Cats and Mice (warning: not for the faint of heart!)

I'm not sure what my house is turning into, but it feels like a big mousetrap. Granted, our house is new and relatively clean, so it doesn't seem like the typical haven for all rodents. But with cats, that's a different story.

I was standing in the kitchen yesterday when I saw Coco batting at something- something moving. I knew immediately what it was. As soon as I cried, "Mouse!" my mom and I pretty much locked ourselves in the office while my brothers chased our kitty around, trying to get a better look. The poor little guy didn't last long. Coco apparently pushed it under a bookcase, and the boys were giving us a very graphic description of how it was twitching. I was upset, but there was nothing we could do except wait for the helpless mouse to die. Kristian bravely took it outside and gave it a proper burial as the rest of us vowed that that would never happen again.

And it didn't- if "never" counts as 18 hours. This morning, my mom was feeding the cats when she all of a sudden saw Coco become extremely alert. She then darted across the basement and started playing with a little gray ball (do you see where I'm going with this??) My mom ran upstairs and hasn't been down since. We assume it's dead, but none of us wants to go check- we reserved that job for Kristian.

We're relatively new cat owners- we've had Coco and Fifi for a little more than year and a half, and this is the first spring we're letting them out. For all of you parents to cats out there- how common is this occurence?! I'm not sure I can put up with this every day of every spring and summer for years to come!!

*UPDATE: We found the dead mouse in the basement. Or actually, it was Coco. I mustered up the courage to go down to run on the treadmill tonight, and as I was running, I saw Coco playing with something small and limp. I knew what it was, but I was too chicken to go look at it- I made my dad go down and get it. I don't even know where they find these mice, but I hope we don't get too many more "surprises" this summer.