, but sadly he caught him again on doorstep and poked the life out of it. Then left it there for us.

I felt bad but that's nature isn't it.

ijustwannadance · 13/07/2016 17:36

I think maybe something else is getting to her and she is focusing on this.

Very odd to be crying and shaking after two days.

Original poster
deadmousesage · 13/07/2016 17:37

No she finishes nest week I think, I'm going to tell her to find somewhere else and refund any unused rent so she can go whenever it suits her?

OP posts:
Original poster
deadmousesage · 13/07/2016 17:38

Yes I agree and she really didn't eat for 2 days, I felt dreadful and as you know I can't guarantee it will never happen again

OP posts:
JudyCoolibar · 13/07/2016 17:40

I can't see how she can possibly cope as a teacher. It's not unknown for children to bring in similar delights, or indeed for them to find their way into the classroom by other means. DNiece had to deal with a grass snake in hers.