Proud owners of mousers, can you help me?

Question

i have had mousers all my life. i love how they study the prey, learn its patterns, and then wait for it.

i have an old house so i need mousers.

i have two 15 year olds. and they are doing something strange, i was wondering if anyone else has seen this.

i am only looking for advice from mouser owners, because non-mousers will act like this. only a mouser hunts them.

i thought i heard a mouse in the other room , the other day. look over at one cat, he didnt care, so i thought it was something else i was hearing. last night, both cats were in bed with me, i heard the distinctive chewing and scratching of a mouse. usually, they would wake from a dead sleep, this time, nothing. i woke one up, he did the usual purr and roll over, but didnt even look in the direction of the noise.

has anyone else ever had a mouser that ignored a mouse?

maybe it is not a mouse? maybe they know it is bigger then them?

these same cats knew i had a squirrel in the wall long before i did, they sat and stared at the wall, then would move to another room staring at the ceiling as they moved. they knew it was where they could not reach it, they were waiting for it to come into the open.

they went from box to box searching for mice when a family moved into the attic.

should i stop waiting for the cats, and get my gun?

Answer 1

That is strange, as usually once a mouser, always a ......    Well, you get my drift.

I would think that they either can't get to it and therefore, don't see it as a game or job.  That's the only thing I can think of.  Normally they would drive themselves crazy to get to anything.  So I'm really stumped.........

If you find out let us know...

Answer 2

I have to agree with the other posters.  Your cats are retired from the mousing business.

My (10 year old) Manx used to ignore her cat food and live off of fresh meat during the warm weather.   Now, not so much hunting occurs.  She will still catch and eat small birds and mammals, but her main diet is now cat food.

Answer 3

I would guess their hearing is not what it used to be.

Answer 4

My old cat (RIP) Sydney would stand for hours when she heard a mouse or something else similar.

She was amazing - in her older years (I'd say after 13) she wasn't interested anymore - so perhaps the same is said with your old 'retired' mousers -

Answer 5

Well, I can't be sure - but they're pretty old.  Maybe they've "retired" themselves.

I mean, house cats don't hunt mice because they have to - they do it for fun.  If they're getting older, they may have decided that their old bones are too creaky for the chase any more.  They may still play when the mood hits, but I'll bet they prefer the comfy bed to roaming the dark halls these days.

Another thing is that they may be loosing their hearing.  At that age, they may not even know there's anything going on.

Answer 6

I have three mousers (and one who's afraid of the little beasts, and one who doesn't care).  My old guy (he's almost 15) doesn't bother hunting them anymore, even though he was the prime mouse catcher for years and years.  I think he's just decided he's too old for the effort anymore.  Do yours still hunt if they aren't asleep?   Thank goodness the two younger ones quickly take care of any mouse that's crazy enough to wander into our house.