Playing Cat and Mouse

For weeks we have been plagued by an ever-elusive mouse who has made his home above our kitchen cupboards. Despite have more cats than kids, our felines have been unable to capture the menace. Often at night, I would wander into the kitchen to find one of the cats, (or two or three) perched on counter tops staring up into the cupboards. They often chase flies around the house (causing much amusement and destruction) so I thought nothing of this, until I found tiny holes in my dried pasta bags, and bits of food all over our otherwise organized cupboard. Strange. Where was this critter coming from and how had he eluded the claws and jaws of our pets?

As a result of nibbled bags of food I was forced to place all our dry goods in 1L mason jars or plastic containers, a quick, inexpensive fix since I already had the supplies. Anything that wasn't in cans was placed in a safe place away from gnawing teeth. I had hoped to starve him out.



He had become good at avoiding capture. My husband even heard him once in the cupboard at night. Once I removed all food items from the cupboards and left all cupboard doors open to give our cats easy access. The noose was tightening and I think the mouse must have knew his days were numbered.

Then late last night, while attending my sick daughter, we heard Augustus pawing at something on her shelf. She and I both thought it must be a string, he is known to make a play thing out stationary objects. And then all the ruckus was over and he showed us his quarry... the Mouse! My husband chased down the cat and chucked the dead thing outside which our other cat promptly ran out for. It was like she was saying, "Don't throw that out, it's still fresh!" and out she ran.

I am so glad to have the whole ordeal over with, though I don't mind having all my dry goods in glass jars. I think I will keep it that way.