From Popular Mechanics:
"As the temperature outside drops, we cozy up inside our nice, warm houses. Unfortunately, so do insects and rodents. Whether the invaders are as small as an ant or as big as a family of skunks, your best defense against pests is sealing off their entry points into your fortress."
Stop Pests From Invading Your Home This Autumn - How to Keep Mice Out of Your House - Popular Mechanics
Also: Think cat.
What's obviously required is a national education program, designed to make the rodents literate. Then you can just hang a simple sign on your front door which says "Go away, mice".
Although I suppose in these gloomy economic times there's no money available for building mouse schools.
Just think of all the mouse teachers' unions (rats) that would infest the country.
Think broken record. I'd rather do battle with the occasional mouse than deal with allergies, high food and vet bills, and a smelly litter box. (and yes, they ALL stink.) Don't get me wrong- I like cats and all- but nothing with four legs should be inside 24/7.
You may laugh, but a group of "little people" sued the federal government over the inability to find government project houses for midgets and dwarfs in Chicago. Not only was the "little people" consortium successful (building of a 10-story building with 85 units is under construction in Cabrini Green), but the winning group was also excused from paying rent for five years!
The building is to be named the "Stay-Free Mini-Pads."
It will open next July.
Allergies - You can get shots Food costs - For one cat, one 18# bag of dry food per month. $11.00 Vet bills - Many cat maladies can be treated by the owner Smelly litter box - There are litter boxes that trap the smell. If you get the right kind of food, the smell is dramatically reduced.
No, the real reason you don't like cats is that you are evil and any cat you DID get would probably run away.
Pretty good.
For an instant's notice.
Maybe: Retardabilitation Center?
+1
"aemeijers" wrote
I have owned cats. Or rather, they just decided to stay with me for a while. They're like a woman. They'll come and go as they damn well please, thank you very much.
That said, I went without a cat for a very long time, and never missed it. Then Grandma had to have a new cat, as the other one went to cat heaven. Then we built her a casita at our residence. Of course, the cat came with Grandma.
I found out I was allergic to cats. And going to visit Grandma is an odiferous experience. What the hell do people feed cats that make them poop in the hideous forms they do? Why can't they just make little pellets like dogs? And their aim is questionable. They sure like to put it half in and half out of the box, don't they?
And don't wear anything black on a visit.
Steve, who now likes OTHER PEOPLE'S cats.
Have you ever priced allergy shots or desensitization regimens? Or read up on the possible side effects? The actual experts I talked to all told me avoiding the allergy triggers is the best and safest solution.
And yes, I DO like cats- we always had them around when I was a kid, and all my siblings still have them. My allergies didn't kick in till age 16 or so. Cats still like me just fine- I sit down, and they jump right in my lap, wanting pets. The old reflexes are hard to suppress, so it sometimes takes me a few seconds before I remember I can't do that anymore.
And sorry, but even the fancy litter boxes still stink. Your nose, in self-defense, has just tuned them out. Your visitors are just too polite to tell you, or they have cats themselves.
"Aim is questionable"? I'll bet your wife says the same thing about you...
Nevertheless, that problem can be handled. Here's one of the litter boxes we have:
You are prudent to avoid antagonizing allergies, for any reason. There appears to be a link between allergies and the onset of 'illness'.
For example, allergies and rheumatoidal arthritis. Anecdotal evidence shows that removing ALL sources of allergies has alleviated [cured] arthritis in individuals. Actually reversing much of the damage.
"HeyBub" wrote
Hey, the bigger the hose, the more the splatter.
Steve
I have four cats. We feed them quailty food and the litter rarely smells. We have a Litter Robot (not crappy Litter Maid) and it works very well. We only empty it every four days or so.
Cat hair is a problem. Roomba, one upstairs, one downstairs, pretty much helps with that but we do keep those rolls of sticky paper around to get it off the clothes when necessary.
What we don't have are mice. Not many make it in the house anyway, but the few that do don't last long. I've rescued a few and sent them on their way outside but mostly I find out about it too late. Waterbugs also. A few minutes of scuffling noises in the night and there will be a dead waterbug in the morning.
Cats sure are natural killers though, and really almost perfect at it. We let them out in the yard (fenced in so they can't get out) and a few times a year one will nail a bird. Not for hunger, that's for sure. Just because they like to kill. I'm just glad that I'm much bigger than they are.
I read somewhere that kids exposed to pets are less likely to develop allergies to them - yes, here: "very compelling information" that children exposed to animals before their immune systems are fully formed at age 2 are unlikely to become allergic.
That's from web md:
Don't feed them cheap food. Whenever I feed my cats Friskees or 9Lives or some supermarket brand, they have smelly poop. Feed them Weruva, Blue Buffalo, Soulistic, or some other premium stuff and they poop less and have much less of a smell. Garbage in, garbage out does seem to apply here. Of course, it costs more.
I live on a ranch. The cat has free roam. I cannot control what it eats.
Steve
de quoted text -
Individuals I referred to were NOT smokers, however, some were subjected to 'second hand' smoke. Perhaps, the reduction can be more attibuted to removing second hand smoke, including those offensive 'additives' in the american cigarettes.
We have one, also. Even the good ones don't last more than a couple of years. A necessary appliance, though.
Ours have black fur so it's not nearly as noticeable. SWMBO has a roller thingy that works great for getting the stuff off the furniture. Most of the downstairs is bamboo or tile (only the hallways and master are carpeted) so cat hair isn't much of a problem. When we had gray cats my clothes always looked like I was shedding. ;-)
Nope. Haven't had a mouse inside for decades. They like to play with bugs.
Ours never go outside but they love sitting out on the screened porch. Once in a while a frog will make the mistake of passing through. A couple of times the Main Coon will bring one into the great room to play. I've rescued a couple. Others haven't been so lucky. We've been leaving the lights on, on the porch when they're out to scare away critters.
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