Rebecca

Years ago, I used to have a cat pen outside alongside part of the building to the neighbor’s fence. And I cut the screen in the basement big enough so kitties could go in an out at will and be safe. Well, kitties weren’t the only things getting inside. No rats, thankfully, but mice. Once I found a lump under a carpet. Dried husk of a mouse that one of my cats probably chased to death. Another time I found a husk–wait for it–in the wall behind the thermostat. We took the old one out to install a modern one and the mouse husk popped out at me. Another time, one of my cats carried a mouse up from the basement–a present for mom. She of course dropped it, I chased it, and it ended up under my desk. I never found it and wore shoes when I wrote for the longest time…

Sorry to tell you this, but rats can climb. Also mice. I get mice in the house in winter. But I have three cats, and any mouse who comes in here is committing suicide. Last year, one of my cats was staring fixedly at the front hall closet. I thought a mouse might be in there, so i started taking stuff off the closet floor. The mouse ran up the wall next to me. I then started taking stuff off the top shelf. Mouse jumped down. I found it the next day–after the cats had also found it.
Rebecca

A couple of summers ago, I took my cats out into my (fenced) backyard only to see a BIG rat come out of my garden. It took one look at my elderly, nearly blind cats and and hightailed it out through the narrow space between my fence and gate. My cats were totally oblivious, but I was afraid to take them out there. In a fight with my fragile oldsters, the rat would have won.

So I called the alderman. Indeed, the next day, a city worker on the rat patrol came. I told her I didn’t want the yard baited because I took my cats out with me. She took a good look for a hole and pointed out the rat probably was living under my neighbor’s garage — there was a big space all along the bottom. She baited the alley around the garage. And I bricked in that space, though I’m sure a clever rat might still be able to squeeze in or out somewhere since I didn’t cement it. But it makes me feel better, especially since I have an Earth Machine composter installed right up against that garage.

I’ve always put out food for squirrels and birds–breadstuff ready to be thrown out, aging grapes, apple cores. I’ve always made sure the only place I threw them was up on top of the shed roof. Hopefully no rats will go up there. And last year, when a mouse invaded the patio several times, I rethought feeding animals altogether. Years ago, when we had a dog, we were out for a walk and I saw this long pink tail sticking out between two garbage cans. When it turned around, I realized we had possums in the alleys. Just the other day when I was watering, a rabbit hopped out of my yard and scurried across the next yard.

How do these animals survive in a big city?