I have a mystery going on in my house something eating my girls dog food.

[dlross]

For the last 3 weeks I’ve noticed the bowl of kibbles gone in the mornings down in the kitchen. I leave their food out all the time. Well it’s never touched during the day, I do feel them homemade food in the mornings and evenings. The girls sleep with me upstairs plus I do have a bowl of kibbles in the upstairs bathroom if they want to eat. DaisiMae would get up in the early mornings and wander around the house. So I assumed she was eating her food at that time. Well I decided to close my bedroom door & adjoining bathroom door so they couldn’t get out in the early morning. Well I went downstairs this morning and the food was gone. Oh my gosh do I have mice? I haven’t seen any dropping and I search that house top & bottom on my hand & knees and found nothing. So tonite I’m going to put the sticky mouse paper all around the food to see what happens. The girls will be upstairs with me behind closed doors. I’m just wondering would I not see drippings? Would mice go on the kitchen counter to eat crumbs? I just can’t believe I wouldn’t notice anything beside missing food. I’ll let you know tomorrow what the outcome is. Sure hope not mice.

[RONLYNN]

or rats? I'd be worried. Do you have a kitty door? Could some other animal be getting in? I'm curious to hear what you find. I'd be a little scared. Good luck!

[MeAndMyOlivia]

If I had to guess, I would go with "mice". Reminds me of a very funny family story of ours; my newly wedded daughter and dh lived in a mobile home and they adopted Ziggy (silky terrier). They crated Ziggy during the day, but began to notice a few pieces of puppy food laying around on the kitchen floor when they got home from work. They thought maybe Ziggy had drug it out in the mornings and they just hadn't noticed it before they left. After a couple of days, they figured out it had to be mice so they did some sealing up of possible entry points and put sticky boards out. They didn't catch any mice but the problem did stop. A couple of months later, they moved the couch; lo and behold, there was a big pile of puppy food under the couch!!! Apparently the mice had hoarded it there and then were sealed out of the house and couldn't get back in! The funniest part was thinking about Ziggy, sitting right there in his kennel where he would have had the perfect view of those little varmaints running back and forth with his food all day long, and not being able to do a thing about it! ROFL

[chachi]

Sounds like a mouse. This is the time of the yr they get into houses

[rrosenberry]

I had that here at work. Left a bowl down all the time for Bailey. One day I saw something run by out of the corner of my eye. I get up start looking and found a PILE of dog food behind the filing cabinet all stored up for later and two little eyes staring back at me. So now the food is in a hard container and not left out at night. And the mouse is... HANDLED.

[John Stelting]

If you have a dog door and live in the country or have lots of trees around your house I'd bet it's a racoon.

[heatherm0890]

do u have a doggie door?

[silyjillie]

OMG I would die if I went down in the morning and saw a mouse on the sticky mouse paper you mentioined putting down!!! I really hope its not mice! And i REALLY hope you don't have a dog door so theres no racoons! GOOD LUCK! Post in the morning! I'll definitely be checking this thread tomorrow

[PANAMA69]

Originally Posted by silyjillie

OMG I would die if I went down in the morning and saw a mouse on the sticky mouse paper you mentioined putting down!!! I really hope its not mice! And i REALLY hope you don't have a dog door so theres no racoons! GOOD LUCK! Post in the morning! I'll definitely be checking this thread tomorrow

I was just thinking the same thing about the racoons, those creatures are very smart

[Harley_chik]

Those glue traps are very cruel. The mice struggle until they slowly starve to death. I know they're pests, but no animal deserves that, IMO. At least the spring traps kill them quickly and they have them now that are enclosed so you don't have to see anything. God forbid your yorkies get into the glue traps. There will be no saving their coats! I went through that with a cat once and it was a nightmare.

[jlafred]

Yup...i also betcha it's a mouse. But please be humane and put out a live trap. you can get them at walmart for about 3 bucks. And put some peanut butter in it. Hope its not too late

[KCDarcy]

We had the same issue years ago. Found a stash of dry dog food under a couch in the family room. Put out sticky traps and caught a YORKIE - not a mouse. The dog just got a paw caught on the trap and we easily removed the trap. It was pretty funny.

[BubblPopElectrc]

Originally Posted by Harley_chik

Those glue traps are very cruel. The mice struggle until they slowly starve to death. I know they're pests, but no animal deserves that, IMO. At least the spring traps kill them quickly and they have them now that are enclosed so you don't have to see anything. God forbid your yorkies get into the glue traps. There will be no saving their coats! I went through that with a cat once and it was a nightmare.

I agree.

Why not just take up the food at night?

[MyDuke]

I had the same terrifying situation a few months ago when we first moved.
Duke's food was disappearing even on days that we were not home. I found out that there were mice! Scared me to death to know that my baby is home during the days and those creatures were there.

I would recommend the no touch no see traps. They sell them at most stores, not only is it a humane way, you don't have to worry about the mess or seeing it (my main reason for buying them).

Please keep us posted and if there are mice...steel wool in every single holes possible in your house as soon as possible.

[bellasmomok]

Originally Posted by jlafred

Yup...i also betcha it's a mouse. But please be humane and put out a live trap. you can get them at walmart for about 3 bucks. And put some peanut butter in it. Hope its not too late

The live traps ARE great, but when you "release" the little bugger, you really ought to do it way far out in the country.....otherwise, you'll end up with him back in the house, OR in someone else's house who then has to deal with it.

I got one once in my rented storage unit, set live traps (you should put peanut butter in them...strong scent and the LOVE it, and set them NEXT TO THE WALLS, not out in the middle of the floor), and caught a mouse. I just drove to the nearest dumpster and dumped him in. I didn't think he'd be able to get out of there unless it was really full, and he'd have plenty to snack on. THEN, he got a ride to the city dump which is a MOUSE PARADISE!!