I hate you meeces to pieces – well I actually don’t ‘hate’ anything, but this is the story of the time when we had a a little bit of a mouse problem. And the resident felines were not much use!
I Hate You Meeces To Pieces
Pixie And Dixie
For those of you old enough to remember (sly wink) “I hate you meeces to pieces!” was the catchphrase of Mr Jinx the cat in the old Hannah Barbera cartoon Pixie and Dixie. The very fact that I mention this should alert you to the fact that there may be a mouse problem in our house.
In fact I know there is a ‘moose loose about this hoose’ (cue song).
Mouse Droppings Ahoy
Basically chums, I came home from my trip to England with a dreadful cold. This meant I didn’t really pay much attention to anything for the first couple of days, let alone cooking. I went to cook some pasta for lunch yesterday and found mouse droppings in the pan I wanted to use. Investigations proved there were quite a lot of droppings in the drawer that holds all the pots and pans and in the cupboard under the sink. Meeces ahoy!
Having cleaned those cupboards out, Barnet Boy set humane traps. I then found one or two gaps in the kitchen cupboards with piles of mouse droppings outside them. You can’t get anything past me, big clue that. So the gaps were then filled. Job done!
No Problem – I Have Lots Of Cats!
I then turned my attention to the felines of the household. Let me remind you, dear reader, there are eight outdoor cats and four indoor cats – where were they when you need them? (Note, since I wrote the original blog we now have 16 cats in total).
Lucy
Our best mouser, Lucy, insisted that she hadn’t known anything about it and if she had been informed she would have investigated. She then tried to negotiated a contract based on number of mice caught per kilo of cat food.
Malteser
I tried to ask Malteser about it but, as usual, he was asleep and not much help with anything. That’s my theory on why we have such a problem with him having ticks – he moves so slowly he is an easy target.
That left the babies of the family.
Stevie Mouse
Stevie Mouse said that I had to remember she had been blind from birth and was brought in to live with us at four weeks old. She couldn’t remember at any stage my bringing home a partially injured mouse for her to learn to hunt and catch. So none of this was her fault. It was down to my bad parenting. Not a lot you could say to that really.
Emmy
With some trepidation I turned to Emmy. Connecting with Emmy at the best of times can be tricky as she is usually in ‘lala’ land. Not surprisingly getting her to engage in the problem was tricky. But I noticed a considerable increase in her interest level when she realised the meeces were edible. Mind you, she was trying to get at the peanut butter in the humane mouse traps at the time… So my general impression is that our feline pals are not going to be much help. Time will tell, I don’t really hate those meesces to pieces I would just prefer they were not holding raves in my kitchen!
Update:
Barnet Boy To The Rescue
The humane traps were a great success and Barnet Boy was able to release the mice he caught some way away from the house. Apparently you have to take them a long way away or they find their way back! The last one he caught, he opened the trap to let the mouse go and there was nothing in there – or so he thought! He looked inside and the mouse had all four feet braced on the side of the trap refusing to come out! Eventually the mouse did run off.
The Revisit
About a year later, Stevie Mouse told us we had a mouse. She kept on pawing at the same cupboard holding our pots and pans. Sure enough out popped a mouse which she chased across the kitchen. But it managed to escape down the side of a kitchen unit.
The rest of the cats were as much as a chocolate teapot but Stevie Mouse was determined to catch the mouse. In the end she helped Barnet Boy trap it and then he released that one as well. We found the hole they were using to get into the kitchen from outside and there have been no further visits – so far!!!!
Cat Art Images
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Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
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Thank you for reading!
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