# A Good Mouser **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503 "2007-04-24T20:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/41 "2007-04-26T01:41:27Z")
[QUOTE=Leonard] I was talking about [these](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_cat). [/QUOTE] Beautiful looking creatures. Must be hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/42 "2007-04-26T01:44:45Z")
Which is the better mouser, the terrier or the cat? And would a ferret be good at catching mice? ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/43 "2007-04-26T02:09:46Z")
[QUOTE=BluePitbull] Beautiful looking creatures. Must be hard to find. [/QUOTE] They used to be, but now they’re fairly popular. I remember seeing tons of them the last time I looked under pets in the classified ads. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/44 "2007-04-26T12:58:05Z")
We are having insect issues so I asked a friend who has 12 of them if cats were good buggers as well as mousers. She gave me the Patented _Oh, Terror_ look and assured me they could indeed catch bugs but it might be harder to convey that we wanted all the bugs caught. I am still weighing the issue since they can’t be guaranteed efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/45 "2007-04-26T13:46:42Z")
I admit extremely limited experience, but my impression is that the vast majority of cats will hunt instinctively. So the odds are way in your favor. You’d probably increase those odds by avoiding certain very domestic breeds such as Persians, which have had much of the wildness bred out of them (well, on a scale of as much as you can breed out of a feline!) Realize, of course, that if you keep an outdoors cat, it will hunt birds as well as rodents. Don’t know if you are the birdfeeder type. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/46 "2007-04-26T13:57:25Z")
I hope this isn’t a hijack because I believe it to be germane to the thread, but a couple of caveats, or cat-veats… All domestic kitties are descendants of the African Wild Cat, selectively bred for umpteen generations to get along with people. As such, predation is built in. Most cats, even well fed kitties, will hunt, for sport if not for food. And thus almost any cat will be adequate for controlling mice in a house. The suggestions for outdoor cats though raise some issues. Maintaining a cat outdoors, or even allowing it outdoors unsupervised, is a huge disservice to the cat. They are subject to parasites, diseases, accidents, and predation, making their lives often miserable and short. As one poster said, “they last about a year”. Other posters mention “depletion” of barn cats. Either way, not a happy scenario for the cat. Also, depredation of small animals of all kinds by outdoor cats (as in many remarks above) are in fact a serious issue for native wildlife (ten a day mentioned above being common, and scientifically validated in many formal studies). Typical prey includes both common and rare species. Locally we see cat depredation on common birds and small mammals, but also on threatened and endangered species like the Indigo Snake, Least Terns, Sandhill Cranes, Gopher Tortoises, sea turtle hatchlings (several species) and others. Even the removal of common small animals causes a negative impact on native predatory species including foxes and birds of prey by reduction of their prey base. Just another reason for keeping cats indoors. Bengals are, as the link says, hybrids of wild and domestic lines. With back crossing, they may have any percentage of wild versus domestic blood. And there are other domestic/wild cat hybrids besides Bengals. Many of these do indeed make admirable pets. However, no manufacturer of rabies vaccine certifies safety or efficacy in “wild animals”. Local authorities differ in handling this situation, and some jurisdictions are only now becoming aware of the potential problems with the growing popularity of these hybrids. But because of the rabies issue, if your hybrid bites someone (even a playful nip) the common “It’s been vaccinated, so we’ll quarantine it for a couple of weeks and see if it shows symptoms” may not apply. Because rabies protection cannot be guaranteed, your local health department may demand surrender of the animal for euthanization and rabies testing. In Florida, cat hybrids and dog/wolf hybrids have become so much of an enforcement problem that the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is about to declare all hybrids, regardless of percentage of wild blood, to be “wild animals” and subject to the appropriate regulations for the wild half of the cross. Other states also have specific regulations and even bans on various wildlife, and more are being enacted every day. Your local “pet” dealer may not inform you, but there may already be regulations in place or being contemplated. Just something to be aware of when you consider a hybrid. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/47 "2007-04-26T15:03:33Z")
In my experience the best mousers are always females. Might stem from the need to feed / train their kittens. Or it could just be that they are more social with their kills than males. -rainy ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/48 "2007-04-26T17:27:37Z")
[QUOTE=rainy] …the best mousers are always females. [/QUOTE] In the words of the head of a German anti-terrorist unit, "[Shoot The Women First](http://www.baader-meinhof.com/students/resources/print/shoot.html) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/49 "2007-04-26T22:13:57Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] The cat or the wife? [/QUOTE] Six of one - half dozen of the other. ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/50 "2007-04-26T23:07:00Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I admit extremely limited experience, but my impression is that the vast majority of cats will hunt instinctively. [/QUOTE] It’s true, just about any cat will hunt, but they won’t always kill/otherwise incapacitate their prey. Several years ago, I had a cat that would catch a mouse, terrorize it for hours, or until I could stop it and dispose of the terroree. Three days later, I’d go through it again (sometimes with the same mouse). She (the cat) didn’t want dinner, she wanted a playtoy. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/51 "2007-04-26T23:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=TV time] When my wife and I paired up, the cat eventually accepted her, but kept trying to teach her how to catch rodents herself. She would bring still-living mice, rabbits, snakes, lizards, etc to my wife and drop them just as she would do with her kittens when training them and wait for my wife to chase and capture the offending small beastie. Instead, my wife would make shrill noises and run in place. The cat would just look at her totally perplexed. When the mice or whatever ran away, she would go get it again and drop it at her feet again. [/QUOTE] Hee hee. One of the funniest things I ever saw was our dog, playing with a mouse just like a cat, while our big ole mamma cat looked on. You could see the pride glowing in her face: “Look! My retarded child has finally caught on!” We have cats (5 currently). They were, until recently, indoor/outdoor cats (not by my choice). You go through a lot of cats that way. They do hunt constantly, no matter how much you feed them. And they frequently bring home vermin and turn them loose in your house. We had far more rodents brought in by the cats then dispatched by them. (Not to mention dismembered rabbits, birds, etc.) If you want a cat for a pet, and coincidentally to get rid of mice - go for it. Keep it indoors and you probably won’t have any mouse/rat problems. If you like dogs better, and can put up with a terrier, get one of those instead. Keep it indoors mostly and you probably won’t have any mouse/rat problems. If you want something to stay outside and run off the vermin, get a [snake](http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/blackrat_snake.htm) of [some](http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/northern_black_racer.htm) [type](http://www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/species/display.asp?id=030027) and give it a place to stay. (That woodpile you took down would have been perfect.) As a bonus, kingsnakes will also run off and/or eat venomous snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503/52 "2007-04-27T00:07:56Z")
One of our cats loves to attack feet, especially the “neck”-like area at the base of the big toe. I always wonder if if it’s trying to kill the foot with a fatal neck bite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-good-mouser/401503.md?page=2)