Automatic Litterbox Central

How many day/weeks/months until he goes back to the laid back cat he was before this amazing accomplishment?

Now he spends every waking moment looking under furniture, staring at door cracks, digging around in dirty clothes and hiding around corners because he's convinced there are more mice to be captured in my house. He thinks he's some sort of jungle predator stalking his prey.

Did you tell him what a good boy he was? Lol Cats can be real OCD-all of mine are to the max. He may keep looking for a long time.

A few years back my 3 cats had a mouse trapped up against the wall. They stayed in that spot, staring at that poor mouse, from Friday until Sunday. I don't think any of them ever took their eyes off of that mouse. Poor little thing died of fright, I'm sure. I disposed of it and they were frantic. But not for long. Over the next 3 days they caught 5 more mice!!! I was freaking out! I had lived here for 20 years and NEVER saw a single mouse. None! I havent seen any since that incident either. They looked everywhere for mice for about 7-8 months then got bored I guess.

Get him a Panic Mouse, I think its called. It moves around on the floor just by being touched lightly. It rolls around all crazy then comes to a stop. Stormy loves it. Or a remote control mouse you can play with to distract him.

Yes, I told him what a great mouse hunter he was. Maybe that was a mistake. Now I'm concerned that he's seen other mice that I haven't and that's why he's up all night and staring under the basement door and so on. Those things give me the creeps however he trapped this one inside a radiator once and it did look cute. I tried to get his tail with needle-nose pliers to get him out of the house but couldn't get him.

Mice outbreaks are periodic here. Everyone in my neighborhood had mice for the first time several years ago and until now none of us had seen another one. I think when conditions are right, their population explodes and they get into everything.

I have several older Panic Mouse products. I only have the ones that dangle a mouse from a motorized pole. The cat got bored with that after a week. I should try the newer one that runs around.

Scott Larson wrote:Yes, I told him what a great mouse hunter he was. Maybe that was a mistake. Now I'm concerned that he's seen other mice that I haven't and that's why he's up all night and staring under the basement door and so on. Those things give me the creeps however he trapped this one inside a radiator once and it did look cute. I tried to get his tail with needle-nose pliers to get him out of the house but couldn't get him.

Mice outbreaks are periodic here. Everyone in my neighborhood had mice for the first time several years ago and until now none of us had seen another one. I think when conditions are right, their population explodes and they get into everything.

I have several older Panic Mouse products. I only have the ones that dangle a mouse from a motorized pole. The cat got bored with that after a week. I should try the newer one that runs around.

That one that spins around... I've had 3 of those things. The cats either totally broke the pole off or bent it to where it broke when I tried to straighten it. They also mutilated the mice once they chewed thru the string and had them free. I have hellion cats.

Speaking of critters....this gave me the major creeps. A couple of times over the years I have found my cats sitting in front of the fireplace - staring into it. There is a glass door in front of it, that is always closed. I havent used the fireplace in many years, its just too ineffecient. Curious as to what they were staring at, I got a flashlight and aimed it in the fireplace. OMG!!! A pair of bugged out, scary eyes were looking back at me! I freaked out and left the house, probably to the neighborhood bar, i don't remember now. I dont know what it was, and I didn't want to deal with it. It came down thru the chimney and thankfully, found is way out the same way. ewww could have been a oppossum, squirrel, rat (shudder) or something else I don't want to deal with. this has happened 2 times.

abbeytoo wrote:That one that spins around... I've had 3 of those things. The cats either totally broke the pole off or bent it to where it broke when I tried to straighten it. They also mutilated the mice once they chewed thru the string and had them free. I have hellion cats.

Panic Mouse sells replacements for those parts. What they don't replace is the gears. My cat loved to grab onto the mouse while the motor snapped the teeth off the gears. Then it would stop whenever it rotated to that spot making it a rather boring toy.

Speaking of critters....this gave me the major creeps. A couple of times over the years I have found my cats sitting in front of the fireplace - staring into it. There is a glass door in front of it, that is always closed. I havent used the fireplace in many years, its just too ineffecient. Curious as to what they were staring at, I got a flashlight and aimed it in the fireplace. OMG!!! A pair of bugged out, scary eyes were looking back at me! I freaked out and left the house, probably to the neighborhood bar, i don't remember now.

Sacramento has lots of bats, doesn't it? I had a bat fly in through the chimney once. It flew around the house gracefully but dove at me a couple of times, probably just to see what I was. I opened the front door and I guess its radar said that was a way to get out of there.

Not sure of the bats but there are a bazillon squirrels. And oppossums, which are super creepy looking. I have only ever seen one, but there are supposed to be a lot of them in my area. At any time during the day I can look outside and see at least one squirrel scampering up a tree or along the fence. The little buggers hide their stupid nuts and cant remember where they hid them, so they make little dig holes everywhere. They also burrow under ground. They have an elaborate tunnel system going on below ground. All of sudden a random hole will appear somewhwere in the lawn or at the edge of the patio with lots of dirt piled by it. I've stuck the hose down one, trying to see if it went a long way-it does. I dont really care what they do outside, just stay the hell out of my house!

Stormy saw her first squirrel the other day. She now checks that window at least once an hour to see if it is there.

I think there are bats downtown. I'm in Sacramento city limits, but not in the downtown area. I'm near Sac State Univ which is by the American River, and there are lots of things that live down there besides the homeless people.

this is totally off topic but oh well. Have you seen the show called Life after People? Its one of my favorites. It shows what different cities will be like, and how fast they fall apart, once there are no people left to tend to things. Sac has 2 rivers-the American and the Sacramento river. Back in the old days, the river would overflow and the city would be flooded. They kept rebuilding after each flood. doh! Finally they got smart and rebuilt the buildings above the ground floor, which became basements. Problem solved. Except our levees are horrible. Beavers tear them up and they havent gotten the repair work needed. Our system is just like the New Orleans system...that failed, only worse. We are the most likely city in the whole country to have a situation like New Orleans. It's just a matter of time. The show Life afer People featured Sac in one of the episodes. We are doomed. lol Folsom dam is holding back enough water that if/when it breaks, my 2 story house will be underwater, as will the whole area. thats a lot of water.

One thing about Life After People... the cats do pretty well. They're able to climb up the abandoned skyscrapers and catch mice and birds and pretty much dominate the structures. Only birds of prey pose much of a danger to them. This was supported in another cable special that documented the explosion of wildlife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. They followed a real cat family (clearly a descendant of domesticated cats) as they moved around trying to find someplace high up where they'd be safe from predators.

Oregon had a city of 40,000 people wiped off the face of the Earth when a dam failed. They never rebuilt it. It's now a bunch of lakes and a large golf course.