Need some advice but also a funny story attached.
On Sunday I got up at 7:30 to get baby her bottle of milk as she had woken up. When I went downstairs I was absolutely horrifed to find my cat had bought a rat in (definitely not a mouse) and it was lying in the doorway to my kitchen from the hallway. It was most definitely dead - lying on back in sun-bathing position, feet above head, etc. It took me 5 minutes of heavy breathing, panicking to pluck up the courage to take a running jump over this dead rat to get into the kitchen to get the baby her milk. When I was in the kitchen I then had to hold onto the sink for support and pluck up the courage to take a running leap back over the rat. Gave the baby her milk upstairs and then laid on bed contemplating how on earth I was going to deal with this dead rat (luckily other two elder children were still asleep).
It took me a lot of courage but I did manage to turn a carrier bag inside out, manoeuvre it onto a dustpan and get it into the carrier bag. Son was most disappointed that he couldn't do it for me.
That was that I thought.
Yesterday morning, when I got up I found a dead mouse (not a rat this time) in my living room. Not as bad to deal with as a rat.
Yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee and my two elder children each had a friend round.
When I was in the kitchen I "thought" I saw my cat come in through the cat flap with something in its mouth but I told myself to stop being so silly and stop imagining things. I then heard a squeaking from the hallway and the cat was playing with a leaflet (the kind you get from local take-away shops) near the radiator near the front door and this squeaking was getting louder and louder. Oh dear! I thought, a mouse again and this time it is alive.
I think I was more scared of it being injured than the actual thought of the mouse itself.
My daughter's friend said she always deals with the mice that her cat brings in and she would deal with this one for me. We chased the cat out and then got some cheese. Ashly (daughter) and Ashley (her friend) - very confusing, same name - neighbours must think I am mad when I call them in from the garden calling "Ashly, Ashley" - then spent 15 minutes trying to coax the mouse out from behind the radiator. Eventually they got it out and carried it out in the garden to dispose of it - (I made them wash and wash and wash and wash their hands afterwards in everything imaginable).
That was the end of that I thought. Later on, while I was cooking tea for the children, my Ashly came in and said the other Ashley was hungry and wanted some cheese. I told my Ashly that I was cooking dinner and not to lie to me and tell me the real reason Ashley wanted the cheese was for the mouse (I later found out they had not let it go but put it in the tree house - which obviously has open doors - but to get out of it you have to either (1) slide down a fireman's pole, (2) walk down some stairs or (3) slide down a slide. I couldn't imagine the mouse being able to any of those.
I told my Ashly that she could have cheese for the mouse but not to lie to me. My Ashly had earlier taken a shoe box out into the garden to (she tells me) to make a fairy house (which she often does) but I later find out it is to make a house for the mouse.
Later on, we all had dinner (after everyone scrubbed their hands) and it was soon time for me to take Ashley home.
I called them both in from the garden and the other Ashley came walking down the garden with something up her jumper (the mouse). Ashley told me that she has got hamsters and mice at home and wanted to take it home with her. I told her that it was a wild field mouse and it wouldn't survive if she kept it indoors but she wanted to take it home and let it go in the allotments behind her house. She said her mum wouldn't mind.
I drove Ashley home with my Ashly holding the mouse. When we got to Ashley's house her mum had a blue fit (apparently they have not got mice or hamsters - only a dog) and her mum hates rodents of any kind.
Ashley was very upset that her mum wouldn't let her keep the mouse but we took it home and we let it go in our garden - just hope the cat doesn't find it and bring it back in.
I am now having to buy my two eldest children a mouse each on Saturday as they were very impressed. We have got a hamster's cage but gave up having hamsters after the cat ate both of them. I will buy them a domestic(!) mouse each and keep it shut in the dining room with the door closed when we are out in case the cat gets it.
What I am asking is ...
(1) How can I stop my cat bringing in mice and rats - I know they are "presents" for me but that is the kind of present I would rather go without.
We have got a cat flap but I am at work today and my mum takes/picks the elder two up from school. She goes into my house just before collection time to use my pushchair save having to get the baby's pushchair that my mum has got out of her car. My mum HATES mice and would have a blue fit if she went into my house and came across a mouse or rat (whether dead or alive). I have put the door on the cat flap but my cat is used to coming and going as he pleases and I don't want to have to keep letting him out, letting him in, etc. I just want him to have his freedom without him bring home mice for me.
The cat is 12 years old and has NEVER bought anything home before.