And naturally, we had to open the drawer to find out what was going on. And there it was, scrambling over every piece of bakeware that I own, a mouse. Soooooo gross. It's grubby little nasty mouse feet touching all my stuff. Ew ew ew ew ew. And somehow, in the brief moments that I saw the damn thing, it seemed deliberate. Like it was trying to literally touch everything in the drawer. Husband mimed the mouse licking its paw and purposefully touching my muffin tray. Funny! And gross. Yucky filthy mouse.
The bakeware was removed, and a peanut butter baited snap trap was set. Four smashed mice later, we're hoping to be nearly done taking down the mouse metropolis within our walls.
Now, you'd think a cat would be an asset in this kind of situation. And as interested as she was in getting under the drawer, she can't really fit. And then, she has no claws. But she is marvelous at alerting us to the presence of mice. And really, I'd rather a snap trap catch it anyways, and not have some mutilated chewed on mess in the middle of the kitchen. Or in my bed. You get the idea.
And besides, after she realized she's never getting into the drawer, she appears to be quite at ease and relaxed, knowing the mice situation will soon be under control. And I'm still very very proud of her for trying.
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| Mice: Fear This! |
That's a fearsome cat, for sure! Especially in the attack mode it seems to be in here. I recall, though, you once had a mouse for a pet, and it used to sit on your shoulder.
ReplyDelete@OKaTB - You mean Patches? The tiny orange and white mouse we left with Grandma when we went to Hawaii, only to return to an enormous, overfed mouse? She was very sweet. And didn't crawl on anything I prepared food upon. ;o)
ReplyDeleteI rather like mice, though I don't like them as a surprise. My beloved old cat Tyler (had him 17 years, watched his birth and his death) once brought me one. This cat was far too well fed to give any thought to eating the mouse, but I suppose he'd chewed at it a bit. Tyler deposited the mouse on our Welcome mat. When I went charging outside, I heard something that sounded like I'd stepped on a bag of potato chips. Um, yeah.
ReplyDeleteLove to eat them mousies
Mousie's what I love to eat
Bite they little heads off
Nibble on they tiny feet
@LM - So you understand why I'd rather a snap trap catch our mice instead of finding them in an unexpected location, perhaps with my feet? Gah, that potato chip sound made me cringe.
ReplyDeletethe cats i had many years ago had the habit of chasing, catching and eating mice. then they would regurgitate the guts directly in the path from bedroom to bathroom. at night. in the dark. no potato chip sound here. more like, guish. (yes, that is my word, not webster's.)
ReplyDeletewe learned to tread very carefully.
@rraine - *shivering* horrible.
ReplyDeleteI once had a cat that, after she killed the mouse, would throw it up in the air and try to catch it. Sometimes, she'd get a mouse alive, put it down, than wait until the mouse got up enough nerve to crawl away, and BAM! her paw would come down. My most recent cat would capture a mouse, and then leave the carcas at the front door as a kind of offering to me. He always seemed a little hurt when I'd scoop the mouse up with a shovel and throw it back out in the woods.
ReplyDeleteWe're up to five dead mice. The most recent was a hard one. The snap trap only came down on the mouse's belly, breaking it's back but not killing it. The mouse was able to put it's little paw around the bar in a feeble and heartbreaking attempt to free itself. Husband took care of it's suffering, and so far, the sixth trap remains empty.
ReplyDeletekirk-yes! my cats did that all the time! the best was the day we came home to find an entire squirrel tail under the rocker. somewhere, some squirrel goes shamefully tailless, bested by a wisp of cat.
ReplyDeletecc-why not live traps? catch and release?
@rraine - you know, this may sound ridiculous. But it didn't actually occur to me that the live traps could be used for catch and release. Honestly, in my head, I thought those sticky traps and the live traps were so cruel, because then the little mousey would have to starve to death and suffer. I thought poison was just as bad, if not worse, because Kitty might get into it too. So really, until a friend told me yesterday about the "release" part of the live traps, I thought I was doing the best thing for everyone/everything involved by using the snap traps. :o(
ReplyDeletelive and learn, hon. i'm not fond of killing anything, be it mice, dreams, or aspirations.
ReplyDelete