The raccoon and the mouse are running my life.
The RACCOON used to come in the cat door and eat his food (washing it in his water first!) I asked advice far & wide, and most of it was along the lines of "...they are too smart...you can't trap them..." The humane cage I borrowed from my neighbor (he used it for baby possums) seems too small for the raccoon. However, I will try. Am sick & tired of having to block up the cat door and rig a passage for the cat out of my bedroom window.
The MOUSE has been gorging itself on cat food. He/she/it lives behind the water heater. I shined a flashlight back there; the floor is blanketed with mouse shit. Don't ask why the ()spoiled, arrogant) cat doesn't catch the mouse; that's what I'd like to know. Republicans will assume that it's because I created a welfare state for the cat. Democrats will assume that the cat is too smart to squeeze behind the water heater; why jeopardize a good thing.
Last night I went into the kitchen and saw this HUGE mouse sitting on the counter eating one of my tomatoes that I had just picked. He just sat there & stared at me defiantly. OP got hold of a heavy poker and tried to bash him, but he escaped.
From now on there will be NO food left out -- not even a crumb. Everything goes into the (crowded) frig! Maybe if mouse realizes the gravy train is over, he will leave? Or maybe he will come into my bedroom, where I have moved the cat food tray (shudder).
Now finally coming to the point: Traps haven't been doing any good. I may have to have recourse to poison, which I hate the very thought of!! Does anybody know of a poison that kills QUICKLY?! Condemning an animal, which is only doing its own thing, to an awful lingering death horrifies me.
Your advice welcomed.
HB