Is there a lazy breed which doesn't bother catching mice??

[Kitsmummy]

My partner really wants a cat. I love cats too, as do the DC.

The problem is though that I am utterly terrified of mice/rats.

I wouldn't want a house cat who couldn't go outside though (and frankly that wouldn't work anyway...we live in the countryside and the doors are open to the garden all the time in summer)

So my question is, are there any particular breeds that just don't bother with the whole mouse thing?

Definitely depends on the cat. We have 2 rescues.

Our older boy cat (approx 6) has never caught anything that we are aware of, though he was an indoor cat for the first couple of years.

The girl (4 ish) we once found with a mouse outside, but she's never brought anything in (we don't have a cat flap, which probably helps)

I was petrified of rodents when we got our cat. He’s a proper hunter and I made DH deal with the first few but he brought in a mouse when DH was on a stag do one time and I dealt with it (I may have fixed myself a strong drink first, but I did it!!) I still don’t love rodents but I’m so much better at dealing with them - it’s really helped my phobia. An unintended advantage of bringing our furry dictator into our lives

My 14lb white Persian hunted mice and birds. The Bengal brings in baby rabbits, birds and baby rats.

If you live in the country I think it's inevitable. I live in a rural area and have 3 cats, my eldest 2 are 17 now and have only just stopped hunting. We have a cat flap and in the spring they always bring me rabbits! My youngest is a smaller cat he is 6 years old and he brings rodents but on a fairly irregular basis. Thankfully none of my cats have were brought birds.
You get used to it

Older male cats especially the big fat ones, tend not to bother so much.
Little lithe female ones do tend to carry on hunting a bit more. Having said that, I've seen my female cat sit there and watch while a mouse casually trotted past and carry on with its day.

If you live in the country, you have mice and rats around already, the presence of a cat might persuade them to live elsewhere.

All the cats I've had (10 moggies to date) have been hunters.

As a child we had a female Burmese that was an absolute menace and in the spring would frequently bring in 2 or 3 birds a day. She also killed rats regularly that were bigger than she was.
You might be lucky but outside cats will tend to be predators.

Yes, get a rescue cat. IME cats aren't really like dogs, you can't judge temperament by breed, and most cats are moggies. It's down to their personality.

My moggy started life as a farm kitten.

In the past 10 years he has managed to catch:

• his own tail (he was chasing it but had already sunk his teeth into it before realising it was attached to him. Ouch!)

• a small house spider

• a moth (he was so surprised at his success that he dropped it and it flew off).

He pays no attention to birds in the garden - which is about as far as he's willing to walk.

He's a large moggy. I think it generally comes down to personality. In your situation I'd choose an older rescue cat with a reputation for being a lazy bugger.

One death attributed to our cat- a slug! She sat on it and it got caught up in her fluffy fur.
Not exactly a killer eh

Thank you so much for all the responses. Sounds like luck of the draw tbh!

I think we'll look at older rescues, thank you!

Mine bring in frogs and paper bags. I don't think there are any rules.

None of my previous female moggies caught more than a very occasional mouse ( once every couple of years). Current male is a serial.killer, if it moves, he'll have it. Can be four or five "items" a day in the summer...

See the Siamese female we had as a stable cat was awful. She brought a pheasant, two rabbits at once, and tried to take on a deer. On the plus side, there was never any live rodents or anything left to clear up...

Of the two we have now, the ginger female is lethal, the black and white male just spends his life looking confused as to what a cat is meant to do

Mine is of the "friends; not food" opinion and would rather cuddle mama than go hunting

I think there's anecdotal evidence that females are generally better hunters, but all cats are different. An older cat is probably the only way to know for definite.

My old lady didn’t kill anything more lively than autumn leaves until she was ten. Then she had some kind of midlife crisis and discovered blood lust, and has been on a killing spree ever since. But only when the weather is warm - we get a reprieve in winter. We lock her in overnight now, which helps a lot, as rodents are most active at night and her favoured time to bring us presents is 3am.

DON’T get a burmese. Mine are demon hunters. I’ve foiled them with multiple bells on collars.

My cat regularly catches lizards.
The other day I saw him climb the fence looking pleased as punch, and trotted up to us, proudly showing off the rat he'd "hunted"...the rat was already dead from poison, we confiscated it very quickly and watched our cat closely for any signs of illness.
He's fine and back to his lizard hunting ways.

So not all cats are rat/mice hunters, no. Some are lazy though, and will pretend they've killed something they really haven't.

My mums farm rescue kitten (now 14) never brought anything back. But she would follow the bin lorry and steal black bin bags left for the neighbours.

This is the average Persian activity! They aren't called cushions that breathe for nothing!