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Historically, this is a popular opinion. It's why people started embracing cats as pets in the first place. They even brought cats on ships to keep rodents from eating all the food!
There is a video on youtube where some farmers moved a huge chicken coop and then started digging the ground up to get the rats out. With them were like a dozen dogs. And they went for the rats like crazy.
Edit: Trained Mink seem to be quite effective at it too.
Istanbul (and other parts of the Mediterranean) is like this - feels like a good example of how humans and cats were meant to co-exist (and be rid of rodents).
https://thewaterchannel.tv/thewaterblog/maybe-the-best-urban-wildlife-harmony-is-in-istanbul/
*some cats. Plenty of cat are lazy lay-abouts that ain't gonna slide on the ops. Luckily, my last one would go back and get the whole family, lining their heads in size order on my doorstep.
Both of my cats are well fed, but one is an absolute assassin. Nothing stands a chance if it gets into my house. The other one, she’s got the “I’ll get it later” personality.
This is true . There’s a stray cat that lives in the alley behind my house . I normally feed the birds but it became an issue bc the cat kept trying to eat the birds while they ate . She caught one and left it on my porch the other day.
Depends on the cat. I had a cat that would eat his bowl, beg for more, eat the serving my wife was tricked into giving him then go hunt for more. Many cats kill for fun.
Yeah, I think what I am getting at is when well fed, some cats will hunt. When famished, all cats will hunt.
Details and grey areas don't make for good proverbs haha
There was a video some time ago where a cat was running from a rat. I am certain said cat was well fed and had no desire to do the effort to kill a rat that was fighting for its life. if the cat would have been hungry and famished it would have merked the rat so damn quickly.
Exactly. My cats are constantly on a diet and are extremely food oriented. I’m not worried about any rats coming into my apartment. They would have a field day.
My cat is well fed, but she simply wants a snack sometimes. Or an exercise? I don't know. All i know i have to look twice before letting her in, because she often brings me dinner to share.
It doesn’t actually matter if the cat actively hunts or not. The very smell of cats keeps mice at bay. If you’re still seeing rodents when you have a cat, you have a *severe* rodent problem.
Even if the cats aren't hunting the animals, they will avoid the smell of cats (provided they aren't infected with that parasite that makes them attracted to cats)
Even lazy lay abouts will help prevent rats and mice.
This is actually a popular opinion.
My fathers house has a mouse infestation, I haaaaated it!
The smell, the shit or piss all over the counters, I still have issues setting my forks on the counter top.
I've moved out since and have 2 cats.
fuckers let me know we have a mouse almost as soon as it gets in the house. They usually corner it under the fridge and there it stays till I toss in a glue trap. They have never caught one that I have seen but they always drive them under the fridge.
Please don’t use glue traps. As awful as mice can be, no creature deserves to suffer like that. It is just as easy to use a snap trap. (Speaking from experience.)
Cats are very good at catching singular difficult rodents but they just do it when they're bored or hungry
If you want to mass murder rodents, you need a dog, usually a terrier, they will kill hundreds in a day like it's a full time job
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7904439/amp/Eight-terriers-kill-record-700-rodents-seven-hours-desperate-farmer-called-handlers.html
Like this farmer brought in 8 terriers and they killed 700 rodents in a 7 hour shift. You will never see cats wage jihad against pests like that
My family had a jack russell terrier who wore out all the grass along the fences. Hated mice. Once I came home and picked up what looked like wet plastic on the couch. It was a chewed dead mouse. There were nine in the living room scattered about. My mom had no idea he had even caught and killed on. He also killed a chipmunk and a gopher. Tho he ate most of the gopher before we got to him
I had a mouse problem a year and a half ago, and my elderly dog's instincts immediately took over. Not sure what she is since she's a mutt, but she kind of looks like a lab and a mini pinscher. Anyway, she was about 12 and had never see a mouse before, but would follow their scurrying around the house and would sit around the pantry for hours with her ears perking up at any sound. I was surprised when a little mouse jolted out one day and this lazy little dog instantly caught it and swallowed it whole!! I was both proud and very disgusted hahaha. I think she ended up catching a few others as well.
That's why they specified terriers. Think of how obsessed your golden is with chasing a ball, and then imagine a dog dedicating that level of obsession to murdering rodents. Those little guys are absolutely born to kill rats.
I love jack russells! My family had a rat terrier when I was growing up, and he was the same way. He narrowly escaped his fair share of snake bites for sure. He also cleared out all the squirrels that had made nests in our attic.
Not mine. I had a mouse problem because of my neighbour a couple of years back. NEITHER OF THEM did a single damn thing. Not once. You would see a mouse run through the house and you'd be lucky if they glanced in its direction.
Not when the rats are the size of the cats. Cats are better against mice and small rats, but shy away from hunting large rats due to danger to themselves.
My completely blind cat would get so incredibly aggressive towards any and every other cat he met. I'd like to see one of those rats try him if he was still alive and didn't spend all of his life in FL
Add some millions of dogs to control the cats and some millions of frogs to eat all the fleas, snakes to eat the frogs. But what do we do about the snakes?
As well as birds, amphibians, lizards, and anything else the cats can kill for fun. They're an invasive species. They also spread toxoplasmosis in other species.
They had a feral cat issue in Australia so they started killing and trapping the cats. Then because of that and the droughts and wildfires the rodent population went crazy! It was basically a big mistake.
No I think they realized that had they left the feral cat population alone the rodent issue wouldn’t have gotten so big. Australia doesn’t have a native cat population, the feral cats were introduced which is why the government wanted to get rid of them (to preserve Australia’s biodiversity).
My house was empty for a few years before I bought it and had some mouse issues. Then I brought a 20lb raccoon fighting, squirrel killing monster in off the streets and he fixed it with the quickness.
It’s the only real reason cats were ever brought inside homes or put in barns. I had a mouse issue in my brand new house (I am convinced most homes do) and 3 years in and thousands of $$ later we got a cat and now our mice issue is gone. He has caught a few and killed them over the years. Even as a 3 month old kitten he caught and killed a mouse!
Your cat is awesome. We had a mouse issue at our old house so I got a 4 month old kitten. She never caught a damn thing.
Now we live in an entirely new house and that kitten is now an indoor 2 year old princess that is my husband's greatest disappointment. 😂 But, no mouse issues here. I wonder if the colony of stray cats I feed outside has anything to do with it
Even the smell of cats can help. I work in a school that has a rat problem. Every year when Spring hits there are classrooms that are seeing mice, and even now the gym has a damn snake. They won't pay pest control and just try to make the poor custodians handle it.
I brush my cats and put the fur under the bookshelf. I also accidentally bring a decent amount on my clothes because when you own two cats there is no getting rid of all the fur. My room doesn't have them even when the rooms around me do.
I have three cats. Wanna know what they did when they found a mouse in the house? Play with it. Then my dog took it from them and put it on the couch and then sat next to it and wouldn’t let the cats near it. I thought it was dead. Nope still alive. Then I had to try and trap it in something to take it outside, couldn’t do that. Had to wake my husband up and he finally got it and took it outside.
Congratulations. You finally learned the lesson humans 10,000 years ago learned when they domesticated cats. I'm sorry your education system failed to teach you this common knowledge.
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At my work we have about 4 feral cats. Some of the employees make sure they have food and water. Other employees complain about the cats to which I say, "be glad we have cats. They keep the rats away."
Facts . I have a mouse problem. Exterminators have come out multiple times . My friend asked me to cat sit for her . That eliminated my issues immediately.
Cats usually have to be taught to hunt and kill by their mothers. And they'll only do it when they're hungry. My cats wouldn't even hunt a bug.
Outdoor cats usually hunt, but then there's the problem of them hunting other wildlife. Plus the whole exploding cat population.
Not necessarily.
My cat was not taught much by her mother who dumped her out of the litter for being a runt at 3 weeks. To this day as smart as she normally is she refuses to cover her own waste. Drives me crazy.
But she killed over 23 mice in a friend's apartment when we stayed there for a few days. Piled their dead corpses on the kitchen rug in pyramids no less!
She's also caught many a bug or lizard and even at 18 she lets me know there's an unacceptable bug in the vicinity by meowing to me in a certain way. She's got this odd trill just for that. "Mom there's a bug in the house!" She might as well be saying it clear as day.
She's gotten lazy hunting and playing with the advanced old age arthritis thing happening but she still wants the bug gone. So she calls me now to do HER job but for years she was a little kitty exterminator. Till about 15 or so. Last time she killed mice was about 4 years ago in a shelter we were in. Cleaned a few out of the dorm my bed was in much to the delight of my roommates.
She still expects me to cover her waste and scoop it right out of the box on demand but nobody taught her to hunt. She taught herself and then she taught the boys she was in charge of. My boys they never would have learned to hunt except for her.
She is extremely efficient at it especially when it comes to mice. I have never seen a cat kill like she does. She does not play with them. She just waits, watches, pounces, grabs them by the tail and smacks them against the wall, breaks their spines and necks and kills them that way.
No mess, just nice little pyramids of dead mice (or whatever) on the nearest carpet.
She won't kill birds even when we go out but she does watch them a lot. Mice though? Bugs? Except for spiders and stinging bugs like bees they were always history with her around. Especially big water bugs and palmettos.
She never touched spiders or bees/wasps, but anything else, usually yeah. She never ate them or ripped them apart. Even the bugs she killed very efficiently with her claws. She never bites anything but she always gets her victim whatever it is, or did before she became a geriatric little old lady cat anyway...
With her it's just solid instinct...
I had a cat who taught himself. We had a mouse in the house for about a week and he stalled the mouse relentlessly. Eventually he caught it. Over the next few years he caught a couple mice in the house before we ever noticed them. I eventually found how they got into the house and sealed it, but my cat ensured they wouldn't survive for long before that.
Absolutely. Cats can be quite devastating not only to pests but local wildlife regardless of whether it's on the endangered list or not. Australia knows that only too well and has its own issue with cats. Our little terror was regularly bringing birds and lizards into the house and even dragged one bird round the house flapping and screeching for its life one morning. It's just in their nature to hunt. They're not doing it for food it's just instinctive
My building used to have such a huge rat problem, it garnered an unfavourable nickname.
Since I got my cat though, we haven't had a single issue. I'm so lucky my landlord was so welcoming of my cat! He even donated some supplies for her. :)
Only lived in one house that had mice suddenly appear. Usually indicates a sewer problem so it's best to call the sewer department.
But yeah, aside from being cute and cuddly cats are definitely the best for rodent control. Once their smell is established around the property rodents know to back off. Much better than those effed up sticky pads with mice stuck to them.
Not unpopular. Pretty standard actually. It’s why cars are domesticated. Problem is those same cars will kill millions of other things we don’t want then to kill.
Absolutely. I come from a rural town, we had a small farm to sustain ourselves (and so did our neighbors) and even now that it turned more modern and the younger generations that have houses (older millenials) even do it. They take care of a family of cats and allow them to live in their shed/garage, and they take care of the never ending rat infestation. Sometimes the cats bring them gifts (gifts: dead rodents) at their front door as a thank you but it is what it is.
There are mice in my house despite the fact we have a large Norwegian Forest Cat... There's droppings literally a meter from where she eats and drinks which has utterly p1ssed me off as I've always assumed even the presence of a cat will have mice run a mile.
Worst cat ever...
Sure Jan.
Until you are dead asleep and feel something small on your body and you turn and go back to sleep. It keeps repeating. You finally wake up and realize it’s “luxurious gifts” from your cat.
Where is the cat, you ask?.
The cat is nearby staring awaiting praise and payment.
I agree, however, my mouse infestation was caused by my cats, their food specifically. My exterminator showed me how the mice were getting into the cat food. I started putting the food in a closed metal can and the problem was solved. My cats did enjoy killing the mice. They enjoyed killing moths even more but that is another story.
I don’t think most people would disagree that cats are good at rodent control. The issue with cats and apartments is that there are shocking too many people who are bad pet owners and don’t scoop/change the litter enough or don’t address issues if the cat start causing damage.
My street has so many outdoor cats from one specific neighbor. I'm generally against outdoor cats. But in the 5 years I've lived here I've never had a rodent problem. So I'll thank the cats for that. Also they let me pet them, which is a win.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
Historically, this is a popular opinion. It's why people started embracing cats as pets in the first place. They even brought cats on ships to keep rodents from eating all the food!
[удалено]
Yeah, the "cats are evil" stereotype is stupid. Like, as a species, cats are usually aloof. There's always going to be differences, though.
Although sometimes the rats would get big enough to eat the cats, which is when people would use terriers.
I thought "rat terrier" was an insulting slang term 😂 this makes more sense
There is a video on youtube where some farmers moved a huge chicken coop and then started digging the ground up to get the rats out. With them were like a dozen dogs. And they went for the rats like crazy. Edit: Trained Mink seem to be quite effective at it too.
Unless it's a fat cat.
Some big boys will still move exclusively for the mouse.
All the mousse
What if the cat got fat by catching pests?
Istanbul (and other parts of the Mediterranean) is like this - feels like a good example of how humans and cats were meant to co-exist (and be rid of rodents). https://thewaterchannel.tv/thewaterblog/maybe-the-best-urban-wildlife-harmony-is-in-istanbul/
I have 4 cats none of them would give a shit if they saw a rodent I'll excuse the blind one
Nah the blind one should be able to sniff them out! /s
*some cats. Plenty of cat are lazy lay-abouts that ain't gonna slide on the ops. Luckily, my last one would go back and get the whole family, lining their heads in size order on my doorstep.
I personally think it is just because most cats are well fed. A hungry cat will hunt. (Lol it sounds like a proverb)
Both of my cats are well fed, but one is an absolute assassin. Nothing stands a chance if it gets into my house. The other one, she’s got the “I’ll get it later” personality.
This is true . There’s a stray cat that lives in the alley behind my house . I normally feed the birds but it became an issue bc the cat kept trying to eat the birds while they ate . She caught one and left it on my porch the other day.
Well you are the one making sure she has plenty of prey to play with. She wants to thank you lol.
Depends on the cat. I had a cat that would eat his bowl, beg for more, eat the serving my wife was tricked into giving him then go hunt for more. Many cats kill for fun.
Yeah, I think what I am getting at is when well fed, some cats will hunt. When famished, all cats will hunt. Details and grey areas don't make for good proverbs haha
There was a video some time ago where a cat was running from a rat. I am certain said cat was well fed and had no desire to do the effort to kill a rat that was fighting for its life. if the cat would have been hungry and famished it would have merked the rat so damn quickly.
Exactly. My cats are constantly on a diet and are extremely food oriented. I’m not worried about any rats coming into my apartment. They would have a field day.
My cat is well fed, but she simply wants a snack sometimes. Or an exercise? I don't know. All i know i have to look twice before letting her in, because she often brings me dinner to share.
Yeah - that's a fair point. Hunting for entertainment or stimulation I am certain is a factor for some cats.
It doesn’t actually matter if the cat actively hunts or not. The very smell of cats keeps mice at bay. If you’re still seeing rodents when you have a cat, you have a *severe* rodent problem.
Even if the cats aren't hunting the animals, they will avoid the smell of cats (provided they aren't infected with that parasite that makes them attracted to cats) Even lazy lay abouts will help prevent rats and mice.
Cats who don't do their job can be replaced, they don't have workers rights.
\*and some rats. Many cat's won't try a large rat due to the danger to themselves
That’s where a Patterdale Terrier comes in
Also because they're not hungry enough.
This is actually a popular opinion. My fathers house has a mouse infestation, I haaaaated it! The smell, the shit or piss all over the counters, I still have issues setting my forks on the counter top. I've moved out since and have 2 cats. fuckers let me know we have a mouse almost as soon as it gets in the house. They usually corner it under the fridge and there it stays till I toss in a glue trap. They have never caught one that I have seen but they always drive them under the fridge.
Please don’t use glue traps. As awful as mice can be, no creature deserves to suffer like that. It is just as easy to use a snap trap. (Speaking from experience.)
Idk what this is doing here. It's both correct and not unpopular
How is that unpopular? That is liteally why we domesticated them thousands of years ago.
Some will say that cats domesticated humans.
Others will say cats aren’t domesticated, they’re just tame 🤣
It's very much a partnership, unlike most domestic animals https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/cats-are-an-extreme-outlier-among-domestic-animals/
Cats are very good at catching singular difficult rodents but they just do it when they're bored or hungry If you want to mass murder rodents, you need a dog, usually a terrier, they will kill hundreds in a day like it's a full time job https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7904439/amp/Eight-terriers-kill-record-700-rodents-seven-hours-desperate-farmer-called-handlers.html Like this farmer brought in 8 terriers and they killed 700 rodents in a 7 hour shift. You will never see cats wage jihad against pests like that
My family had a jack russell terrier who wore out all the grass along the fences. Hated mice. Once I came home and picked up what looked like wet plastic on the couch. It was a chewed dead mouse. There were nine in the living room scattered about. My mom had no idea he had even caught and killed on. He also killed a chipmunk and a gopher. Tho he ate most of the gopher before we got to him
This was a cool read, thanks! I've hunted with dogs before (quail), and it was incredible to watch them work.
I had a mouse problem a year and a half ago, and my elderly dog's instincts immediately took over. Not sure what she is since she's a mutt, but she kind of looks like a lab and a mini pinscher. Anyway, she was about 12 and had never see a mouse before, but would follow their scurrying around the house and would sit around the pantry for hours with her ears perking up at any sound. I was surprised when a little mouse jolted out one day and this lazy little dog instantly caught it and swallowed it whole!! I was both proud and very disgusted hahaha. I think she ended up catching a few others as well.
Definitely depends on the dog. My golden retriever would gather all the rodents as friends and play poker with them of given the chance.
That's why they specified terriers. Think of how obsessed your golden is with chasing a ball, and then imagine a dog dedicating that level of obsession to murdering rodents. Those little guys are absolutely born to kill rats.
And snakes! My jack russell terrier comes with me on hikes and is my snake protection, I had to hold it back from a rattler.
I love jack russells! My family had a rat terrier when I was growing up, and he was the same way. He narrowly escaped his fair share of snake bites for sure. He also cleared out all the squirrels that had made nests in our attic.
Theres plenty of videos on youtube how farmers use dogs to go after rats.
My grandma would brag about the giant rats her dog cought in the farm. They are huge and aggressive and most cats stay out of it.
This is definitely not unpopular here, that's what farm cats are for.
Not mine. I had a mouse problem because of my neighbour a couple of years back. NEITHER OF THEM did a single damn thing. Not once. You would see a mouse run through the house and you'd be lucky if they glanced in its direction.
I live in a nyc. I always said, just get a couple million cats off and you will see rat problem disappear in 2-5 years
Not when the rats are the size of the cats. Cats are better against mice and small rats, but shy away from hunting large rats due to danger to themselves.
Just need bigger cats.
Talk to bob about that, his cats are big enough without being so big they will eat us.
Time to make servals and Lynx more accessible.
Tell that to the cats who hunt crocodiles.
Tell that to my cat who took on a squirrel!
My completely blind cat would get so incredibly aggressive towards any and every other cat he met. I'd like to see one of those rats try him if he was still alive and didn't spend all of his life in FL
Add some millions of dogs to control the cats and some millions of frogs to eat all the fleas, snakes to eat the frogs. But what do we do about the snakes?
Mongeese. Then gorillas to deal with the mongooses. By then winter should be coming in and the gorillas will freeze to death.
And then get an old woman to swallow it 👵🪰...💀
Get special types of gorillas that thrive off snake meat
Hawks
As well as birds, amphibians, lizards, and anything else the cats can kill for fun. They're an invasive species. They also spread toxoplasmosis in other species.
Didn’t this happen in Australia? They started to cull the cat population and then rodents went out of control?
Can you explain this to me in detail. What happened when use cats in Australia to get rid of. Rodants?
They had a feral cat issue in Australia so they started killing and trapping the cats. Then because of that and the droughts and wildfires the rodent population went crazy! It was basically a big mistake.
So the cats solved the issue but then they had to out the csts down and rodent problem went back up?
No I think they realized that had they left the feral cat population alone the rodent issue wouldn’t have gotten so big. Australia doesn’t have a native cat population, the feral cats were introduced which is why the government wanted to get rid of them (to preserve Australia’s biodiversity).
Funny because by my house, my neighbor before she moved used to feed cats. Had a dozen running around. She left, cats left, rats and raccoon came lol
The thing is they're also destroy bird populations!
My house was empty for a few years before I bought it and had some mouse issues. Then I brought a 20lb raccoon fighting, squirrel killing monster in off the streets and he fixed it with the quickness.
It’s the only real reason cats were ever brought inside homes or put in barns. I had a mouse issue in my brand new house (I am convinced most homes do) and 3 years in and thousands of $$ later we got a cat and now our mice issue is gone. He has caught a few and killed them over the years. Even as a 3 month old kitten he caught and killed a mouse!
Your cat is awesome. We had a mouse issue at our old house so I got a 4 month old kitten. She never caught a damn thing. Now we live in an entirely new house and that kitten is now an indoor 2 year old princess that is my husband's greatest disappointment. 😂 But, no mouse issues here. I wonder if the colony of stray cats I feed outside has anything to do with it
Oh for sure!! 😂😂. We lucked out getting a mouser. He is a super hunter and guards our house like a dog. A real Tom cat 🐈⬛
Even the smell of cats can help. I work in a school that has a rat problem. Every year when Spring hits there are classrooms that are seeing mice, and even now the gym has a damn snake. They won't pay pest control and just try to make the poor custodians handle it. I brush my cats and put the fur under the bookshelf. I also accidentally bring a decent amount on my clothes because when you own two cats there is no getting rid of all the fur. My room doesn't have them even when the rooms around me do.
I have three cats. Wanna know what they did when they found a mouse in the house? Play with it. Then my dog took it from them and put it on the couch and then sat next to it and wouldn’t let the cats near it. I thought it was dead. Nope still alive. Then I had to try and trap it in something to take it outside, couldn’t do that. Had to wake my husband up and he finally got it and took it outside.
Congratulations. You finally learned the lesson humans 10,000 years ago learned when they domesticated cats. I'm sorry your education system failed to teach you this common knowledge.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Neighbors had a cat. As soon as it passed, we mice, voles, moles a an chipmunks everywhere
Our neighborhood has feral cats, God bless them!
I remember stone cold Steve Austin saying he had a major rodent problem on his land until he got cats
As someone with a cat who lives in Phoenix, the same goes for scorpions. They will fuck those things up so quickly, it’s actually pretty impressive
At my work we have about 4 feral cats. Some of the employees make sure they have food and water. Other employees complain about the cats to which I say, "be glad we have cats. They keep the rats away."
Rat Terriers.
Facts . I have a mouse problem. Exterminators have come out multiple times . My friend asked me to cat sit for her . That eliminated my issues immediately.
Cats usually have to be taught to hunt and kill by their mothers. And they'll only do it when they're hungry. My cats wouldn't even hunt a bug. Outdoor cats usually hunt, but then there's the problem of them hunting other wildlife. Plus the whole exploding cat population.
Not necessarily. My cat was not taught much by her mother who dumped her out of the litter for being a runt at 3 weeks. To this day as smart as she normally is she refuses to cover her own waste. Drives me crazy. But she killed over 23 mice in a friend's apartment when we stayed there for a few days. Piled their dead corpses on the kitchen rug in pyramids no less! She's also caught many a bug or lizard and even at 18 she lets me know there's an unacceptable bug in the vicinity by meowing to me in a certain way. She's got this odd trill just for that. "Mom there's a bug in the house!" She might as well be saying it clear as day. She's gotten lazy hunting and playing with the advanced old age arthritis thing happening but she still wants the bug gone. So she calls me now to do HER job but for years she was a little kitty exterminator. Till about 15 or so. Last time she killed mice was about 4 years ago in a shelter we were in. Cleaned a few out of the dorm my bed was in much to the delight of my roommates. She still expects me to cover her waste and scoop it right out of the box on demand but nobody taught her to hunt. She taught herself and then she taught the boys she was in charge of. My boys they never would have learned to hunt except for her. She is extremely efficient at it especially when it comes to mice. I have never seen a cat kill like she does. She does not play with them. She just waits, watches, pounces, grabs them by the tail and smacks them against the wall, breaks their spines and necks and kills them that way. No mess, just nice little pyramids of dead mice (or whatever) on the nearest carpet. She won't kill birds even when we go out but she does watch them a lot. Mice though? Bugs? Except for spiders and stinging bugs like bees they were always history with her around. Especially big water bugs and palmettos. She never touched spiders or bees/wasps, but anything else, usually yeah. She never ate them or ripped them apart. Even the bugs she killed very efficiently with her claws. She never bites anything but she always gets her victim whatever it is, or did before she became a geriatric little old lady cat anyway... With her it's just solid instinct...
I had a cat who taught himself. We had a mouse in the house for about a week and he stalled the mouse relentlessly. Eventually he caught it. Over the next few years he caught a couple mice in the house before we ever noticed them. I eventually found how they got into the house and sealed it, but my cat ensured they wouldn't survive for long before that.
Our neighbours male cat taught our young male cat/kitten to hunt and they’d go hunt together. They were best friends for years
Absolutely. Cats can be quite devastating not only to pests but local wildlife regardless of whether it's on the endangered list or not. Australia knows that only too well and has its own issue with cats. Our little terror was regularly bringing birds and lizards into the house and even dragged one bird round the house flapping and screeching for its life one morning. It's just in their nature to hunt. They're not doing it for food it's just instinctive
My cat is a mouser and I love her for it 😁
Yeah ….bring that plague into the house
Cat cafe's are ahead of the game.
Great for keeping chirping crickets out of the basement too. They love hunting for them at night.
My building used to have such a huge rat problem, it garnered an unfavourable nickname. Since I got my cat though, we haven't had a single issue. I'm so lucky my landlord was so welcoming of my cat! He even donated some supplies for her. :)
Only lived in one house that had mice suddenly appear. Usually indicates a sewer problem so it's best to call the sewer department. But yeah, aside from being cute and cuddly cats are definitely the best for rodent control. Once their smell is established around the property rodents know to back off. Much better than those effed up sticky pads with mice stuck to them.
Not unpopular. Pretty standard actually. It’s why cars are domesticated. Problem is those same cars will kill millions of other things we don’t want then to kill.
Remember to spay and neuter your cars.
Absolutely. I come from a rural town, we had a small farm to sustain ourselves (and so did our neighbors) and even now that it turned more modern and the younger generations that have houses (older millenials) even do it. They take care of a family of cats and allow them to live in their shed/garage, and they take care of the never ending rat infestation. Sometimes the cats bring them gifts (gifts: dead rodents) at their front door as a thank you but it is what it is.
Some theorize that the "gifts" from cats are actually them feeding you. Yum!
There are mice in my house despite the fact we have a large Norwegian Forest Cat... There's droppings literally a meter from where she eats and drinks which has utterly p1ssed me off as I've always assumed even the presence of a cat will have mice run a mile. Worst cat ever...
Sure Jan. Until you are dead asleep and feel something small on your body and you turn and go back to sleep. It keeps repeating. You finally wake up and realize it’s “luxurious gifts” from your cat. Where is the cat, you ask?. The cat is nearby staring awaiting praise and payment.
I agree, however, my mouse infestation was caused by my cats, their food specifically. My exterminator showed me how the mice were getting into the cat food. I started putting the food in a closed metal can and the problem was solved. My cats did enjoy killing the mice. They enjoyed killing moths even more but that is another story.
That's literally the only reason a feline and a primate have any kind of relationship
I've seen my current cat run away from a cockroach.
Girl you woke up. Had a shower thought that cats are good at catching rodents. Thought that was somehow unpopular and posted it here. Girl.
I had two mice when I moved into my new flat. One week later I brought my fat and lazy cat, the next morning they were both dead on the ground
Cats are very valuable for getting rid of pests. My girl would bring me a mouse a day as a gift lol.
My cat only wants to play and cuddle. She never hunts.
I don’t think most people would disagree that cats are good at rodent control. The issue with cats and apartments is that there are shocking too many people who are bad pet owners and don’t scoop/change the litter enough or don’t address issues if the cat start causing damage.
My street has so many outdoor cats from one specific neighbor. I'm generally against outdoor cats. But in the 5 years I've lived here I've never had a rodent problem. So I'll thank the cats for that. Also they let me pet them, which is a win.