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mice, being left as presents by one of my cats.

treserious

treserious

Post Punk Junkie
so, for the second time in two days, one of my cats left us a little present lying on our floor. a dead mouse.

this all started last thursday with some renovations to the addition off the garage.
part of the garage has been extended, and converted into a useable room, but, the way it was built was improper, so I tore out the floor and walls, and the addition's overhanging roof section in order to rebuild it.

before I tore into the place, I moved the leather couch into the house temporarily.

when I tore out the floor, I found that the insulation underneath had been converted into a mouse housing complex.

I bagged all of the insulation, and put it out to the curb.

since then, I have been finding these presents, as it seems the mice have somehow moved out of the garage, into my house....

I need to figure out exactly how they are getting in, but the rest of the garage is somewhat of a mess, and it will be difficult to determine exactly where their entrance is.

could they have hitched a ride into the house in the couch?
if so, do I need to toss it?

going to inspect it after work.
 
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Check out the couch, they could have ridden in on it. Weather or not it needs to go would be a matter to be determined after inspection.

As far as the "presents" go, that's often a sign of respect and affection - the cat likes you, so it's willing to share some of it's hunting bounty. Cats that spend time outdoors are notorious for leaving such "gifts" on their owner's porch.
 
Sam Cogley said:
Check out the couch, they could have ridden in on it. Weather or not it needs to go would be a matter to be determined after inspection.

As far as the "presents" go, that's often a sign of respect and affection - the cat likes you, so it's willing to share some of it's hunting bounty. Cats that spend time outdoors are notorious for leaving such "gifts" on their owner's porch.
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Uhh-huh. That means your cat(s) REALLY love & respect you-rather than regard you at bast, as a necessary evil...My sister had one who brought her meeces & moles all the time. Be sure you thank the cat for its gifts...
 
yep, I've heard of this behavior before.

the interesting thing is that its the smaller more skittish cat that's bringing the prezzies.
up until a few months ago, that cat had very little use for me, and only warmed to me in the last few months. now she comes and talks to me, and flops herself on me on occasion, where she used to run away if i did so much as look in her direction.

I know it is her, because she is not one to sleep in bed with us, whereas the other one spent the whole night with us.

she even stood beside the present this morning looking up at me and talked to me like she was saying "look what I did". I gave her some pettins, thanked her, and picked up the mouse with a paper towel.



as for the couch, I hope it's not ruined, it is a fairly nice couch....

I guess I will buy some of that cloth they use to close up the bottoms of couches, and then flip it over and cut the bottom off to inspect its insides.
if it passes, put the new bottom cloth on it.
 
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With our five ferals we get meece and the latest - a mole - presents all the time. It just does not pay to be a mouse around our place.
 
treserious said:
yep, I've heard of this behavior before.

the interesting thing is that its the smaller more skittish cat that's bringing the prezzies.
up until a few months ago, that cat had very little use for me, and only warmed to me in the last few months. now she comes and talks to me, and flops herself on me on occasion, where she used to run away if i did so much as look in her direction.

I know it is her, because she is not one to sleep in bed with us, whereas the other one spent the whole night with us.

she even stood beside the present this morning looking up at me and talked to me like she was saying "look what I did". I gave her some pettins, thanked her, and picked up the mouse with a paper towel.



as for the couch, I hope it's not ruined, it is a fairly nice couch....

I guess I will buy some of that cloth they use to close up the bottoms of couches, and then flip it over and cut the bottom off to inspect its insides.
if it passes, put the new bottom cloth on it.
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It sounds like she's telling you that she's accepted you as part of her group. A good mouser is invaluable. Both of my cats are incredibly lazy, but I'm lucky enough to not have mice. My parents live in the country, and their cats are destroyers.
 
Came back from vacation once to find a mouse in the middle of the living room carpet, head and shoulders missing, little legs sticking up. A foot away was a puddle of bloody cat vomit. Kind of like a little art installation to tell us what she'd been up to while we were gone. "Vacation Still Life With Vomit." At least she kept it all together for us. The carpet is still a little pink right there, but no one can see it but us.
 
Nah, they're not sharing the bounty. They're planning to kill and eat you. The mice are just to fatten you up.

It's a cat-tastic plan as long as they've been living with people.
 
Well, if that's the case, I hope mine gets sick gnawing on my skull. :no:

Naah, she's a sweetie. She would never do that! :pawprint:
 
Yup...they're bringing their kills back to their "lair". We had a tortoiseshell Persian who was an incredibly gifted huntress...even sans front claws. She "gifted" us with a baby ferret once...that must've been quite a stalk/pounce/kill!
 
Your cat loves you. She/he is giving you a present, seriously! My last cat brought moles, this one brought camelions. One chipmunk was laid out in presentation but when I brought my cat in he ran.

I vote for the mice coming in inside the couch too. You might want to take it outside somewhere and cover it with a tarp. They will all leave.
 
Wonderful!

toxcrusadr said:
Came back from vacation once to find a mouse in the middle of the living room carpet, head and shoulders missing, little legs sticking up. A foot away was a puddle of bloody cat vomit. Kind of like a little art installation to tell us what she'd been up to while we were gone. "Vacation Still Life With Vomit." At least she kept it all together for us. The carpet is still a little pink right there, but no one can see it but us.
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I enjoyed your little story, very descriptive. I can relate, that happens at our house too.

We have to do a cavity check on one of our cats when we let her in the house. She's known for bringing presents inside, more than once she's brought in live critters.


When she brought in the first live mouse and let it go, my wife and I were running around the living room trying to catch it. Francis the cat thought it was great fun, she got the humans to play too.

In addition to mice, moles and the occasional sparrow, she's twice left bats outside the front door!
 
electronjohn said:
Yup...they're bringing their kills back to their "lair". We had a tortoiseshell Persian who was an incredibly gifted huntress...even sans front claws. She "gifted" us with a baby ferret once...that must've been quite a stalk/pounce/kill!
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I used to have a white cat with no claws that could catch anything, including birds. It was something to watch her work, she was absolutely silent. She also had a bizarre sense of humor. She'd "hide" in some ivy in the front yard and watch you walk by. Being shock white, she wasn't exactly camouflaged. If you said something to her she'd act startled, give you an "oh no, the game is up!" look, run over and "attack" your leg, then run off to the side of the house. That cat left more small creatures of all types on the porch than anything I've ever seen. Mice, rabbits, birds, moles and other less-identifiable creatures.
 
well, I inspected the couch thoroughly, and found not a single hole, tear, opening that would lead one to believe things were nesting within.

it has to be some other source.

I did have the heating grate off for a day in the extention, and I am still needing to replace the covers that I removed inside the house in the winter, so perhaps they wandered in through the duct work.

going to find a few dead mice when I go to clean out the furnace in the fall.
 
Sam Cogley said:
As far as the "presents" go, that's often a sign of respect and affection - the cat likes you, so it's willing to share some of it's hunting bounty. Cats that spend time outdoors are notorious for leaving such "gifts" on their owner's porch.
Click to expand...
If the cat starts leaving "presents" on your forehead while you sleep at night, it's a sign of something else.
 
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