I'm seriously thinking of giving my cats the boot. The dog too come to think of it. They aren't doing their jobs. I mean, I don't ask much. We feed them, give them water, a warm, fluffy place to sleep. Heck, we even let them come and go as they please. Jack, the dog, takes his job of protecting the family very seriously...to the point of waking us up in the middle of the night every night this week. I will say that I never worry for the girl's safety if a stranger walks onto our property. It's amazing how he quickly maneuvers himself between them and whatever threat he perceives. Okay, so I'll keep the dog.
It's really the cats I'm upset with. On a farm, what's their job? It's to catch mice!! They are failing miserably. To the point that the noise that gets Jack going in the middle of the night is two mice running through the walls of our house. Grrrr! We deal with this on a fairly regular basis. I mean we do live in the country surrounded by fields and forests. Our house is warm and has food. The problem is that since we've gotten the cats we haven't had to deal with them inside the house...until this year.
One morning last week I walked into my kitchen to get breakfast for the girls and there they were - two mice - standing on the floor in the middle of my kitchen...like they were fricking chatting. I wonder if they were discussing which box in the cupboard held the best snack. They did scurry as soon as they saw me - into opposite directions. Where were my cats? Curled up in a ball on the sofa, sleeping. Grrr!
I haven't seen the mice again but I have seen evidence of their existence. However, I have not seen or heard the cats react once. The dog barks but only in the middle of the night. If they don't start doing their jobs my editor may get a present.
Any critters making your life difficult? Any experiences with mice? Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? So far, nothings working.
Instigator
P.S. Congratulations to Jane, PM's winner from yesterday. Please email her at playgroundmonitor@writingplayground.com to claim your prize. As always, prizes not claimed within 7 days will be re-awarded.
8 comments:
Stop feeding the cats. It'll solve your problem one way or the other...
Wabbits. The wascally wabbits are back, but since I haven't planted flowers yet, they don't have anything to nibble.
We had a family of mice move into our first house right after we listed it for sale. Oh joy. And they didn't like the cheese I put on the traps. Wouldn't touch the bait til I switched from American to Mozarella. Must have been Italian mice. And of course I had to hide the traps when someone came to look at the house. Luckily we found where they were coming in and plugged it with steel wool and then caulked it.
My cats always ate dry food, and I read that if you wanted to keep them as good mousers, you should feed them canned food once in a while. I guess the meatiness of it whetted their appetite for the real thing.
LOL, DG.
At my old house, we'd get the occasional critter because they were clearing the fields behind us to build houses. My cats would catch the mice, but I'd have to scoop the poor thing up and put it outside. The sadistic beasts would never kill the mouse, just break its spirit, maybe a limb or two, and play with it.
Mice don't really bother me. It just the sudden shock of them shooting across the floor that gives me a start. When I worked at Hallmark in high school we had a couple mice. Every now and then, they'd shoot across the aisle from one card rack to another and you'd always know it. The startled cry of a shopper gave it away...
We got a mouse this year for the first time in years and years and years - I have 6 cats at the moment. It was in our gameroom ceiling and we never saw it come down from there ourselves. Our two youngest cats went nuts trying to get to it (the 4 older ones could have cared less lol). I was afraid our 2 yr. old cat was going to get into our dropped ceiling (she got close) so we bought one of those enclosed traps - took no time at all. I hate killing anything but you do what you gotta do. That same cat kept looking for weeks after it was gone lol.
Try peanut butter. The mice love it!
Angel
I have seen mice in my apartment on several occasions. I'm pretty certain we caught all of them in those sticky traps, but I'm sure we'll get more.
The audacity of those country mice to meet in your kitchen....
What's the farmer's wife to do?
Three blind mice...
I am sooo late. But my hubby could tell you the story of capturing a mouse in the Pentagon...and then sending it through the pneumatic tubing from one floor to the other. Just like a bank. They put the mouse in the canister and shot it from the basement to the 4th floor. Yeah, must have thrilled the folks up there. At least it wasn't the Joint Chiefs area.....
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