Where did the mouse come from?

[blossomwilloughby]

We've had a cat for a couple of months now. She's 8yrs old and came from a rescue where they said she liked to go out at night & occasionally brought home "presents".
She's been going out for the last couple of weeks, coming & going through the back door which is open pretty much all day whilst we're on lockdown or through one of the windows which is always open.
We didn't shut the back door until about 9.30 tonight, having seen the cat come in a few minutes before. I came upstairs about half an hour ago leaving DH downstairs. He came up a few minutes later saying a mouse had just scurried across the sitting room with the cat in hot pursuit. The mouse has now been feasted on.
We live on the edge of a village, close to woodland. About five years ago, there was evidence of a mouse in the shed but it seemed to move on. I've never seen a mouse in our garden and nor have I ever spotted a neighbours cat stalking one in our garden. I haven't seen any sign that there might be mice in the house ... nothing nibbled, no droppings, no noise.
What are the chances that the cat brought this one in earlier, left it cowering in a corner and the mouse eventually tried to make a run for it? Or is it more likely that we have mice in the house? I am desperately hoping that "yes" is the answer to the first question rather than the second. If it is the second, hunting down possible evidence of mice can at least be a home school activity this week!

I think she brought it in a live and dropped it, it got away and when it tried to escape she caught it again. As she is so good at giving you presents I think she would know if you had mice in your home and she would stay in particular places of interest for hours waiting to catch them. I think your safe

Mice are everywhere. Your cat has brought one in and dropped it. Unless you stand, motionless in your garden all night, you will be unlikely to see the creatures that wander through it.
My cat is a serial killer, he can always find something to murder, I even watched him pounce in the snow, like a bloody Arctic fox and come up with a mouse during "beast from the East*!

This is reassuring. Thank you!

At least you know that particular mouse is deceased! My hunter brought an enormous mouse in a couple of days ago. Normally he despatches them first. Not this one... cue two humans trying desperately to catch mouse before it vanishes behind the furniture... cat nonchalantly watching and being told he's fired...

I was presented with this once...

@Weedsnseeds1 That would finish me off! My cats like to bring in frogs and mice. I am a bit paranoid that they're trying to tell me something when I come down in the morning to find a decapitated mouse with its head placed neatly beside the body 🤢

I'd say the cat brought it in.

I have a slightly opposite problem of where has the mouse gone? Found very definite signs of a serious mouse presence in the utility room yesterday. But no mouse.

DH says it will have moved out - why would it when it's been happily munching on packets of seeds, etc. Never seen one, never heard one.

I recently had a mouse infestation. I have an old house and exterminator said they climb up and down the cavity walls and wherever there's a pipe they can access the house - all they need is a space the size of a pencil.
I had to put mouse proof screens on all the air bricks - nine!

Slowworms are brilliant. I love their tiny eyelids!

I'd say your mouse was underneath the shed.