say hello to the world's worst mouser.

[ulysses]

We currently have a long-tailed marauder hanging out in our pantry and eating the dry goods. Said beastie makes all sorts of fricking noise as he goes about his business - we thought it might even be a rat or squirrel until I caught sight of him last night.

Other than the occasional sniff at the pantry door, has Mr. Kitty - a legendary badass when it comes to human prey - said "boo" to this thing? Of course not. I think he's actually offended that we'd allow a mouse in the house. He's napping now. Poor thing has had a long, hard day of napping, from which he must rest.

:nopity:

So, I bought a couple of hav-a-heart knockoffs at the same time that I bought more cat food...

[SoCalDem]

1. Mr Kitty is obviously way "above" it all..

He has a rather dignified demeanor.. Mousies are "human business"..

[ulysses]

"dignified" doesn't even begin.

"Haughty" is a start, but then, all cats are haughty.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

He's purrrrrrrrrrty!

:-)

[Catshrink]

2. Awwwww

What a pretty kitty.

Don't worry about his lack of hunting ability or interest. I have 5 and only two are good hunters. The rest are too fat and lazy to get up off their fat lazy arses to chase anything. But, still love 'em, wouldn't part with them for the world.

[It was not a pretzel]

3. he's a looker

and clever too...who wants to waste energy chasing mice :D

[SOteric]

Mock not thine kitty

For his claws are sharp and need stropping, whilst your trousers - yea verily they are flimsy shield from his fierce and mighty strop.

[ulysses]

6. oh, I mock him regularly.

He and I have an understanding, as it were. I mock him, he draws blood and sits on top of the monitor, hanging his front legs in front of the screen.

[roguevalley]

4. what a beautiful cat

I saved him in my cat file. :-D

[ulysses]

7. he's a handsome little shit, yes.

Pampered, some might say. :eyes:

[Maple]

5. He's wearing a

suit jacket and white shirt by the look of it...did you expect him to get dirty chasing mice??

[ulysses]

10. his highness thanks everyone

who's complimented his good looks, but would like to state that he's still playing hard to get with CatWoman...

[CatWoman]

22. heh -- that damn cat

:D

[ulysses]

30. you know he loves you.

You go well with collards. :D

[patdem]

8. I have pictures...that Kitty belongs to PETA and all PETA Kitties refuse

to kill mice. Yes that Kitty is on the PETA 'Kitties who refuse to eat mice' website...check it out.... http://www.peta.com/kittieswhorefusetokillmice

He is the 'spokes Kitty' as I recall?

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. He is committed to a peaceful relationship with the mouse community

And he sits tall and proud :)

[ulysses]

11. Yeah. Great.

I have a cat that's more than happy to take a chunk out of my calf if I don't feed him quickly enough at 5 am, but who becomes a pacifist for mice. I'm so happy.

:silly:

[SoCalDem]

12. Oh SHIT.. He has a GWB mouth....

look how it curls downward.. Maybe he does not know what a mouse is..:eyes:

[ulysses]

14. nah, he just doesn't like having his picture taken.

That's the "so you *like* to bleed" look.

[corarose]

13. Your Cat's too damn cute to kill a mouse!

My Persian (God Rest His Soul) once caught a mouse and one of it's legs was sticking out of his mouth and we said Garfield what do you have in your mouth and he looked like he said NOTHING MA and he gulped.
I picked him up and shook that poor mouse out of his mouth and the mouse was squeaking real loud.
When the mouse fell to the floor and started to run off Ramona got the mouse and killed it immediately.

Poor Mouse!

[KG]

15. ya think cut back his rations might spark his interest in meeces?

:shrug:

[ulysses]

17. I think it'd spark interest

in whatever tender part of my own anatomy I left vulnerable.

[indigo32]

24. He's just being true to Cat - Owner relationship after all

what else are we good for LOL.

[Catshrink]

16. Is he a tabby?

He looks a bit dark for one, cut just wondering.

BTW -- I'm playing the Video catnip DVD for my cats now -- two of them are paying rapt attention to it. Not that they'd do anything with a bird if they actually caught one.

[ulysses]

18. no clue.

His mother was feral, and we got him when he was about 4 weeks old - which is probably why he doesn't get the whole hunting thing.

[Wickerman]

19. His look sez, "what, me work?"

a prince among cats, it appears. Love him for his beauty.

[Cheswick2.0]

20. I can send my cat to you

actually both of them are killers.

I keep the bird seed in the laundry room and the mice get into it. My Moo (otherwise known as Schmooze)sits by the door for hours waiting for the mouse to come out. One time a mouse was dumb enough to do so and Moo got him. It was disgusting!

[CatWoman]

21. LOL

MR. KITTY!!!!!!

He looks soooooooooo cute :D

[MisterP]

23. was it one of your relatives in the pantry?

:D

[HEyHEY]

25. Why does he look like he is frowning?

[CatWoman]

26. because he IS

Trust me, that is one uppity cat!!! :D

[Padraig18]

27. OMG! What a GORGEOUS animal!

He's a looker, for sure! :)

[ulysses]

32. thanks.

The prettiest roses have the sharpest thorns, though...

[MuseRider]

28. Suggestion

What a beautiful kitty! I had this problem and the vet told me to not feed anything but dry food. OK, that did not work so I fed a little less dry food and put the food where the mousies were. In no time flat she was bringing them for me to admire. Good luck. What a pretty cat!!!

[dreissig]

29. Don't Count on It

Cats are generally good mousers, and being well fed has nothing to do with it. This mouse could be hard to catch .... some of them are!

[ulysses]

31. no...

I've watched him watch a mouse (not this mouse) run across the kitchen floor. Mr. K's only movement was to look back at me as if to say, "You really need to do something about that mouse".

[WilliamPitt]

33. What a pussy

:)

Good lookin' cat there.

[ulysses]

36. heh - one with all his claws

and *six* fangs in his head. No shit - his top sharpies are two-for-one. Still trips the vet out.

Thanks, Will. He'll probably be stalking you shortly for the "pussy" remark, though. :D

[geniph]

34. It's been my experience

that, with some exceptions, females tend to be the better mousers. It probably has something to do with needing to feed young. I kind of wish a mouse would get in the house, though, because my big boy Cappy strikes me as a rodent-killer of the first rank. It'd be interesting to see him with one.

Several years back, my ex-husband and I got a damn RAT in the house. Figures that, of three cats, only the smallest (a female) tried for it. (It was me that finally got it - my ex was too squeamish to have anything to do with killing it or disposing of the carcass.) That poor little cat got herself stuck in a sticky trap at two in the morning. DON'T use sticky traps - they're impossible to remove from cats. It's better to use a conventional trap and just kill it as humanely as possible (it's not fair to put it outside - it'll just go pollute someone else's house).

[SoCalDem]

35. A mouse once ran into Skunkie's foot and he just moved out of its way

then he beat a path the the space by the stove where it took shelter.. He tried to pretend that he was "gonna get it", but instead took a drink of water and then a nap ..

I think that mouse died of old age ..None of the cats were interested at all.

[ulysses]

39. well,

I think I'm going to do the "catch and release" thing in as open an area as I can. I can't find a reliable snaptrap for some reason, and the last thing I need is a trapped and wounded, but living, mouse in the pantry at 5am. Not going to do poison, if only because I don't want the lad to die inside the wall and begin to smell.

[JanMichael]

37. You're being used.

By a prime manipulator.

[ulysses]

40. doesn't that go without saying?

[JanMichael]

41. I thought so but "Cat People" seem to forget it sometimes!

Actually my beautiful wife has a cat that I'm prolly gonna have to take Big Pham medications for.

<sigh>

[Padraig18]

42. The things we do for love.

:hi:

[Padraig18]

38. My name is Andre, and I'm a boxaholic

This is our 'killer'... :P



Edit: it helps to upload the right file

[jmowreader]

46. He looks just like Gay Dale!

My gay cat looked just like that. Died before I could get a photo of him.

If Andre weighs 20 lbs., then that is Gay Dale!

[Rhiannon12866]

43. What a pretty cat. I think he knows his good looks

are all he needs to charm the humans!:-)

Kudos to you for purchasing the have-a-heart traps. I used to have a pet mouse. He was black and white, named Franklin after FDR! LOL! As for have-a-heart traps, I borrowed one from the animal hospital to bring in my now sleek and shiny indoor cat. She actually let me pet her, this week, for the very first time.:-)

[ulysses]

44. coda

His highness decided that I needed grooming early this morning. Weird-ass cat licked my hair for fully ten minutes in the bed. I suppose it's a good thing he's not much of a hunter...

[Le Taz Hot]

45. I don't have that problem around here

Five cats, four of them mousers. Catch so far this year: 2 mocking birds, a blue jay, a hummingbird, a parakeet (yes, you read that right) 2 tree rats and countless bugs and spiders. When my Sissy Girl can't find anything to kill she brings me her stuffed spider, drops it at my feet, meows loudly and repeatedly while circling her "prey." :eyes:

Btw, VERY pretty kittie.

[Clete]

47. Your kitty is a cutie.

I had a little mouse too who ran right by the cat who was, you guessed it, napping. I had to trap it myself and relocate it. What is it about the four-footed, furry help. Didn't I explain his duties to him clearly enough?

[Philostopher]

48. Here's my account of our 'conscientious objector'

(read 'lazy ass') cat's experience, the one time we had a mouse. This was written in 1999, by the way -- haven't seen or heard a mouse in the house since, but now we have three more cats and a small dog who's caught mice outdoors since we've had him, so the story would differ materially now, I suspect:

THE GREAT GRAY HUNTER

We moved Tink into our new house last summer, around the end of June. My husband and I had always suspected that, since she's so determined and ruthless about bugs, she'd probably eat a mouse before we could get it away from her. She once ate a lightning bug, refusing to give it up even when it was making her foam at the mouth and we were convinced she'd eaten a spider or wasp.

About a week after we moved in, we were setting up the stereo and TV in the basement when Mr. Nownow heard something scratching on the floor. He moved some cables and, lo and behold, there was a tiny field mouse cowering at the baseboard. Tink? She was lying in the middle of the floor, fascinated with the stereo assembly, she didn't seem to hear anything.

"I think we have a mouse -- hey, Tink!" he called. Tink's ears followed his voice. That was about it -- she didn't seem to hear the mouse, though even I could hear it scrabbling around from across the room. The mouse ran out around the CD stand, in the middle of the floor, then behind it again. Tink's eyes tracked, but that was about it. I've seen her get more excited about a moth on the wall too high to reach.

Not satisfied that Tink was not a "born mouser," the Mr. came out from behind the equipment and picked her up. The mouse went up the wall, across three feet of white-painted paneling to hang, cowering, under the mantelpiece. Tink was just about yawning.

He brandished her at the poor mouse like a bazooka. At this point, Tink realized there was a "toy" hanging under the mantelpiece and reached out to give it a swat. The mouse hit the carpet, squealed once and was gone behind the equipment again. Mr. Nownow put Tink down and she followed, but within thirty seconds the mouse made a break across the beige carpet to the other side of the room, where it hid behind a book case. Tink was still behind the stereo, convinced the mouse (or whatever she thought it was) was there.

I lifted her out while he tracked down the mouse, then we put her on the trail again. Intrepid, she managed to look behind or under every single piece of furniture in the family room except the bookcase behind which the mouse was hiding.

Stupid mouse, it took a run straight down a blank baseboard and leaped into a milk crate full of piano music. Tink did manage to follow it, then, and five minutes of poking with her paw ensued before the mouse made a run at her, skidding between all four paws and out the back. I think it scared her as much as it did the mouse.

There was a brief span where Tink actually interacted with the mouse. She spent thirty seconds with it backed into a corner, trying to pick it up by the neck and bring it to us so we could throw it for her, like we did all her other 'mousie' toys.

I finally called a stop to the proceedings by grabbing a large glass and setting it upside-down over the mouse. Hubby picked the mouse up with a notebook held over the mouth of the glass and carried it out to the end of the back yard to let it go. There was no point putting the poor little rodent through any more -- even if Tink ever figured it out, she wouldn't have killed it with dispatch, and the thought of a tiny mouse being mauled to death over the course of an hour made me sick. If she'd grabbed it on her own, I wouldn't have taken it from her, but it didn't bode well for a 'clean kill' if we had to repeatedly pick her up and point her at the mouse.

Strangely enough, for the next two weeks she kept wandering around, poking at the baseboards and crying at us as if we'd taken away a toy. "You missed your big shot, kiddo!" we told her. So much for 'instinct' -- a stuffed cat would have given the mouse more of a hassle. We still call Tink our Great Gray Hunter once in a while.

[Zuni]

53. Sounds like my cat

She is not a born killer. She is a born canned food eater and napper. But she is really nice.

[LizW]

49. Did you know cats and dogs relate to humans

differently?

Dogs look at humans and think, "Look at these creatures. They feed me, they care for me, they clean up my messes, they take care of all my needs. They must be gods!"

Cats look at humans and think, "Look at these creatures. They feed me, they care for me, they clean up my messes, they take care of all my needs. I must be a god!"

Your deity is lovely, btw.:)

[Rhiannon12866]

51. That's very good! I must remember that!

And pass that sentiment on to my dogs and hope that my cat can't read!:D

[sistersofmercy]

50. Quite a handsome and dignified fellow, "coat & tails" to boot!

Awwwww! He's just such a cutie, beautiful golden eyes!

[MissMillie]

52. Beautiful kitty

reminds me that I have yet to take and scan pictures of our newest addition, Cosmo.

[Zuni]

54. What a great face

One thing i like about DU is there are a lot of cat people here.

[ulysses]

55. I'm more a dog guy, actually.

Himself is more Ms Uly's cat, although I'm the one he comes to for 4am feedings. :eyes:

We've always lucked out to have good-looking animals, although Scarlett is more cute than a knockout. This is Sonya, who died in June of 2000. She was a real attention-grabber for her looks - wonderful dog.

[underpants]

56. You need to get yourself one of these