To get a cat because we have a recurring rodent problem?

[gigi556]

We live in a Victorian terrace. We moved in 4 years ago. For the first 9 months we never saw a mouse BUT we had a much loved Yorkshire Terrier. Sadly, she passed away. Since then (so for the past 3 years!) we get mice coming into the house constantly. We've tried everything:
Snap traps
Glue traps
Humane traps
Electric traps
Poison (they don't eat it!)
Sealing holes
Those plug in things that make noise

We do manage to eventually trap them and then don't have an issue for a month or two and then they come back. We even had rats in the floor at one point. We don't think they ever came in the house but it was unnerving and we think (hope) they've gone now. We never did manage to trap the rats.

We try to have traps around all the time now and we are constantly on alert as to whether we have a current rodent problem.

I've been considering getting a cat for the last year as it's the only thing we haven't tried. Is this an insane reason to get a cat (or two)? I'm at my wits end. Am I trading one headache for another?

I've never had cats and I'm not even sure if I like them 😬 I was a bit traumatized by my elderly dog's final year and I've been put off the responsibility of having a pet. I'm really torn. I don't desperately want a pet. In fact, I think I'd prefer not... BUT I also really want to stop CONSTANTLY worrying about mice.

I would get a cat, problems solved!

@Changi

I agree about the glue traps. How do the people that use them despatch the trapped mice humanely? Do they just leave them to die slowly of hunger and thirst?

The OP says they kill the mice as soon as they realise they are caught but that might be some time. If you've got the TV or music on you wont necessarily hear anything for a while. If you are out shopping or at work you're not going to hear them. Mice can break their bones struggling to escape them. They are horrendously cruel.

I would contact a charity and ask specifically for a cat who would catch mice. Our lovely boy has never been able to catch anything but our lovely girl does! She leaves them dead outside which isnt the best but it's better than alive and inside

Im in a Victorian house converted into 3 flats. I came home to a huge rat skittering back into the understairs cupboard before I had current cat. Dcat now has a daily prowl of the cupboard , even tho I blocked the hole & no more rat She does bring in the odd live baby mouse once in a blue moon . We're in outer London. When I lived more rurally, last cat bought in live fieldmice daily.

My parents got cats for this very reason (huge mice problem in their Victorian terrace). They never saw another mouse once the cats arrived. I have the same with spiders now- I used to see loads of big ones especially in the winter but since we got our cats it's like they no longer exist here! My female cat is a ruthless killer of insects and spiders and my male cat kills mice, rats and moles (). He tends to leave them in the garden rather than bring them in. We don't have a cat flap. Maybe that would prevent your cats bringing you "presents" if you decide to get some!
I'd say go for it. Cats are lovely pets. Get them insured while young so that potential illnesses are all covered. Once they start getting ill, new insurers will refuse to cover any related problem.

When I lived more rurally, last cat bought in live fieldmice daily.

Which is why our cat flap is set to out only. Re-entry is by request and subject to a strict no prey (alive or dead) policy.

I’d like to see glue traps banned too.

We got a cat when my mum found a mouse's nest in the sofa. We never saw any again but we did get gifts of shews and the odd live mole.

We were lucky that she was a mouser. She came from a farm and I think farm cats are brought up to hunt.

Cats protection foster cats in people's hommes so an give you info on background / temperament.

Only time I had them was when my cat brought them in. One time alive, letting it run around while it injured it then i had to play find the rotting body following the smell of death.

Found it in my childs room 😳

I agree a cat is the best solution and is working with nature unlike traps and poison which are also less humane. We live in a 200yr old farmhouse with two working farm cats that came with the house. We’ve never had rodents in the house although they could easily find a way in.

Oh goodness. I could rent my cats out. Their prey drive is so strong. They'd be ideal farm cats.

Maybe get a cat from a farm?

Don't rush into this though. Take a lot more time to investigate.

What about a human exterminator?

We had the same problem - we live on the edge of the country and mice were always coming in. We had Dcat1 - no more mice, or shrews, for that matter in the area! She lived to 16.

We now have DSis Cat and DBro Cat. DBro Cat is the mouse hunter par excellence - although its more a case of he sees them as something to play with, while alive. We find them dead and there isn't a mark on them - I suspect they die of fright.

I have three cats. One very occasionally catches things, brings them in, and then puts them down and does the cat equivalent of 'where did that go, swear it was there a minute ago' while the mouse is under the fridge. One only occasionally catches things. The other is a ruthless murders of everything under his own bodyweight who likes to surprise us with new wildlife identification challenges. One evening last week it was 3 squirrels.
So they can be a great way to de rodent your house, but I'd try a professional pest controller first as you are less likely to start finding out the joy of standing in a mouse stomach first thing in the morning that way.

Depends on the cat, I've had some great mousers, mostly feral cats but my current cat would let mice sleep with her in her bed rather than try and catch them. I found her sitting next to a baby bird in the garden in spring, she didn't even attempt to go after it.
You could try a feral or semi feral but they need special handling.

I agree a cat is the best solution and is working with nature unlike traps and poison which are also less humane.

Agree about the poison but a snap trap must be the most humane way of getting rid of the little pests that there is.

A local rescue shared a picture of a robin caught in a glue trap who sadly broke both his legs, his wings and got chemical burns trying to free themselves. There was uproar presumably because it's a nice looking bird but it's exactly the same thing that happens to a mouse or rat. They will dislocate bones to get away, and even amputate limbs to get away. Someone on that post stated they had stopped using them after discovering a limb, and large chunks of fur/skin left on it. Best case scenario is that you dont catch anything else but your intended victim, and hope they stay on the trap and slowly die from thirst.

There really is much better ways

[quote gigi556]@HazelWong my husband has refused to get out a pest control firm as he doesn't think they'll do anything he hasn't tried/done We aren't in London otherwise I'd take the recommendation!

Interesting you've managed to keep them out with proper whole filling. I really thought we were fighting a losing battle with that. 🤔[/quote]
Our experience has been that what pest control firms do that is possible but harder for you to do is really figure out entry points and block them. What many firms will do is figure out the current entry point and sort that, which sometimes mean that mice come back through a different point. But the firm that we eventually found do a full survey of the house. They pull out all appliances, go into every nook and cranny. It was expensive for our Victorian house (much cheaper for the modern one) but it has worked.

You could so that yourself, of course, but they had the knack for knowing what the likely places were. The previous owners of our house clearly had a big problem going on the mouse traps that we found and droppings but the filling of holes has so far worked.

Also agree that you need a cat who is a proved mouser

I have also only ever had the bring it in half dead for you to finish off, bring it in and leave it in the hall, or the lose interest and let it go in the hall way types. In fact we never had a pest problem until we had a cat who was bringing them in and letting them go

Check also about levels of noise. We currently have a dog who is absolutely driven mad by the noise of the pests in the loft space, under the floor etc due to next doors problem (they dont surface in our house) . If your cat cant get to them but can hear them under the floor boards then you're likely to get a neurotic cat, who struggles to sleep and scratches at floors/walls or constantly trying to get at them

We have cats. We also have a rodent problem. This chap ( bless him ) couldn't even catch a cat biscuit. although he manages to eat enough

IME you're better off getting the professionals in!

@Changi

I agree a cat is the best solution and is working with nature unlike traps and poison which are also less humane.

Agree about the poison but a snap trap must be the most humane way of getting rid of the little pests that there is.

Not really. My parents used snap traps for years and it was my job as a child to collect the trapped mice and dispose of them each morning. From personal experience, at least a third of the mice I collected were still alive and in great pain. They don’t reliably snap in just the right place on the neck to kill them instantly. I had to chop their heads off with a cleaver to finish them off. It deeply affected me and I still recall their twitching and squeaks, then the blood spurting. I begged my parents to get a cat and they eventually agreed. Even a cat that takes hours to kill a mouse, it’s still less time than lying in a snap trap most of a day and then being decapitated.

In sequence had 3 cats over the years
1 mouse caught n
Each fairly hopeless hunters

My cat brings in live and well mice as presents for the dog (staffie) who is terrified of them, it must look like some sort of comedy sketch me trying to catch the mouse while trying to calm the dog!

From personal experience, at least a third of the mice I collected were still alive and in great pain.

In my experience over the last 12 years, it is about one in 100. Some years, it is zero.

My cat wouldn't be much help to you. Please only get a cat because you want one, will love them and welcome them into your lives outside of being a quick fix for a rodent problem.