I woke up before my alarm this morning and noticed the kitty wasn't beside me. She sometimes sits on the mat beside the bed, staring intently at or simply facing the small dresser.
I hadn't heard anything so I thought nothing of it. I pulled out the bottom drawer the other week and vacuumed under, looking to see if there was evidence of something Sam might be interested in. No, just dust.
This morning, a little while after Sam had resumed her position beside me, I heard some scratching that sounded like it was coming from underneath the dresser. Crap.
Neither Sam nor Yuki, the house cat, are especially good mousers. Sam can catch birds, mice & other rodents, but then she doesn't quite know what to do with them. Usually she thinks the thing to do is bring them in the house and let them go. Here you go! Presents for you! Look! It's still moving! Um, thanks cat.
Sam really got good at hunting when we were living in East Sooke. She had pretty much unlimited access to outdoors and forest, so there were thousands of hiding places. I can't tell you how many times we have had to pull everything out of a closet to trap with a box the mouse that was hiding there. It got to a point where I would keep a box around for the purpose of catching mice. I was pretty good at it too, I might add.
My sister's cats, farm cats, are expert mousers. Being farm cats, they must hunt for survival. One of the cats, Piper, was especially good. She would regularly bring home (only to outside) several mice a day. I know this because she had this special meow that alerted everyone that she had just brought home a tasty morsel, and the other kitties would come running. Unless Roxy the dog got to it first.
So, bother. I'm not excited about a mouse in my living space. It will be impossible for me to find it, so I will have to put out a trap. Near the end of our time in East Sooke, Sam had quit hunting but we still had infestation of mice. Turns out they were getting in through another part of the house, not from our suite but there was only a door that separated us from the laundry we shared by the landlords, so I often saw mice coming & going under that door. We put out glue traps.
Placed correctly, these are actually quite effective. If you are tender hearted and don't mind handling rodents, you can take the trap outside with the live mouse still in it and set it free. It takes some doing though, involving vegetable oil and cotton swabs, as you have to unstick the glue from this wriggling little creature. They are stressed out and trying to escape, which often leads to even more sticking to the glue, so you have to be careful what you unstick first and last.
Yuck. I hate the idea of dealing with that now but really, it's better than listening to them squeak squeak squeak as they die.
I hadn't heard anything so I thought nothing of it. I pulled out the bottom drawer the other week and vacuumed under, looking to see if there was evidence of something Sam might be interested in. No, just dust.
This morning, a little while after Sam had resumed her position beside me, I heard some scratching that sounded like it was coming from underneath the dresser. Crap.
Neither Sam nor Yuki, the house cat, are especially good mousers. Sam can catch birds, mice & other rodents, but then she doesn't quite know what to do with them. Usually she thinks the thing to do is bring them in the house and let them go. Here you go! Presents for you! Look! It's still moving! Um, thanks cat.
Sam really got good at hunting when we were living in East Sooke. She had pretty much unlimited access to outdoors and forest, so there were thousands of hiding places. I can't tell you how many times we have had to pull everything out of a closet to trap with a box the mouse that was hiding there. It got to a point where I would keep a box around for the purpose of catching mice. I was pretty good at it too, I might add.
My sister's cats, farm cats, are expert mousers. Being farm cats, they must hunt for survival. One of the cats, Piper, was especially good. She would regularly bring home (only to outside) several mice a day. I know this because she had this special meow that alerted everyone that she had just brought home a tasty morsel, and the other kitties would come running. Unless Roxy the dog got to it first.
So, bother. I'm not excited about a mouse in my living space. It will be impossible for me to find it, so I will have to put out a trap. Near the end of our time in East Sooke, Sam had quit hunting but we still had infestation of mice. Turns out they were getting in through another part of the house, not from our suite but there was only a door that separated us from the laundry we shared by the landlords, so I often saw mice coming & going under that door. We put out glue traps.
Placed correctly, these are actually quite effective. If you are tender hearted and don't mind handling rodents, you can take the trap outside with the live mouse still in it and set it free. It takes some doing though, involving vegetable oil and cotton swabs, as you have to unstick the glue from this wriggling little creature. They are stressed out and trying to escape, which often leads to even more sticking to the glue, so you have to be careful what you unstick first and last.
Yuck. I hate the idea of dealing with that now but really, it's better than listening to them squeak squeak squeak as they die.
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