Tearing up the house

I was sewing a pair of my jeans shortly after noon when Daisy came walking over with a mouse in her mouth.

"See what I caught?!"

I tried to get Daisy to go outside with the mouse but she dropped it on the floor in front of where I had been sitting.  The mouse immediately ran under some furniture.

Then I spent some time with Daisy trying to catch the mouse again.  Furniture was upended.  I put down items to block the mouse's path and escape routes.  We were all over the living room from one end to another.  Just as the mouse looked like it would get away one of us would block its path.  At one point we all stopped to see what the other would do next.  The mouse was panting as it caught its breath.

At one point Daisy laid down to watch me and the mouse.   In my efforts to get the mouse, the mouse went over and sat by one of Daisy's back feet.  Daisy didn't react.  When the mouse then decided to try to slowly climb over Daisy's leg, she flicked her leg and the mouse.  The chase was back on.

Eventually the mouse crawled into one of the baseboard electric heaters.  I worked on setting out items to block the mouse's possible escape routes.  Daisy laid there looking at the mouse through gaps/vents in the heater.  Sometimes Daisy would roll on her back and then stretch and look back at the mouse.  Sometimes she placed a paw against the heater to get the mouse to react.

The mouse then slipped further in the heater so as not to be seen.  After a bit Daisy wandered off.  I fiddled with the heater to get the mouse to move and become visible.  When the mouse was visible I used a scissors I had close by to pin and kill the mouse.

Daisy came back as I got the mouse out of the heater.  She patted the mouse to get it to 'play' and quickly got bored when the mouse wouldn't move or run.

I opened the opening to the crawl space and Daisy immediately went down to check it out.  She didn't find any more mice. Then we went outside.

As I type this Daisy is laying on a blanket on my lap with her head half hanging over my right side.  She is half laying on her back and her side.  She has her left front leg wrapped over her face and nose so I no longer hear her snore.  Her back left leg is up in the air by my keyboard and her other leg is under the table.

One plus one

This morning I found two dead mice in the house.  One mouse was caught in the mousetrap; the other mouse was laying in the hallway.  Daisy had stayed in the house from midnight till 5 am.  So Daisy caught the other mouse.   Today whenever Daisy went outside she first checked around the dryer for signs of mice.   Nice to have Daisy 'back on the job'.

More mouse in the house

Several nights ago Daisy kept eating as a mouse ran around.  As she was eating her cat food a mouse ran out from under the refrigerator.  It saw me and Daisy and ran back under the refrigerator.  Daisy had her back to the mouse and refrigerator and was furiously eating.   I told Daisy there was a mouse but she kept eating.

I checked around the refrigerator and the mouse ran out from under it.  It ran across the floor over to the dryer, ran under it and got away  Daisy had no clue there was a mouse.  When she was done eating she wanted to go outside.


Last night she noticed the mouse.  I was in the living room when I heard one of her cat food dishes rattle.  Daisy ran into the living room and looked back towards the dining room and her food dishes.  She looked startled.  She went back and checked it out.  Nothing.

A short time later she laid on my lap when all of a sudden she heard something and went to the dining room.  She ran around including into the far end of the living room.   But the mouse got away.  She spent some time looking for it before giving up, coming over to me meowing that she tried, but now wanting to go outside.

Last night I added some cheese to the mouse trap and moved it over by the dryer.  This morning I found a dead mouse in the trap.  The fourth mouse I trapped this year.

I reset the trap.  This afternoon when I was on the phone I heard the trap snap, then some bumping around.  I thought it was the mouse in its death throes.   But later when I checked, no mouse and the trap was licked clean of peanut butter.  I reset the trap with peanut butter.

This evening Daisy was interested in the dryer area and spent a little time watching it before she got bored and went outside.

So my 'mouse in the house' adventure is not over.

Mouse in the house

Not a lot of news about Daisy this Summer. We have our routine.  She spends most of her time outside.  Maybe a little too much time outside.  Often she is over at one of the neighbors searching for mice. Yesterday when we were walking out to the pasture to fix a fence Daisy got sidetracked by the need to check out the neighbor's 'stuff' for mice.   Over the Summer I have had to trap three mice in the house.  I first noticed the mice when I discovered one mouse eating Daisy's cat food.  I opened the house's crawl space so Daisy could search for the mouse but she didn't find it. 

I had to set Daisy's food on the counter when she wasn't eating it and then set a trap with peanut butter to catch the mouse.  The mouse had such a light touch that it would lick the peanut butter off the trap without triggering it.  Finally I pushed part of a peanut in the trap's curl and then caught the mouse, followed by two more over the next week.

No mice for a while.  Until last night.  I was on my computer and Daisy was laying on my lap when I looked down to see a small mouse by my computer tower.  Excitement ensued.

Daisy grabbed the mouse and then dropped it in the middle of the floor.  She caught it a few more times.  She wouldn't kill it; she wanted to play with it.  Before I could open a door for her to take it outside the mouse got away from Daisy.

Then it was a game of lifting furniture to find the mouse.  Before Daisy could get it the mouse ran under another piece of furniture.  When I lifted the loveseat Daisy laid down to watch the mouse as I held the loveseat up by one corner.   Kill it Daisy!!!   The mouse made a break for it and we tracked it through more furniture.

Eventually we both lost it.  After a short search Daisy got bored and wanted to go outside.

*sigh*

So I am now back to putting her cat food up where a mouse can't get to it.  I reset the mouse trap with fresh peanut butter.

I told Daisy she needs to catch that mouse.  Instead I found a dead mouse from Daisy on my front step this morning to show me she is catching and killing mice.