Mouse in the House

Recently our cats, Muffin & Hallie have taken up mouse hunting. We've noticed them staring at the stove, corners in the kitchen & a couple other places. We were convinced that there must be a mouse somewhere. On Monday the behavior went up a notch. Hallie was stalking the corner of our office area & Muffin was patrolling the kitchen at a new level. I took the pictures below, e-mailed them to my husband & then got the hell out of the house, 'cause I knew something was about to go down.

Muffin in the kitchen

Hallie in the office area

I returned home a few hours later to find my husband & Muffin on the back porch. I went to open the door & Peter yelled at me not to. I knew it! A mouse!! Apparently craziness went down a few moments after my husband's arrival home. The mouse was chased around the house by Peter & Muffin. Hallie, on the other hand, apparently preferred to run away from the mouse (We always suspected that would be the case, but now we have proof). Muffin would pick the mouse up in her mouth & run away from Peter with it.

Photo courtesy of my husband who found amusement in something I never could have. (The real mouse is in Muffin's mouth & the toy mouse is on floor.)

Somehow the mouse made it's way to our back porch & took up hiding in one of my sneakers. Peter attempted to remove the mouse from my sneaker, but was unsuccessful. So, my sneaker spent the night outside & in the morning there was no mouse to be found. Nonetheless, the sneakers are now in "sneaker heaven" (i.e. the garbage).

One would think this would all be quite a relief, but alas ("sigh") there may be more problems on the horizon. Following the incident the cats were stalking the kitchen endlessly. No sleep, just staring

Apparently they like each other more when they have a common interest

They don't even blink

Peter decided to move the appliances & look for any signs of mice. He found none. Luckily this may have provided the girls with the proof needed that their work was now done. They are so tired out now & have returned to sleeping their days away.

Hallie passed out

Muffin passed out