Best mouser cat

[friesandchais]

Hello
So I'm petrified of mice and when we moved into this house 10 years ago who we blocked all hole to stop then entering, long story short every so often maybe once or 2 assay they find a way in then we again block any holes check the house and eventually they. But it a cycle and keeps happening. Me and dh and dc are all scared and hate knowing they maybe in the house. Everyone is telling me to get a cat to solve the problem. My friend told me she got a cat and she's now never had a problem since. I would want it to be a indoor cat. I know not all cats are mousers. But what are the best mousers? We really like British short hair cats, are they good, are they good around children? Female or male is better? Will a kitten be a mouser too? And can you train them to be Mousers?
This will be our first pet.

[MMoon23]

@inappropriateraspberry

That's life I'm afraid. Predators and prey. Better to be food for another animal than poisoned to death.
I'm a vegetarian and accept the 'circle of life,' I'm not taking every field mouse to the vet!

I’m not saying YOU have to take every mouse to the vet, I’m saying they would need to go to the vets in order to survive.
some people who love animals mistakenly let them go thinking they have saved them and would be hurt to realise the outcome, so that’s why I shared that information

[MMoon23]

@SoupDragon

No one is "letting" them do it. They are natural hunters, they just do it. You can't stop them.

If your cat brings in a mouse /bird alive and is continually playing with it and you are just sat there watching then I feel that is ‘letting it’ torment the animal when you could stop it.

of Course they will kill animals though, you can only do so much with bells etc, it’s not that I don’t think cats are natural hunters…

[MMoon23]

@DogsDryWineAndCheese

Some of these posts are so cruel! Why would anyone let/enjoy any cat purposefully tormenting and torturing a mouse. It’s obviously not the cats fault if it happens, but shouldn’t be encouraged surely?!

Out of curiosity, what would be your solution to a rodent infestation?
I certainly wouldn’t inflict poison on any animal - such a slow and painful death!

Humane mouse traps. Standard mouse traps /glue traps are awful.
Or seeking the advice of a local wildlife group. My local one has a fb page run by people who are very knowledgeable and well connected to organisations that humanely relocate foxes, mice, squirrels etc

[ExHack]

This is definitely the time of year for it.
Last year at my family home (rural) we and the cat caught 70 mice between us in the space of 6 weeks. (We were using traps, for avoidance of any doubt!) I'm not counting the numerous decapitated heads/tails that were found on places like the bedroom carpet.
I woke up in the night hearing a strange thumping sound and opened the cupboard to find a live mouse thrashing around in a trap. My brother in law had to dispatch it with a hammer. So make sure you get the right size traps! Too big and it won't kill the boor little buggers.

[ExHack]

Has anyone ever tried a pet snake? Or a large bird? (Parrot?) Would a parrot catch them for itself? What about a tarantula?

[MarsupiIami]

I don't think hunter and indoor cat go together.

[SweetLittlePixie]

We got a kitten from a farm last year. She is great at bringing things home. So far i have found mice, birds, a frog, lots of huge insect and grasshoppers, worms and once even a snake inside my house! All dragged in by the cat. We also have a male burmese and he is absolutely useless. He chases things, but never catches them unles they are already half dead because of the other cat.
We never had animals in our house before, so the cats created this problem rather than solved it.

[AffIt]

@MMoon23

Humane mouse traps. Standard mouse traps /glue traps are awful.
Or seeking the advice of a local wildlife group. My local one has a fb page run by people who are very knowledgeable and well connected to organisations that humanely relocate foxes, mice, squirrels etc

If used properly, snap traps are more humane than anything else, because they (should be) instantaneous. Best to get advice from professionals on their use.

Predators (cats or terriers) are the next best option.

'Humane' traps are just a way of moving the problem on and are pretty cruel, as you're removing an animal from its territory / family group and effectively dumping them in a foreign country. They'll die as a result anyway, just not under your nose.

Glue traps / poison bait are hideous, though.

[Discovereads]

'Humane' traps are just a way of moving the problem on and are pretty cruel, as you're removing an animal from its territory / family group and effectively dumping them in a foreign country. They'll die as a result anyway, just not under your nose.

Depends on the mice you have. If you’re rural and these are brown field mice, and you take them to a hedgerow with food, water and shelter they are fine. If you’re in the city and have grey house mice, yes you’re just relocating a house mouse to someone else’s house as they cannot survive outside.

[LakieLady]

@GiantCheeseMonster

Haha. That’s hilarious. I have three cats. Two are lazy with no interest in catching anything. The third is extremely enthusiastic. She’s female, and a tortoiseshell - anecdotally they are said to be excellent mousers and she fits the stereotype. But since we’ve had her we’ve had many more mice in the house. She brings in live ones and lets them run run round, dead ones and leaves them lying around untouched, and occasionally just a mouse head or liver under my dining table. Honestly, if you have a mouse phobia, get some CBT. Do not, whatever you do, get a cat.

I had a female tortoiseshell and she was a fantastic hunter, too. She was keener on birds than mice though, and once brought it 3 live starlings in a day. She was a tiny little thing, as well.

It crossed my mind that the tortoiseshell markings might make them better camouflaged for outdoor hunting.

[LakieLady]

You could try some of those ultrasonic pest repellent devices, OP.

I've never had mice in the house since I got a couple of those.

[Whatthechicken]

Not read the full thread, but as someone said above ‘indoor and best mouser’ don’t go together. My cat catches about four mice a day and generally eats them whole - but she does sometimes leave a head or entrails. But my cat is an ex feral. If I tried to keep her in, she’d just start pissing everywhere in protest. She was used to hunting to survive, even though she has all the home comforts now, she can’t quite shake the habit. If she was inside all the time, I doubt she’d bother. She maybe would torment them instead. She also sometimes bring the cutest baby rabbits home too (already dead). She sometimes eats the rabbits whole or like the other day, she just dropped one in the living room. Dog (beagle) just looked at it, she was sure she was supposed to do something - but she wasn’t quite sure what. My kids have had to get used to death very quickly. If you want a cat get one, but don’t just get one to solve another animal problem - you’ll just end up with an additional problem.

[Whatthechicken]

Interestingly, my ex feral is a torty. The farm shop next door encouraged her to stick around because she was an excellent mouser. I have a post on the litter tray topic about 2 years ago now on how she came into our lives.

[mycatisannoying]

My cat brings in more mice than he actually kills outdoors.
I don't mind if he kills it indoors (sorry to sound blasé, but we're in Edinburgh and just so used to them), but it's fucking annoying when he brings it indoors and then just leaves it to escape.

[HazelBite]

I have cats for the last 50 years. All the black cats I've had have been excellent hunters as have any tortishell females. I have only had one who had no interest in hunting and one ginger boy who let himself be intimidated by the larger birds in the garden.
They do bring bodies indoors though OP both alive and dead!

[SamanthaVimes]

My ginger cat is obviously on mumsnet and took offence to what I posted because he’s just brought home his own mousy friend (alive) to torture FML

[quitefranklyabsurd]

I’m not sure there is a breed that is a good mouser. - some cats are excellent killers though.

We have three cats - two don’t care and have never caught a thing. The third - he’s in a league of his own. An excellent mouser, Alive, dead, decapitated, sometimes we just find a leg or a tail and some guts.

He’s also brought in a love wood pigeon, several more live birds, many dead birds, and then there was the live squirrel!

Be careful what you wish for!