OK - a question for you cat fanciers...

monkeydharma

I need a mouser.

First, some history:

We live in the country, and my wife used to have a couple of cats who kept the yard free of vermin. The one dog she had got along well with them and all was copacetic.

Then we got married.

I'm allergic to cats, so they had to stay outside. Then my wife brought home a basset hound (I'd always wanted one since I was a kid) and the cats started staying on the edges of the property, since the dogs are on border collars and they could stay out of range. Then a third dog wandered in and adopted us - and the cats took off, never to be seen again.

It wasn't a big loss from my perspective, but in the last couple of years the vermin (field mice and lizards) have been making themselves more and more known. Since we have a lot of other wildlife around here (birds, squirrels, rabbit, deer, turkey, etc) I don't want to be spreading a lot of poison bait - so it's become obvious I need to bring in some new cats to keep them in check.

So, the questions:

- How do I go about bringing in mousers?
- How do I determine which cats at the Humane Society are mouser types?
- How do I train them to stick around the house when I can't bring them inside? (I have a fenced-off deck that the dogs can't get into which the cats can use).
- How do I teach my old dogs the new trick of putting up with felines?

Got any advice?

catcrazy

Contact your local animal shelters and explain your situation, most have ferals and semi ferals that they like to rehome to farms as barn cats. You obviously would still need to provide care but it sounds perfect for your set up.


Oh and it might be wiser to fence of the areas from the dogs not the other way around. Cats domost of their hunting at night, make the areas where the problems are dog free from dusk til dawn

rileamoyer

I saw on cats101 (just this last weeek) that the absolute best mousers are the good old domestic short hair cat. No fancy breed. If you can stand it allergy wise, keep the cat in house a few weeks and let out gradually. If they were outdoor cats before you got them (at the shelter) they should have no problem. At least that is what I did when ever I had to move with cats. Good luck PS: Can't help with the dog/cat getting along issue.The dog whisperer said once the dogs have to learn that the cat is leader of the pack LoL

MeggieMae22

I have two cats.

Them being mousers is just something they should know. I got a 11 month old cat from the Humane Soceity, and we had a mouse come into our home she was never trained to catch it, but she did. As for the the dog thing here's something I found I hope it helps.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2148767_dog-accept-cat.html

I don't know how to train cats from not taking off. Good luck.

strapple

you could try getting a west highland or boston terrier to take care of the rats for you
actually pretty much any working terrior breed will work
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_terrier

a cat probably wont get along with dogs that haven't been exposed to cats very often. plus a new dog wouldnt mess with your allergies.

i used to have a west highland terrier and we lived in a house free of rats (we had him since he was a puppy so he never had experience with rats) but he was still constantly looking at the walls and checking for movement in corners or behind fridges

but i remember he did often catch and kill field mice outside