How to teach a cat to mouse?

Question

I have a kitten an we want it to become a mouser.

Does anyone know how to teach it and at what general age?

Please and thank you

Answer 1

I have a 1.5 yr old siberian cat that literally has a pet mouse. A real live pet mouse. I did the opposite of you. I taught my cat to not harm a mouse. he now plays every night for 30 min or more. He has never harmed his mouse.

BUT

you can teach a cat to hunt mice too.

Buy a feeder mouse and show it to the cat. Keep it in a closed room like a garage. No way for either pet to escape. Bring some treats. The kitten will be interetesed int he mouse right away. he will not know how to kill though. Give the kitten treats when it "plays" with the mouse. no treats when it does not. Practice for 10 min every night. One of these nights he will get it right all on his own.

I did this but the opposite. When my kitten used claws or teeth I took the mouse away, that made him upset. He learned only when no claws or teeth could he play with the mouse.

All cats will figure it out on their own.

KEEP the cat and mouse in a closed room, the mouse will escape otherwise!

Answer 2

Cats go after mice by instinct. If you have such a mouse problem,

you may check as to what attracts them to your house.

A mouse now and then can be considered normal but it sounds like

you have a greater problem..

Mice also have other preditors who keep them in check.

Ingrid

Answer 3

what

Answer 4

Cats are natural mousers. You can have them chase little rubber balls from day one, but they already know how to catch mice and will do it without any sort of training.

Answer 5

I have a kitty and he never got any mice when he was a baby and now when he is outside for his play he often brings one home to play with.And please don't do what DONQ said to do that's rediculous.And very cruel.He will get a mouse when ready.it's natural instinct also if he fails get a foxy they are better than anything in getting mice and rats.

Answer 6

You shouldn't have to teach it.  We started with 2 kittens and they are about 10 years old now.  They have seen a total of 4 mice in their lives.  The boy kills them, so 2 of the mice ended up dead before I could do anything.  The girl plays with them, so I was able to get them out of the house alive.  We didn't teach the cats anything, it comes pretty natural when they see a moving object that they want to catch it, bat at it, l**k it, etc.

Answer 7

It isn't something that you can teach them, nor do you have to.  It's instinctual for cats to chase mice.

Answer 8

usually the cat's mom teaches it the finer details. lets the kittens watch her deal the 'final blow' and such. but the basics are all instinct. my cat was the runt, and was taken away from its mother very early and bottle fed till it was older. but he turned out to be a great mouser, once he figured the deal out with them. but he definitely played with them a lot too.

Answer 9

if you put your cat outside for a while, it will do it by itself...its their instinct, cats are hunters...we never had to train ours and she catches everything.

Answer 10

Get a toy mouse, tie it with a string (or a wind up) and make your kitten chase it.  Chasing a small moving object should be instinctual for the kitten.

Answer 11

well we never taught my cat to catch mice and shes not an outdoor cat but we gave her toy mice and she chases them all the time. once she got outside for less then 5 mins and when i found her she caught a mouse...so i guess the toy mice helped her.

Answer 12

Fed him one .

Answer 13

Either your kitten will be a mouser or he won't.   I had a cat that HATED mice...haha.   The dog would catch and kill the mice...the cat would run away from them.

Answer 14

don't feed it for 4 days, then put it in a box with a mouse.......

Answer 15

you want to invert it to a mouse?

thumbs me down all you want.

it wont make it any different..

Answer 16

You don't need to teach a cat to catch mice. Hunting is an instinct.

Thumbs down for everyone who gave the right answer. Nice.