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Mice control
Why the Cat Is Not the Answer
A cat may catch the occasional mouse. It will not clear an infestation, and its dinner may be part of why they are there.
What a cat actually does
Some cats hunt enthusiastically, most are opportunists, and a good number could not be less interested. Even a keen one catches what crosses open floor in front of it.
That is the limitation. The population is not on the floor; it is in the cavity, the floor void, the loft and behind the kitchen units, and it moves at night along edges. A cat has no access to any of that.
What a cat can do is change the behaviour it sees — mice avoid the rooms it patrols and use others. People read that as the cat working. What has happened is that the problem moved somewhere quieter, which usually means somewhere harder to find.
Photographs on this page are for illustration purposes only.
Pet food is a food source
This is the part worth acting on.
A bowl of cat or dog food left down overnight is about as good as it gets for a mouse: reliable, in the same place every night, and in a room that is quiet after bedtime. A sack of dry food in a utility room or a garage is better still, because paper and thin plastic are no obstacle at all.
Feed at set times and lift the bowl afterwards. Keep the sack in a metal or rigid plastic bin with a lid. Sweep up spilled kibble. Between them those three things remove one of the most dependable food supplies in the house, and they cost nothing.
The same goes for bird seed in a shed or a garage, and for a bird feeder scattering seed onto the ground below it.
The cat that brings them in
The other way round is common too. A cat that hunts outside brings live mice in through the cat flap and lets them go indoors, and some of them do not get caught again.
If the mice appear in a house with no obvious entry point and a hunting cat, that is worth considering. A microchip cat flap at least keeps other people's cats out; there is not much to be done about your own except to be aware of it.
So what does work
Keep the cat — it is not the problem. But treat the mice as a separate job: find the entry points, close them properly, and deal with what is already inside.
Tell us there are pets in the house when you book. It changes what is used and where it goes, and the survey is partly about making sure the method suits the property. A house with a cat and a dog gets a different answer from an empty garage, which is exactly as it should be.
Before you book
Short Answers
Will getting a cat help prevent mice?
Not reliably, and it introduces a food source. Some cats deter activity in the rooms they use; none of them reach the voids where mice actually live. Proofing does more than a cat ever will.
Is treatment safe with a cat in the house?
The methods we use are safe when applied correctly, and the technician assesses each property to make sure what is used suits it. Tell us about every animal in the house when you book - it is one of the things that decides the approach.
Tell Us Where You Are Finding Them
Where the droppings are, where you hear them at night, whether anything has been gnawed, and whether it is a home or a business.
Get in touch
Book a Mice Control Visit
Tell us where you are finding droppings, where you hear them, and whether it is a home or a business. If anything has been gnawed, say what and where — it tells us which route they are using.
- Phone
- 01908 465226
- Message us on WhatsApp
- sales@miltonkeynespestcontroller.co.uk
- Milton Keynes Pest Controller Service
- Address
- South Row
Milton Keynes
MK9 3DQ - Covering
- Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Hertfordshire