How old is too old for a cat to chase & hunt mice?

Question

I have two cats that are very very old, just the other day i found one of my cats asleep with two little gray mice snuggling together.

Either my cats have gone senile or just aren't up to chasing mice anymore, there are more mice around than I'd like lately.

I used to have a third cat, but I had to have her retired due to her extreme age & fragility, if I got a newer/younger cat I'm concerned my old codgers will teach it to tolerate mice - than hunt them & kill them.

By the way - What is a good bait for a mouse trap?

Answer 1

call an exterminator if your house is that over run by mice

Answer 2

don't think it's about age-more about how active they still are. our cat caught a mouse when she was 17-we were surprised! peanut butter is better than cheese according to the humane traps we used.

Answer 3

Bait... penut butter.

You need to get a younger one...

They retire... and allow the younger ones to take over!  

Answer 4

usually cats are never to old to chase mice

cheese

Answer 5

why dont you try to solve the problem of mice?

your problem shouldnt be the your cats simply will not catch the mice, what it should be is that there are mice in your house in the first place.

Deal with the mice. the cats will do what they want.

Answer 6

My female cats continued to hunt until they were about six years old.

My male cats (more laid-back) gave it up when they were about four.

Answer 7

tooo old will be around 18 yrs old. my maine coon is now 12 and he just left a giant rat on my doorstep last night. get a third cat. a kitten would be best because the older ones would soften up to him. good bait would be Skippy peanut butter

Answer 8

good bait for a mouse trap is cheese or crackers, sometimes even a piece of cat food.

and sometimes cats just tire of chasing/hunting mice, once they get old enough, the mouse isnt as much of a reward for them, so therefore they dont chase them anymore.

Answer 9

The cat probably wore the mice out and got tired of playing with them it should have killed them though, a new cat is what you need fresh blood,lol,so to speak, our cat is 20,yrs and still gets mice,well good hunting,Mike  

Answer 10

Hmm. That's peculiar. It's probably they just aren't up to chasing something that's hard for them to get. I think Cheese would be good bait.

Answer 11

use cheese for a mouse trap. Also i would suggest calling an exterminator. It really depends on the cat. Imean my cat was about 10 and it got an infected tooth. it went from 25 pounds down to 10 pounds and could still hunt mice and chipmunks. It's dead now =(