Conference misery::feline

    When you release mice outdoors, they more than likely find their
    way right back into the house again.  Especially now that it is
    beginning to get cooler and they are looking for cozy warm places
    to hole up for the winter.  Although its horrid to think of killing
    the little critters, you might want to use traps and get rid of
    them permanently as they do not make the best or very sanitary
    housepets.

    Leslie

    I hope you thanked your kitten for the presents she brought you.  It is
    their way of thanking you for loving them and being their pet.
    
    As for the traps the best thing to use is peanut butter and word of
    caution the traps get them right at the neck.  Not a pretty sight, and
    the other reason you would want to rid your home of them asap is the
    kitten and older cat more than likely will get worms.  If you never saw
    worms well I can explain that later.  But the vet told me that is what
    they get after providing you with a pest free home and giving you their
    gifts.
    
    This goes for any gift they bring you, the worms they get from these
    creatures.
    
    RE:-1 they are right more than likely those meeses found a place to
    enter your home and ran right back in.  And it bears no reflection on
    your housekeeping it is just nature indicating that winter is heading
    our way.
    
    Good luck 
    
    Elise

    Yes, and don't forget the disease that was caused on the Indian
    reservations by mouse droppings!  I don't think it is out here, but.
    Karen

    Just in case you all thought I had lost it from the heading to my last
    reply!  That is sort of a take off on Klibans cat song.
    K

> .... and JFCL ...

	You named your cat after an instruction in the KL10 instruction set!?

    "loves to eat them mousies,
    mousies what i loves to eat.
    bite they little heads off,
    nibble on they tiny feet."
    
    	-b. kliban
    
    i have this on a checkbook cover, mug, beach towel, etc.
    
    diane w/stanley (kliban's drawing of "good ol' cat" is applicable for
    him) and stella (not a kliban kitty, since she doesn't believe in
    stripes  ;-)
    

    Good guessing on how JFCL got her name - as I said, she is now an OLD
    kitty: she is 17.  She had worms once years ago - treatment was very
    messy, too.  I used to let her and her companion Nebula out if I was
    working in the garden, and I assume that is how they got them.  I don't
    let the cats out anymore.  JFCL is not interested much in toys these
    days, and to the kitten, the baby mice were a new toy that the human
    slaves did not have to wind up - she didn't damage any of them, just
    carried them around in her mouth like she does with her windup toys.
    I don't really have the heart to kill the little critters, though I
    suppose you're right that some of them will move right back into the
    garage, and from there into the basement, if the woods out back doesn't
    appeal to them.  I don't care much if they are in the garage - would be
    hard to evict all of them from there anyhow.  I actually havent' seen
    or heard any more of them, so maybe three were all there were.  It had
    been several years since the last mouse, anyhow.  We definitely did
    tell the kitten what a clever cat she is, etc.  She was just as pleased
    to play with her windup "spider" and carry that around instead after we
    released the live toys outdoors.  Only trouble is, the "spider" gets
    much less interesting after its spring winds down and she needs to
    locate a human slave to wind it up again...
    
    /Charlotte
           

    This is the only mouse topic I could find...
    
    I awoke this morning to find part of a mouse head in my 
    apartment!!  yuk yuk
    
    A few questions come to mind:
    
    	1. Where is the rest of it?
    	2. Are there more?
    	3. Will it get worse when it gets cold out?
    
    I don't know if I am over-reacting, but I think I want to move
    out of my apartment. I have had several problems with it in the
    past few months (not the least of which being an influx of carpenter
    ants).
    
    Is it wrong to expect that an apartment in a nice complex should be
    insect/rodent free? ALSO: I have two indoor cats who did not ever
    have fleas up til about three weeks ago; now they (and my apartment)
    are INFESTED in a seemingly short amount of time! Now I think I know 
    where they came from!
    
    It was a pretty grisly sight this morning, and now I am worried
    about finding worms in my kitties and the rest of the carcass in
    my apartment!
    
    Please tell me if I am over-reacting--I would appreciate your input!
    
    (I think that this could be a bigger problem later as my floorboards
    don't exactly meet my floor and the wall outside of my unit doesn't
    meet the ground--I don't want a whole colony!)
    
    Thanks,
    Alicia
    

    Well, so far I have not found (and the cat and kitten have not found
    either) any more mice - live or not.  Maybe the kitten caught all of
    them?  They don't seem to have come back inside either - they may have
    moved into the abandoned house next door, if the woods out back didn't
    appeal to them.  But there don't seem to be any more of them in my
    house!
    
    I'm lucky that my cats aren't used to killing their own dinners and
    think of these critters as live toys.  Haven't found any worms, or
    fleas, either.
    
    Good luck!
    
    /Charlotte

    
    I think rodents and insects in an apartment warrant a complaint to the
    landlord backed up by a threat to call the board of health.  Assuming
    of course your cat(s) are allowed by your lease... 
    
    len.
    

    They are allowed...I went to speak to the rental manager
    last night.  At first she said, "this is VERY unusual" as if
    she didn't believe me. I offered to bring her the head, but
    she said that it wasn't necessary.  She also made the comment
    that noone has ever complained about mice before.  Maybe I should
    make her stay in my apartment for a week to watch the wild life!
    
    She said she was going to send someone over to check on it
    "right away" but noone came last night. I don't think that
    they will ever let me out of my lease without a fight--so
    I'm hoping that they will remedy the problem quickly.  I checked
    my whole place for droppings, but found none. Perhaps an unlucky
    lone field mouse?? (I'm being wishful, I'm sure  :-))
    
    Can't wait for the lease to run out!
    
    Alicia

    I live in a complex along the river and never had we had mice or rats,
    not that the field isn't filled with them, but with all the other
    wildlife around I am sure the cats have little to pick up.  Though the
    moles are popular items, but again not in the house.
    
    As for the fleas well it has been getting colder and if you are in a
    complex with carpeting and other people have pets you are bound to have
    them jumping in to stay warm and get some food. 
    
    I know people who've have the same problem and the vet says that you
    can bring the fleas in on your own clothing or what ever.  It happens
    and if you are on the ground floor there is a chance you may get some
    mice coming in.  If you are further up well there could be ways for the
    meeses to get up there.
    
    They should at least do something about fumigating (sp) for mice in the
    future, if there is such a thing, and just hope your cats aren't
    storing the bodies someplace.......
    
    Check your rental agreement to see what these people are liable for, as
    the fleas that is a problem they will more than likely place on you. 
    Depending where you live you just might want to place a call with the
    health dept. if the rental mgr. is unwilling to rememdy your situation.
    
    
    
    Glad to hear that the mice in the house are gone for now and nothing is
    happening to the kitten and big cat.
    

    The kitten has discovered PAPER CUPS.  There is a dispenser of them
    next to the kitchen sink, mounted on the side of a cabinet in what is
    supposed to be a kitten-free zone: the kitchen counter (that and the
    kitchen table are supposed to be off-limits since food is prepared
    there - the old cat knows this but the kitten sometimes forgets!).  If
    you pull one out of there and drop it on the floor, you can then play
    kitty soccer with it, and it will roll in circles on the linoleum, plus
    it is light enough that you can really bat it around!  Great fun! 
    Especially when your human servants are trying to sleep!  I do love
    kittens...  She's almost a year old now, but being a coon cat, she is
    still growing (she's bigger than the old cat already) and still acts
    like a kitten.  She'll probably keep groowing for another couple of
    years - she's going to be a big, big cat.  Her "mane" is growing in so
    she is getting to be a real pretty cat.  She looked like a grey cotton
    ball with white feet when she was little - a real fuzzball.
    
    As for the cat, she is going in to the vet on Tuesday, I'm afraid.  I
    discovered a lump on her tummy when I was brushing her over ther
    weekend.  She needed dental work anyhow, but this one has me worried. 
    She is acting fine, eating, using the litter box, running around
    arthriticly (dodging the kitten and her paper cups), purring, and
    generally acting like herself, so hopefully it is nothing dangerous.
    She has had several hairballs in last couple of weeks, but that is
    often true in the spring and fall when she is shedding.  I'm keeping my
    fingers crossed.  She hates going to the vet, and has quite a
    reputation there: I'm supposed to make sure her claws are trimmed short
    before she goes in.  She has a tendency to lash out at innocent nurses
    and the critter in the next cage if she can reach.  I hesitate to have
    surgery done on a cat as old as she is (17) anyhow.
    
    Neither one of them seems to miss the "live cat toys".  I do hope there
    aren't any more of them around, though.
    
    /Charlotte
                                                  

         If it's any encouragment, Bigfoot (who just turned 16 at least -
    he may be older) had surgery twice last year for cancer, and made it
    through with flying colors (and cancer-free for 9 months now).  With a
    careful vet, a "senior" cat in good health can make it through surgery
    just fine.
    
    					- Andrea

    (I'm back - doing a BIG compilation again!)
    I hope you are right, since I assume that is what the lump is.  It's
    BIG, too, since I don't brush her very often - she never needed to be
    brushed when she was younger anyhow, but now that she isn't as flexible
    as she was, she can't keep the back of her head and neck sleek, and I
    think it is bad for her skin if the fur gets all clumpy there.  So as
    long as I am brushing her, I figure it will also help keep down the
    number of hairballs I have to clean up after during her shedding
    seasons if I brush her all over.  Anyhow, she likes being brushed.  But
    the lump is about 3/4" in diameter!  It pretty obviously isn't
    bothering her, though.  I bet I am going to be glad my vet takes credit
    cards, too...  the last bout of dental surgery alone was real
    expensive.  So far, it's only cost something like $6.30 for the
    pre-dental-work antibiotics I picked up yesterday.  Poor kitty...
    
    /Charlotte

    Well, the vet called back with good news: the old kitty had a hernia,
    not a tumor.  And they did not need to take out any teeth, just scaled
    the tartar off them.  I'll have to leave early today to go get her and
    bring her home.  So I guess the cat will be with us a while longer
    after all.  I'll have to take her stitches out in ten days, also - she
    gets so traumatized going to the vet that it is easier if I do it, and
    easier on the cat as well (not to mention much quicker).  I had them
    check her thyroid function while they had her, since she has lost a lot
    of weight in the past year for no obvious reason, so I may have to feed
    her thyroid pills too - results aren't back yet.  I hope I can persuade
    the kitten to not pester her this evening, anyhow.
    
    /Charlotte (feeling relieved!)

    
    Oh Charlotte, what good news!  Paw Pats and Kitty Kuddles for a speedy
    recovery.  I Guess Mom will have to entertain the Kitten tonite so as
    not to annoy the recovering friend.   :-)
    
    Feline glad for good news.
    
    Sue & Crew

    The vet called back this morning and said that the blood work shows
    that the old cat does not have thyroid problems but is starting to have
    kidney trouble.  I will have to switch both her and the kitten to
    low-protein food after the kitten is a year old (next month).  Other
    than that, she seems fine, though she looks kind of funny with her
    shaved tummy and ugly stitches.  If she gets too interested in taking
    them out herself, I'll have to put her "Elizabethan collar" on her, but
    she hates that thing so I'd rather avoid it.  But she is eating,
    drinking, and using her box just fine, and the kitten seemed to be
    content to play with the human slaves instead.  I think the kitten
    thinks the cat smells funny still - she smells like disinfectant even
    to ME.  Neither one of them has found any more "live toys".   They're a
    couple of good girls (most of the time...).
    
    /Charlotte

    I am so glad that the "old" cat is doing better and that it wasn't as
    bad as you may have thought.  It isn't easy to have our babies going
    through things like this.  Especially since they cannot communicate if
    they are in pain.
    
    Glad to hear that the meeces have scooted out and that the kitten is
    having fun with paper cups instead.  That is better than the bag of
    acorns mine dropped on the floor last night.  The NHL maybe out of
    service for awhile, but Chez Cooper certainly had a hockey game last
    night.  The only problem was they all had their own acorn pucks and the
    last kitten didn't know what was going on.
    
    As for your kitten and not finding the "old" cats hospital smell
    desirable, when Ana came home from her spaying her babies went right
    back and fed from her, but the older cats woudln't go near her right
    away.  The probably had dreams of their own stay at the vets for the
    same surgery.  That is when the vet made big bucks and we took up most
    of the sleeping quarters those nights.
    
    Congrats from Timothy William, Christopher Robin, Rocky Buttercup,
    Tatiana, Clarrise,Thumbelina,Georgiana and Anastacia and baby no name
    kitten.
    
    Hope the recovery period is short