Mouse!

For the past few months, there's been a mouse under the stove. I couldn't actually see it, but I'd come by and see one of the cats settled down for a good stare, and when Stupidcat walked by he'd sniff and get all confused. At first I was really upset because I assumed the cats would get it, and when they didn't I was wondering if it was okay, since the cats seemed to do it at night when I'd expect the mouse to be about getting food and water, but I figured it must be sneaking out at some point. The cat food isn't too far from there and Stupidcat is a messy eater, so there's no lack of mouse chow.

Finally, last night Zo-zo started making her weird muffled cry. Such great timing! She has still not figured out that if she starts doing her victory meows I come and take the prize away. So I ran down and got something on top of it, then found the fishtank we'd emptied and managed to move it by the spider method. I think it's a girl and it's so tiny and so cute. It was also absolutely terrified of me. I had to tip it into the tissuepaper I gave it for cover and it barely nibbled the food I put in. Mostly, it just held perfectly still, for hours on end. I guess that's the behavior you need to survive so long around cats.

Its behavior pretty much confirms my original guess, that it's a toxoplasmosis-infected mouse. It's extremely odd for a mouse to stick around here, especially under the stove of all places rather than a far corner of the basement or under the floor. This clearly was not a brave mouse and yet it would not leave a place that smelled of cat. And that means if I put it outside, it'd just try to come back in.

So, I released it the next town over near some forest with some nice rocks for cover. Hopefully there won't be any cats for it to be attracted to.