There's A Mouse In The House ! ! ! ! (And I'm Not Talkin' Mickey !)

So.....

Last night we had a bit of an adventure.....

J and I were sitting on the couch and we see Agador trot by like he's chasing something. At first we think nothing of it - - - that cat is a lunatic and chases imaginary bugs all the time. It's when I heard a small noise that I got up to check out what he was up to. Agador had a little tiny field mouse trapped in the corner of our dining room turned makeshift computer room. The noise I heard was the mouse squeaking in terror. Now, Ag is no mighty hunter. He's the sweetest cat on the planet and probably just thought this little mousie was a new toy.

(Agador: World's cutest cat !)
I, of course, being a freak, screamed and jumped on a chair when the mouse scurried across the room with Ag in hot pursuit. J runs and grabs a hurling stick and also goes to get Panya from her cozy kitty bed.

(Panya: World's lasiest cat !)
J's determined that it's time for the cats to "earn their keep" and tells them so. At this point Agador's lost sight of the mouse and Panya, who could care less, jumps into one of the dining room chairs and curls up. Then I realize why J has a hurling stick in his hand. If the cats did take care of this little rodent then he planned to take it out with that stick ! I jumped up and stood in his way yelling at him that I would not allow him or either of the cats to murder the mouse.

NOT.GONNA.HAPPEN.

So.

I run and get a mason jar and a magazine. The mouse has squished himself into our floorboard heater and I could see his little whiskers poking out the top. I try to scare him up and into the jar to no avail as Agador keeps trying to inch his way into the situation. Finally Senior Mouse makes a break for it. He gets away from my jar and gets about ½ way up our fireplace before losing his grip and falling to the ground. He again runs and Agador is on his tail. This time the little guy gets behind our dining room corner unit. I made J get on one side with me and the mason jar on the other side. J's job was to scare the mouse and get him to run towards me and into the jar. This plan worked and I ended up with this tiny little brown mouse in a big mason jar. He looked at me with his little oil drop eyes as if to say "o.k. lady, you win." I took him outside and set him free. J was a bit bummed that I didn't let him or the cats hurt our little visitor but I told him there was no way I was going to let that happen.

Yes.

It's a rodent.

Yes.

I don't want these types of disease carrying critters living in the house with us.

But.

There is no way I'm going to sentence them to a painful death.

Or a death at all for that matter if I can help it.

So I'm sure you're wondering what's wrong with me that I should care about a pest.

Well.

Two things.

Reason #1 - Many moons ago there was a mouse loose in my parent's house. My stepfather took a broom and just kept smashing the little animal into the wall until it's body fell limp. He'd brutally beat this poor little animal to death with me screaming at him to stop. He didn't give me a chance to even try to catch this mouse and chose to viciously kill it instead. That scene has remained in my mind and it still gives me chills and makes me sick.

Reason #2 - I once used to have mice as pets. Sure, they were those cute little white lab mice with red eyes and pink tails, but they were still mice. Still rodents. And I loved them. In owning these mice I learned a lot about the personality of these creatures. They're very sweet, loving animals who have very real emotions. When one of my mice would die the one still alive would literally become depressed and mourn the loss. When I would break out the grapes as a special treat for them you could literally see them getting excited, knowing they were about to get their favorite treat. Having gotten to know these animals there is no way I could hurt them - - - even if they're brown and scurrying around my house.