Mice~ Or Mouses

[journey11]

When we first bought this house, I would regularly find mouse poo in my kitchen cabinets, food packages chewed into, and hear their movements in the attic above me scratching throughout the night. I used traps and poisons for awhile, but nothing has been as effective as my cats. They are all outside cats too. They keep them out of the barns and yard. It has been 4 years and not a single mouse has made it inside the house!

I don't like the idea of those sticky traps either. I prefer it should be done as quickly as possible. I caught a large wood rat in a live trap last year and did not enjoy having to to finish him off by drowning. It was very panicked when I found it in the cage. I did feel bad for the poor animal. It would have been better had he not seen it coming. At least the cats eat them and that is natural.

 

[Nyboy]

I was told females make better hunters. males can be to lazy to hunt.

 

[Smart Red]

I was told females make better hunters. males can be to lazy to hunt.

That may be a relatively true generalization, but my son's two male cats are siblings that hunt together and do great work keeping the woodshop clear of vermin. One distracts the pest while the other sneaks up from behind. Great mousers, (ratters, and chipmonk-ers).

 

[catjac1975]

View attachment 23395

Is that what my beautiful cats look like naked?

 

[Beekissed]

I was told females make better hunters. males can be to lazy to hunt.

My males have always been exceptional hunters, though none of them brought in a full grown rabbit like my female did for her kittens this past spring. I'd say they are both very active and proficient at hunting.

 

[thistlebloom]

Two of the best gopher getters we ever had were two brothers that the kids and I picked up at the grocery store. (Not in the store mind you, though I hear there are some towns you can do that in....)

One of them had the unfortunate habit of jumping in trucks and just barely got noticed before the UPS guy drove off.
He did make it to a construction site my husband was working on at the time. DH noticed a pretty black cat wandering around the site the same day the kids and I realized July was gone. Never saw him again.

Back to the point, male cat/good hunter.

 

[Nyboy]

I was told females better hunters because of mothering instincts, males do nothing to feed offspring. I had a male for 19 years who was great hunter, I always assumed it was because he was a stray that had to hunt to survive.

 

[bobm]

I was told females better hunters because of mothering instincts, males do nothing to feed offspring. I had a male for 19 years who was great hunter, I always assumed it was because he was a stray that had to hunt to survive.

Well yea ! female cats bring home their catch to their kittens. While the male cats catch, play with then eat their prey when they are good and ready. Many female cats perceive their owner as their offspring that needs to be fed... so they bring their catch to you.

 

[catjac1975]

My males have always been exceptional hunters, though none of them brought in a full grown rabbit like my female did for her kittens this past spring. I'd say they are both very active and proficient at hunting.

I find corpses of all kinds in my yard. They bring their trophies to show me. Some times they eat a mouse and just leave the face. I have seen one with a pretty large rabbit and also squirrels.

 

[so lucky]

@Nyboy, I have heard that male lions are "lazy" and don't hunt like the females do, but when you think of it, if females are hunting for and feeding the young, and males are only having to hunt for themselves, they don't have to hunt nearly as often. So maybe that makes them appear lazy.
But a lot of feline hunting is for sport, so who knows. When I had two well fed house cats, they would hunt just for the fun of it.