How would you deal with wild rats and mice?

As rodent lovers, as we all are no doubt, how would you deal with an unwelcome wild rat or mouse?

I'm only asking the question as a friend of mine is begging for my husband's cat to kill a wild mouse or rat in her home. Our cat Sebastian is a horrific predator, and my friend has an welcome mouse or rat (she's not sure what it is, she says it's huge, but I dunno, some people do get confused between the 2) and she wants me to bring my cat over to hunt down and kill the mouse. She says it doesn't respond to traps or plug ins.

I said I'd think about it. The thing is Sebastian is evil when it comes to his prey, there's no other way to put it; he only ever half kills and leaves the poor critter to die. In spring I find baby birds half dead all round the garden, I do everything to deter it, the cat has 5 bells on his collar! But there's only so much I can do. I don't like to encourage this by lending him to people to deal with their unwelcome pests, although I know it's only natural for him to hunt.

How do you deal with wild rodents? And is it wrong of me to lend our cat to deal with a friend's pest problem?

Our cat Sebastian



Hopefully this give an indication of his size - Here he is pouncing on one of my fully grown spaniels. Maggie is a very large spaniel! He didn't hurt her. Just hunted and jumped on her and ran off. He has no fear!

Personally, i wouldn't encourage the cat by taking it round.
I live in a 3rd floor apartment so haven't had to deal with wild rats or mice but i imagine humane traps and finding & blocking up their entry the house.

Funny you should ask!

At the moment we have the worst infestation of mice we've ever had. It started a while before Christmas, when we discovered a nest of them in the press on our landing. We cleared it out, set live traps and caught seven in the space of two days. I kept them in a tank until we stopped catching them there, and then brought them out to a park a couple of miles away and let them go. We thought no more of it until a couple of days later when I walked into my bedroom only to find a little mouse sitting on my windowsill.

I've caught eight mice alive in my bedroom and had no more since, and last week three baby mice walked out in the middle of the floor while we were all watching TV in the sitting room! Brazen little things. I'm still catching them in live traps and letting them go in the park, but there are so many it's getting ridiculous. We can't put up those noise deterrent things with the rats, and our cat died a couple of years ago and we're still too heartbroken to get a new one.

Here's one of the little fellas I caught in my bedroom:



We've also had wild rats in the past, and unfortunately those were poisoned by the HSE because they'd come in from a building site behind us and were all over the houses on our road. They were absolutely huge, gorgeous in their own way but kind of terrifyingly intelligent. They learned how to set off the kill traps and grab the bait. And thus my love affair with rats began

Poison is the only way I won't go because of the impact on the environment and the absolute pain it causes. I have no problem with good cats or good dogs being used (ratting terriers would be my way forward). For small numbers I use good, hefty breakback traps. I have a few in the compost bin (rats, not traps!), and they stay there, that's fine. When they make their way towards the rat shed or the house, I dispatch them. We had one mouse in the house a few months back, and same craic, breakback trap.

xx

I would absolutely not allow the cat to be lent out. Aside from the ethical issues of the way cat's kill things (it's nature I know), that you've already mentioned, the welfare implications for the cat, to me, make it not even worth considering.

Cat's aren't like dogs, they are bonded very strongly to their territory and become very distressed when they are made to leave it for any length of time. They are also competing for territories all the time. I'm assuming your friend doesn't live on your cat's territory or the mouse/rat would already be dead. Chances are the cat will take the prey off somewhere to guard it, become lost and try to make his way home alone (they are very good at this), however, he risks being killed on the road or attacked by other cats on his way, not to mention the stress of removing him to somewhere strange - I don't think it's ethical. Of course, if your friend lives somewhere very close by that your cat normally patrols then this doesn't apply.

As for killing rodents, your friend would be better off borrowing a Jack Russell. I think a trap or a good dog is the most ethical way to go. I can't stand poison.

You know Katherine - as a non cat person, I'd not thought of those points at all - you make very valid points there. I agree, see if you can find someone who's got a good terrier.

xx

I have a Jack Russell myself, but I dunno if a he'd hunt down the mouse! He'd chase it if he saw it, but that's about it! It'd prob need to do the riverdance in front of him!