Friday Cat Blogging: So Ashamed

I'm so embarrassed.  I'm beside myself with shame.  The other day I was walking up the basement stairs when I espied one of these creatures (pic via):

There's a mouse in my 5-cat house!  WTF is going on here?!?  I have seen neither hide nor hair of a shmousie in the house in the 11.5 years we've lived here and now we've got mice?

I don't know who was more surprised: the mouse or me.  We stopped in our tracks, eyeing each other up.  I was wondering, could this be a toy mouse?  The cats have numerous toy mice all over the house.  As you can see, however, they're pretty obvious:

So, no, it wasn't a toy mouse.  Plus, thanks to Edison, the vast majority of the toy mice have no tails.  And this little varmint had a tail.  He quickly took himself and his tail scampering down the stairs past me and into the basement proper.  I came upstairs and closed the basement door.

What's going on that all of a sudden we have mice?  The basement's almost always been closed off to the cats, although rather half-heartedly.  The folding, accordion-style door that was up when we moved in proved no match for them: they'd squeeze through or pick open the folds to make new openings.  The accordion-style baby gate worked for a short while, until some of the bolder cats figured out that, with enough force, they could just bust right through it.  Then the solid baby gate worked for a while; only Edison was agile and/or interested enough to jump over it.  Then, one fateful day this past January, Dolly figured out she could jump over it.  Once she did that, she was down there a lot: several times each day.

So, even though we've had these lame doors, gates, etc. on the basement, at least some of the cats could always get down there.  And they did.  We finally had to put up something better bc Dolly was using her new found escape skills to avoid getting her medication.  Until we figure out something better and less fugly (probably when we finally remodel the kitchen), Kevin's put up this temporary sliding piece of plywood:

It's very effective.   At keeping cats out of the basement.  It's obviously less effective at keeping mice in the basement. The kits  get in the basement now only if we're lax about keeping the thing shut.  So, they're not down there much at all now.  I wonder if the apparent lack of feline presence makes the basement more inviting to homeless mice.

Also, Kevin did a huge cleanup in the basement this weekend; that may have disturbed any mice down there.  He also brought a bunch of stuff from the garage into the basement bc the garage is going to be demolished soon.  The mouse could have come in with that stuff.

Now, I'm thinking about this, what to do, what not to do, what are my moral obligations, etc. etc.  and decide I need a drink.  This is thirsty work.  Just a seltzer.  I don't need a stiff drink bco a little mouse, although I must admit I'm still shaking my head in surprise.

So I mosey on downstairs to the kitchen.  Unlike in the picture just above of the basement door, the kitchen doors are usually open.  And so they're open when I go down for  a drink.  What do I find?  I find Clara and Smudgie huddled over the bottom track of the basement door, right where the blue dustpan is in the picture.  And what have they found that was so interesting?  I'm sure you can guess:

The poor thing looked just about to die from the fright of it all.  Imagine being that small and having these two lunkers hovering over you.  Probably licking their chops and drooling on you.  I shooed Clara and Smudge out of the kitchen.  Edison, too, as he had appeared on the scene.  Dolly's our kitchen kitty now, so she'll stay in the kitchen.  She stays in there now even though the doors are open except for a few minutes each day when she gets her medicine.  I removed the door and got out the dustpan to use the brush to encourage the little guy to move back downstairs.  I didn't want any of the cats to eat the mice.  I mean, who knows where that mouse has been?  It's probably not diseased, but you never know.  He's slow to respond; I think he's playing dead or can't move bc he's terrified out of his little mind.  He finally turns himself around, which was quite the impressive maneuver in that small space, even for such a tiny thing, and then he stops and d'oooooooooohhhhh!

How cute is this little varmint?  Looking up into the camera, ready for his close-up, all beady-eyed and whatnot.

A little more soothing encouragement and he makes a beeline for the basement stairs.  He keeps running left and right on the top step.  I use the brush to encourage him to move to the next step.  Finally, he skips several steps entirely and makes his way all the way downstairs.  I replace the door and stay around a while to make he sure he doesn't come right back up.  I'm hoping that his close encounter with Clara and Smudge will discourage him from coming back upstairs, especially since they will be waiting:

Even if I keep the kitchen doors shut for a while to keep Clara and Smudge away, Dolly's still there in the kitchen and she's no slouch in the primal feline skills department.   Of course, when she plays with toy mice, Dolly shakes the mouse, tosses it up in the air, bats it around, etc. like any respectable cat would.  But she 'kills' more than just toy mice.  She kills her food, too, even though it comes out of a can and is clearly dead.  Apparently, one can't be too sure.   She also kills the occasional cat blankie and the odd plant leaf that comes her way.

It's been about a half-hour since the mouse made good his escape and still we find Clara by the door, all nonchalant with the grooming.  She just happens to be grooming by the kitchen door.  But the evil, murderous glean in her eye gives her game away.

The Plan is to bring one of the boys downstairs so he can noodle around the basement and cast his feline smells around.  We'll bring one of the boys bc we wouldn't be able to stop either of the girls from making a go for any mouse they might see.  The boys are easier to control.  The idea is to get the message out that yes, there are cats living in the house, cats that want to eat you. The idea is not to let those cats actually eat the mice, for the above mentioned reasons.  Plus, they're cute.  I don't feel the need to exterminate the mice, although I do feel the need to encourage them to move on.  Check back for updates at the same cat time and same cat channel, i.e., Friday Cat Blogging.

Comments

[susan]

I used to think the same way about the mice in the garage (live and let live) until they decided to take up residence in my washer. They chewed through the water supply line and flooded the garage. Now its WAR!

[Luana]

Your right mice do carry disease. Some carry a virus that is fatal to humans. After they over run your basement they will come into the house, cats or not. If you don't want your cats to kill the mice then get some traps ASAP.

[Annie]

Hi, Luana. Ya know, we haven't seen any more mice in the house. I really think we brought just that one critter into the house when we brought all kinds of things into the house. I certainly hope that was the case. Thanks for stopping by!