Squeak, Skweeeek, Squeeeeakk!

A couple weeks ago, one of my cats caught a mouse.

As anyone in a rural area knows, sometimes those country mice like to find a way indoors. Not too often, but still it happens.

Cats don't usually kill mice outright. They like to "play" with them and draw the whole hunting experience out for as long as possible. Usually I end up disposing of a half-dead mouse myself, rather than run the risk of having the cats hide it away to perish behind the sofa or under my bed.

When I realize that one of them actually has a real live mouse, my first reaction is to be slightly startled. But I quickly get over it, and then I wait for an opportunity to grab the little rodent intruder and dispose of him. I thank my cats profusely and praise them for being such good little hunters. (Sometimes all three of them will gang up on the same mouse, which I'm sure qualifies as some special level of "rodent hell".)

I am NOT the stereotypical mouse-phobic lady of the 50's and 60's. Some of the old cartoons really like to exaggerate that, having the lady jump on a chair and shriek like a banshee whenever a mouse goes by. Not me. I can pick them up by their ugly stringy little tails (always with a tissue) and throw their half-dead little gray bodies wherever they need to go. It doesn't bother me that much. I wash my hands when I'm done, and take out the trash at the next available opportunity. No big deal.

Before you get some less-than-complimentary image of me living in a home that's sickeningly infested with vermin, I should probably point out that this sort of thing only happens about once a year, on average. :)

How about you? Do you know anyone who's terrified of mice? Would it bother you to have to grab a mouse who was still twitching? Would it make it easier (or harder) if the mouse was already dead?
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