# How do deal with a cat bringing in mice at night?



## chobbney (Jun 3, 2008)

Hello,

We have a cat, Nina, and we’ve had her just over a year. She went through a few months last Spring/Summer occasionally bringing in dead birds and some mice - sometimes dead, sometimes alive. The past several nights she’s brought a live mouse in at about 3:30 – 4:00am. We have to get up and grab Nina and then find the mouse. It took us 45 minutes one night, with the bedroom virtually cleared while we found it. 

We were outwitted for 45 minutes. By a mouse.

We feel we should catch them, as we don’t want mice in the house. Someone suggested letting her kill them then getting rid of them in the morning, but there a few reasons for not doing this:
1)	We’d rather they didn’t die
2)	We’d have to put up with the noise of her chasing/killing them for some time before it died (not nice and it would keep us awake anyway)
3)	It might easily escape her clutches and make a home inside our house.

We shut the cat flap the other night – which she wasn’t happy about as she mainly goes out at night, but she soon settled down. Last night we opened the cat flap, and she brought a mouse in about the same time. It was dead when we woke up.

A few days before this started we replaced her lost collar with one without a bell. We prefer her not to have a bell, as she has a better chance of remaining hidden from a bully cat that lives near us. Also, I’m a little paranoid some kids hear the bell and try to harm her. Yes, we are over-protective... It may be a coincidence, but maybe the bell was warning the mice?

Does anyone have any advice? We really don’t want to start keeping her in at night for many reasons, but since we find it hard to get back to sleep after being so spectacularly woken up, we’re keen for a solution so that we’re not so tired in the morning.

Regards, chobbney


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

If you allow her free access to the cat flap, she will bring whatever she wants inside. The only way to stop this is to either deny her free access or monitor her comings/goings to be sure she isn't bringing anything inside with her.
Sorry I don't have better advice. Growing up, our kitties had no cat flap and had to be let in/out by us and we were able to stop them if they had any 'prizes' with them. I used to leave a door cracked open, UNTIL...a mortally wounded critter escaped and died under a piece of furniture the cat couldn't get under and began to STINK. After that, I kept the door closed and checked the cat's mouth before allowing entry.
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## Rain13 (May 21, 2008)

> A few days before this started we replaced her lost collar with one without a bell. We prefer her not to have a bell, as she has a better chance of remaining hidden from a bully cat that lives near us. Also, I’m a little paranoid some kids hear the bell and try to harm her. Yes, we are over-protective... It may be a coincidence, but maybe the bell was warning the mice?


I think you pretty much hit it on the head right there. Mice are very sensitive to noise and vibrations, and with a bell on it would be much more difficult for your cat to catch mice. It isn't a coincidence that this started after removing her bell. However, your fears of the bully cat or children doing harm to her are quite legitimate, and I think this underlines the reason many of us prefer to keep our cats inside. It's not nearly as safe outside as it is inside for a cat, and while removing the bell from her collar may make you feel like she's safer, it seems that you will have to trade this inconvenience for that luxury.

I'm sorry that I don't have a solution, but it just seems to me like the "mice inside vs. increased potential danger for your cat" dilemma is unavoidable if you continue to choose to let her outside. So I guess, than, that the only solution that I can think of would be to keep her inside from now on.


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Thing is - cats are cats. They will hunt when outside and they will bring in 'presents'. Other than reattaching the bell (which doesnt seem that ideal given the circumstances) I like Heidis idea of stopping the cat flap access and letting the cat in and out yourself. Its much easier to monitor the bringing of such presents as they arrive  Although having said that, I am not convinced getting up to open and shut the door will do much for your sleepless nights. Unless you are happy to have her out all night. Does she have a place to go -a shed or something - if she wants?

EDIT: Thats a thought. Wasn't there a post a while back about a kind of cat flap that recognised when a cat brought home a 'friend' in its mouth? I'll have a hunt - be right back.

EDIT2: Aww. Cant find it. But there was a post about it though. I remember it most clearly!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

melysion said:


> EDIT: Thats a thought. Wasnt there a post a while back about a kind of cat flap that recognised when a cat brought home a 'friend' in its mouth. I'll have a hunt - be right back


Really?! I only knew of cat flaps that had sensors on the flaps and the cat's collar to recognize the cat. If it could stop a cat that had a 'present' I think that would be a great innovation!
My childhood cat would bring me mice. She had a special meow for when she had a present for me. I would come downstairs to pet and praise her, then she would eat it. Then we would stay outside for another 5-10min because she ALWAYS threw it up, then she could come inside!


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Heidi n Q said:


> melysion said:
> 
> 
> > EDIT: Thats a thought. Wasnt there a post a while back about a kind of cat flap that recognised when a cat brought home a 'friend' in its mouth. I'll have a hunt - be right back
> ...


It may have been a little man-made 'tunnel' that cat went into before it entered the house. If my memory serves me correctly of course. A computer (or some other techo wizard thing) then scanned the shape of the cat and checked it out against the 'cat shape' it had in its 'databank' (for want of a better word). If the cat shape in the 'tunnel' was not the same as the cat shape stored in the databank the cat would have to drop the 'friend' before the inner door into the house was released. It was posted ages back. I get the feeling it was Coaster that mentioned it.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

...sounds very geeky. I *like* it!


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## chobbney (Jun 3, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies. 

It's pretty much as we thought: if we don't want her to have a bell (which we don't), we might need to start keeping her in at night. She's fine once she settles down and at least we can get a good night's sleep.

It's a shame because it's when she's most awake. 

By the way, the equipment that detects if a cat has brought something in is here:
http://www.quantumpicture.com/Flo_Control/flo_control.htm
It's a great idea, but a one-off and very impractical.

Thanks again, chobbney


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

chobbney said:


> Thanks for all the replies.
> 
> It's pretty much as we thought: if we don't want her to have a bell (which we don't), we might need to start keeping her in at night. She's fine once she settles down and at least we can get a good night's sleep.
> 
> ...


Thats probably the most sensible idea. Your cat can still go out during the day if you would like her too.

Thanks for the Flo-Control link. Thats exactly what I meant


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