Thinking of getting a CAT to solve a MOUSE problem. How do you tell a good mouser?

[Jer]

Give them a little house to live in; just like a dog house only much smaller.

I've got three built for some semi-ferals. Framed out and insulated with windows and breezeways. I even have body weight activated heat pads in them that I plug in when it gets super cold. Cat's of course don't need such weakling stuff, but it's hard to stop when your building cat houses.

[Pow4Brains]

"Like boxes of shit in your house? Get a cat." - The Onion

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[liv2ski]

^^^^No, that is why you let them outside to shit in your neighbors flower beds

[Rip'nStick]

Get a Bengal.

Mostly decent real advice in this thread, particularly about outdoor cats but Bengals need a special kill mission and are not just mousers, so beware.

Friend got one because it looked cool, she lived in a semi-rural/suburban area. Cat was a killer. Everything around the house was gone in a matter of weeks. Started moving further out and expanding territory. Other peoples pets including small dogs were not safe. It was the most unsettling cat I have ever met. When it looked at you, it was clear it was sizing you up. I would not want it around small children.

She had to get rid of it within a year. It had created a dead space of at least a half a mile around her house, not birds, not rodent, no insects, nothing. Just silence or the wind. Pretty eerie when you pulled up to her house. Total silence after you turned off the car. Then you saw it on the porch. Watching you. You hoped she was home or you ended up backing into your car.

[TomCrac]

Wonder how that Bangel would fair in Maryland...

[snapt]

I interned at a rescue sanctuary in college for some bio credit and handled a lot of exotic/hybrid cats. Bengals are broken down into breeders which are within 3 (F1-3) generations of the Asian Leopard Cat lineage. These can be feisty and will take on birds and small vermin. They'll play with dogs and be total alphas toward other cats but really aren't very dangerous or aggressive. Asian Leopard Cat's are pretty docile for a wild cat. They don't make the pet rounds until after that (F4) and from then on the blood gets pretty damn diluted as they get knocked up. Most of what people think are 'bengals' out there aren't pure bred and are nothing more than tabby's that are more aggressive than the normal house cat and people make assumptions. We had so many people who freaked when their bengal looking tabby killed a bird and showed up begging us to rescue their monster. They'd be pretty pissed when we told them they had a house cat.

Getting a hybrid like a true bengal or savannah is no joke and they should have outside enclosures and not let to roam free or else they'll do work and small animals and most likely never come home. Just get an ex feral and let it do it's thang.