# Why the Cat Starved to Death



## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

You be careful there Bubba, you know how dangerous mice are, especially around the ear 


http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeding/breeding-again-82091/page2/#post976551


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

You should acquire a pet snake at the barn as well 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## LittleZeasel (Oct 22, 2011)

That actually made me laugh - I'm sorry, I know how dangerous it is to have a mouse infestation - get more cats? I don't know... But ... those are healthy looking ******s. And ... Ha! That's definitely funny youtube material there.

Those markings are certainly unique ... And they show no fear whatsoever.
Please keep us updated in your Mice vs Men Scenario.

I'd like to know whether Pinky & the Brain manage to take over the world this night, or whether you'll find a solution.


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## Spyder (Jul 27, 2008)

LittleZeasel said:


> Those markings are certainly unique .



Looks like some white mice might have gotten into the gene pool.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Ok, here's a clue: you want birds? Put out a bird feeder. You want mice? Put out a mice feeder. That's what you have -- a mice feeder. 

Feed your cat ONCE a day. Same time, every day. Just a handful, not a whole freakin' bowlful! Sole purpose of providing feed for the cat is to keep it around. The cat must have motivation to hunt. Your "feral" cat is probably too well fed to be bothered to hunt.


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## DuffyDuck (Sep 27, 2011)

NorthernMama said:


> Ok, here's a clue: you want birds? Put out a bird feeder. You want mice? Put out a mice feeder. That's what you have -- a mice feeder.
> 
> Feed your cat ONCE a day. Same time, every day. Just a handful, not a whole freakin' bowlful! Sole purpose of providing feed for the cat is to keep it around. The cat must have motivation to hunt. Your "feral" cat is probably too well fed to be bothered to hunt.



I think the reason the OP posted this was for the amusement factor to be fair ;D
Sure, mouse infestations are prettyyyy nasty, but you gotta admit, you could just...pick them up yourselves if you really wanted to!


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Cowgirls Boots said:


> You should acquire a pet snake at the barn as well
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


There are snakes around here....but not really in the barn. They turn up squashed in the hay bales from time to time. 



Spyder said:


> Looks like some white mice might have gotten into the gene pool.


Most "white" mice you see in pet stores and labs are unpigmented albinos, which is a recessive gene that has nothing to do with white markings. I would say that the odds of there being introduced genetics are extremely slim, for a number of reasons. First, this is a rural area, and we have few neighbors. All of the neighbors we do have are the original owners, and all of the houses are four years old or newer--this whole property was one giant hay/cattle farm before that. None of the people within a mile + radius keep or have ever kept pet mice. Not to mention that domestic mice are a different species than their wild counterparts and would probably not too readily interbreed due to territorialism and differing behaviors....domestic mice would probably not even know how to survive long in the wild.



NorthernMama said:


> Ok, here's a clue: you want birds? Put out a bird feeder. You want mice? Put out a mice feeder. That's what you have -- a mice feeder.
> 
> Feed your cat ONCE a day. Same time, every day. Just a handful, not a whole freakin' bowlful! Sole purpose of providing feed for the cat is to keep it around. The cat must have motivation to hunt. Your "feral" cat is probably too well fed to be bothered to hunt.


If we only fed the cat once a day, she wouldn't eat. The only time we ever see her is rarely at night, slinking around. At the first sign of people she's gone. And despite having had her vaccinations, she's pretty skinny and crappy-looking. Even the vet said she doesn't take good care of herself. 

I do, occasionally, find bloody mouse parts in the barn, so she is hunting some. And she's run all the birds off, which is great, because the finches were making an absolute unsanitary mess, with bird poop everywhere.

And even if we took the cat food away, that wouldn't solve the mouse problem, as there's no way to restrict their access to the grain that the horses drop--the problem was the same before the cat and the cat food ever came.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I would poison them, and be done with it. No they don't rot, they dry up, the poison mummifies them. I used to live trap packrats in my barn, while the dogs loved it, it was not effective. I put poison out as soon as I smell that stink of rat pee or see droppings. I only have to put the poison out for a day or two & they are gone. With the live trapping, I was constantly trapping, was a steady supply of packrats & rat pee on the wall & ratcrap on every flat surface. I do have a cat but these rats are too big for a cat to get a kill bite on them. I do have terrier dogs but these rats could climb up the wall no problem. Only time the dogs got ahold of these vermin is when I let the rat out of the trap, treats for the dogs. You did know a mouse poos & pees every 3 minutes, disgusting, means it's using your barn as a urinal. As for poisoning other animals with the bait, hah, my cat only eats expensive catfood & snubs his nose at other food, never would he eat green dry pellets in a tinfoil made up type dish. I doubt your cat would either, she's not even eating her regular contaminated food. The mice are.


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## DrumRunner (Jan 26, 2011)

I think they are cute myself...Just sayin'.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Bubba, it's a good thing you aren't scared of mice! I agree with waresbear -- poison them then. If you are concerned about the cat, see if you can livetrap her and contain her for a week or so. Plus, while in containment that will teach her that you dole out food & water. She will come for once a day feedings afterwards then.

That's a phenomenal mouse infestation. I'm surprised you don't have other predators around causing problems with all those mice. Its a smorgasboard for weasels, raccoons, foxes, wild cats, skunks...


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

How come you didn't put a mouse on Bones' head? Huh?...:rofl:


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## Cat (Jul 26, 2008)

What I want to know is how you only keep one cat around? We finally get our cat numbers down and more show up and we don't have all the little meals on wheels running around for them either.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

So, I took off for a minute to check if I was right about something. It appears that I am.  I don't know where you are Bubba, but in our neck of the world we have Lyme disease which is spread by ticks and prevalent in feral mice and deer. It apparently IS communicable to horses. Something to consider when you are putting these mice on the horses. Scarey.


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

a big 5 gallon pail with a sprinkling of grain in them make great mouse traps. They go in after the grain & can't get out:lol: Never saw mice in my barn till one summer when we were cat-less.I don't know how many I found in my grain pails then:shock:. Needless to say we have cats again & now don't find mice hanging out in the barn anymore.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Great idea, paintedpastures!


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

DrumRunner said:


> I think they are cute myself...Just sayin'.


Ewwwww! That's just not right Drum. 

I have 4 barn cats and no mice. I keep cat food at the house for them but they rarely come up to eat, they are all hunting fools. I'm not a cat person but they do the job.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

waresbear said:


> I would poison them, and be done with it. No they don't rot, they dry up, the poison mummifies them. I used to live trap packrats in my barn, while the dogs loved it, it was not effective. I put poison out as soon as I smell that stink of rat pee or see droppings. I only have to put the poison out for a day or two & they are gone. With the live trapping, I was constantly trapping, was a steady supply of packrats & rat pee on the wall & ratcrap on every flat surface. I do have a cat but these rats are too big for a cat to get a kill bite on them. I do have terrier dogs but these rats could climb up the wall no problem. Only time the dogs got ahold of these vermin is when I let the rat out of the trap, treats for the dogs. You did know a mouse poos & pees every 3 minutes, disgusting, means it's using your barn as a urinal. As for poisoning other animals with the bait, hah, my cat only eats expensive catfood & snubs his nose at other food, never would he eat green dry pellets in a tinfoil made up type dish. I doubt your cat would either, she's not even eating her regular contaminated food. The mice are.


I just can't believe that the poison wouldn't allow them to rot and stink...but I looked it up, and the pest control companies agree with you. Wouldn't that create a hazard, still, though? I'd be afraid my dogs would eat the dead mice...they do get live ones whenever they can, and since they eat their own poop as well, I doubt they could resist little mouse mummies.



NorthernMama said:


> Bubba, it's a good thing you aren't scared of mice! I agree with waresbear -- poison them then. If you are concerned about the cat, see if you can livetrap her and contain her for a week or so. Plus, while in containment that will teach her that you dole out food & water. She will come for once a day feedings afterwards then.
> 
> That's a phenomenal mouse infestation. I'm surprised you don't have other predators around causing problems with all those mice. Its a smorgasboard for weasels, raccoons, foxes, wild cats, skunks...


I don't think it's quite as bad as it looks--pretty sure it's the same handful of mice eating the cat food day in and day out. But no, it's definitely not good, and it's definitely a problem. Good news is they aren't getting into the horse feed at all.

As for the cat, we did trap her earlier this year to get her her shots. Once you've got her, she's fine. She'll take treats out of your hand and everything. I even carried her around for a short bit before she got fed up, scratched me, and took off. She was living in a house with a crap-ton of other animals when we got her--she'd eaten the lady's parakeets and was a guaranteed hunter. But she is extremely timid.



Cat said:


> What I want to know is how you only keep one cat around? We finally get our cat numbers down and more show up and we don't have all the little meals on wheels running around for them either.


Over the summer I saw a calico a couple times, but not since. I was actually hoping we'd get some feral kittens, just for something cute to play with, but no such luck. The dogs probably would have killed them, anyway.



NorthernMama said:


> So, I took off for a minute to check if I was right about something. It appears that I am.  I don't know where you are Bubba, but in our neck of the world we have Lyme disease which is spread by ticks and prevalent in feral mice and deer. It apparently IS communicable to horses. Something to consider when you are putting these mice on the horses. Scarey.


Yep, we have Lyme disease, and ticks everywhere, and deer everywhere, too. I'm as worried about getting it myself as I am worried about the horses, since I can't make it through the warmer seasons without a few dozen ticks annually. My mom has even had the trademark bullseye rash before, but so far no one's gotten the disease.



paintedpastures said:


> a big 5 gallon pail with a sprinkling of grain in them make great mouse traps. They go in after the grain & can't get out:lol: Never saw mice in my barn till one summer when we were cat-less.I don't know how many I found in my grain pails then:shock:. Needless to say we have cats again & now don't find mice hanging out in the barn anymore.


You'd be amazed at how high those suckers can jump. That said, might be worth trying again...


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## soenjer55 (Dec 4, 2011)

I laughed. I'm sorry, I know this is a serious situation, but those look like some healthy little ******s....

I would really consider another cat, but this time, instead of adopting any cat, especially a formerly feral cat?, get a barn cat that you KNOW will be a mouser. You need one that sees your barn as it's home, and it's source of food exclusively. Plus one that knows it CAN mouse... I see a lot of people get just _a_ cat, then realize it's scared of mice or would have no idea what to do with one if you slapped it in the face with it... A snake is a pretty good idea, too. Try getting a king snake.


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## soenjer55 (Dec 4, 2011)

You can also make the cat food/ water/ grain inaccessible to the mice and starve them out, so you don't have to deal with poisoned mouse bodies. Try to put them on a solid stand, with a door, lock and key, and not wood- something the mice can't chew through.


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## Rachel1786 (Nov 14, 2010)

I think they're cute lol. I wouldn't do poison, working at a vet hospital for 4 years I saw WAY too many cases of dogs and cats that had ingested the poison(or animals that had ingested it). More often then not the pet owners don't realize what the animal has gotten into until it's to late to save them. Rat poison destroys the clotting factors causing whatever eats it to bleed to death.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

paintedpastures said:


> a big 5 gallon pail with a sprinkling of grain in them make great mouse traps. They go in after the grain & can't get out:lol: Never saw mice in my barn till one summer when we were cat-less.I don't know how many I found in my grain pails then:shock:. Needless to say we have cats again & now don't find mice hanging out in the barn anymore.


Err, so what do you do with a bucket full of mice once you have them?:shock:


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Sell them to the pet store?


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

THIS is what I need....


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

And then there's this: Eating Mice Can Be Rather Nice | Serious Eats


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

Golden Horse said:


> Err, so what do you do with a bucket full of mice once you have them?:shock:


I never let more that 1-2 in there before I disposed of them.Well if they are in there actually not very long & found they die themselves:-( other option is take away from barn, show them to my border collie,or most any dog for that matter they love a good lets get the mouse game.One pounce & snap them up ,mouse history.Dogs can't hunt them like a cat but giving them one they do a better job at finishing them off,:lol:


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## star1998 (Dec 11, 2011)

i thought that the mice were cute!!!


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Is that snake two headed?


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Yes, eats twice as much mice then!


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

Wow, your little friends are quite bold.
Our cat's a great hunter. He kills every bunny he gets a hold of, but just plays with the mice. Freaking Traitor!
I gotta second getting a snake.


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## MySerenity (Jul 18, 2011)

Ok so are you guys serious about getting a "barn snake"? I'm totally not judging, just very curious as to how that would work. I'm not sure I'd appreciate it when it slithers across the indoor and my horse goes sky high! I'd take the mice in that case. lol


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Soenjer - you can't starve mice away in a usual situation and Bubba has already stated that they get into the dropped grain from the horses and even the pics show the mice going for grain leftovers in the poo. (or whatever other goodies might be in there).

I don't know about the poison with dogs around unless you can keep the dogs away from the barn for a couple of weeks. Might want to read up on that / ask a vet as Rachel suggests. It doesn't take long for the poison to work. 

How about mouse traps? Seriously, I know you would have to set up a dozen every day, but they could be put away from where dogs and cats can get to and they ARE effective!

For the 5 gal pail idea, you could put a wooden lid on it, with just a hole for them to get in, but they wouldn't be able to jump out the hole. They'd just smack their little heads over and over and over and over...  Oh dear, that must be the masochist in me coming out!


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## Hidalgo13 (Dec 24, 2010)

Just get a couple more healthy and active cats. That should do the trick.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

MySerenity said:


> Ok so are you guys serious about getting a "barn snake"? I'm totally not judging, just very curious as to how that would work. I'm not sure I'd appreciate it when it slithers across the indoor and my horse goes sky high! I'd take the mice in that case. lol


I doubt you could keep one contained and keep the horses from stepping on it. Although there is a snake--or more likely several--that lives around the barn where I work, and does a good job on pest control there. Friendly, too. It/they will even come out to "visit" from time to time, and climb the tree where I tie the horses. The owner's grandkids caught one big ratsnake, fried it, and ate it. :shock:

Seriously, though, have you ever been around horses and snakes? For the most part, horses just plain don't care. They might shy at a rattle or a sudden movement, but they don't really seem to have the general concept that snake = threat, and I've only had them be mildly curious, and not afraid. Even though one time I was in the tack room at work, hurt a funny sound, and came out to see a rat snake twining around between the legs of the mare I had tied while she looked down and blew. I had to rescue it before it got stepped on. I've attached a photo of one of the resident snakes, actually, for kicks....



NorthernMama said:


> Soenjer - you can't starve mice away in a usual situation and Bubba has already stated that they get into the dropped grain from the horses and even the pics show the mice going for grain leftovers in the poo. (or whatever other goodies might be in there).
> 
> I don't know about the poison with dogs around unless you can keep the dogs away from the barn for a couple of weeks. Might want to read up on that / ask a vet as Rachel suggests. It doesn't take long for the poison to work.
> 
> ...


It's really my parents' property and my parents' barn, and they're pretty unwilling both to get more cats and to keep the dogs contained. Perhaps they should be more concerned about the mouse problem, but they're pretty ambivalent or downright apathetic right now. I guess they're just glad the mice are in the barn and not in the house. Though we did have one of those big traps for a while that hold like 20 mice, and it worked great the first couple days, and hardly since then. Except occasionally it would catch one and, far from being "humane," it would halfway squash it until we found it, paralyzed and bleeding, hours later. Which was pretty gross and pretty sad.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

A mouse trap that holds twenty mice? But then squashed just one? First I thought you meant some kind of live trap, but I don't understand the squashing part then. I was talking about the simple 1-1/2" X 3" spring traps that snap onto their necks or backs. I've rarely had a mouse suffer in one of those.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Oh, yeah, not that kind. I did use those in my car when I had a mouse make a nest in my glove box, but I think he just ran off on his own, instead. I don't know if the mice could be convinced to take the bait when there's so much free food around, but maybe....

We've got a couple of these: http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/m310

But then there's a bigger cube-shaped one, with a spring-load mechanism, that rotates like a secret door and flips mice from the entry way to a holding area. Supposedly also a live trap, but if it springs when they're off center, their butts might make the journey while their heads stay put.


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## TaMMa89 (Apr 12, 2008)

Hmm... mutant mice? I'm not sure I'd be comfort around them.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

When I see this:










That's when I'll start worrying.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

We had a mouse problem in our house a few years ago.

We tried to live traps at first because I'm an advocate of minimal-to-no suffering.

However, the mice were able to get out of them. So, Mother got the nasty, old, metal, spring-activated ones with the plastic piece of cheese on the end, and she dabbed peanut butter on it.

I refused to go anywhere the traps were because I didn't want to see the mice we had murdered. But one night I kept hearing a shuffling in the pantry, and it wouldn't go away.
I finally got the courage to go look, and a poor mouse had fallen for the trap. BUT, it only snapped his cheek. As painful as I'm sure it was, having your cheek squished and being stuck, I was glad he was alive and saveable.

So I took him outside and released him.
I was so happy that he cheated death and I was able to set him free.

And then the next day we found him dead in the same trap he had just escaped.

-sigh- I tried.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

****!! ^^
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

cute mice to bad your not close to me i could let you borrow my adorable kittens who seem to love bringing me half alive birds, mice, snakes, etc...

good luck with getting them out but very awesome how you have somewhat tamed the little critters


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## Cinder (Feb 20, 2011)

Maybe gather a few scientists and make some money off this issue? I'm sure there are some out there that would love to see the process of the mice being tamed and mutating and as payment would get a better way of being rid of the mice.

One can only dream :lol:.


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