What shall I do now?

Could you just open the kitchen door and hope it goes out? That would be the easy way out!

My cat, many years ago, did something similar. I hate mice. So after squawking a bit and panicking somewhat, I phoned DH who asked what the hell he was supposed to do being 60 miles away... On his return that night, the mouse had already set up camp in the powder drawer using the instruction plan, which was stuck at the back of the machine, for nest material. It took one look at DH and scarpered never to be seen again. Hopefully it was flushed down the outlet pipe ....?. Maybe yours will meet the same fate!

Invest in a spider-catcher for these objects, including mice presents. My catcher is invaluable for all kinds of things, bees/wasps trapped in net curtains with no sense of direction even when doors and windows are open.
As for mice, they rarely end up where you watched them scurry. A month or so ago, after the cat had just dumped the mouse in front of me it scurried under the settee and the next time I spotted it, it was behind the patio curtain so I opened the flap underneath the catcher and plonked the gadget over the mouse. Then I slid the flap across trapping the little beggar to release up the garden out of the way.
The gadget doesn't work on slugs as they cling like limpets inside the plastic snails are easier. These critters hang around outside the patio---plant-eating at night.

Oh EllenV that is truly genius!

A trail of cheese to the door?

The kitchen door leads into the hall, not to the wide blue yonder, midgey!

Minnie has come back in, and seems to have remembered that she had some unfinished business. She is standing guard in front of the washing machine.

TBH I'm not holding my breath, she has the attention span of a goldfish I

The only thing that she can focus on for any length of time is Mr P, who she adores, and will gaze at him in rapture as if she has never seen anything so wonderful in her whole life!

Leave the cat in the kitchen till she polishes off the mouse.

Phoenix You could use a tube (disconnected vacuum cleaner tube) and close off one end, having put something temptingly tasty that end and then place the open end near where the mouse is. They love dark tubes! It does mean that you’d need to be there when it runs inside the tube, but I found it worked every time!

My experience is like Ellan's - I imagine the mouse would stay put, trembling, but invariably they sneak out. I have had cats as pets for almost 60 years and they play with their mice rather than eat them...although I have found a few mashed up mice in the garden!

I hate to see creatures suffer, so as long as the mice leave my abode I don't harm them. I too have used a spider catcher. OH is very good at mouse hunting in the house and he too picks them up and plonks them at the far end of the garden. We haven't had many 'presents' from puss for a while. Hope I am not tempting fate! Hope your little visitor scarpers soon phoenix. They do seem able to find escape routes.

A reasonably priced humane mouse trap by Rentokil is brilliant. Worked every time I used it - a splodge of peanut butter was irresistible! Mouse lived to tell the tale and was relocated when the cat was locked in the house.

If I'm quick enough I often get a box or pot over the scurrying mouse then slide a piece of stiff card underneath.
Otherwise it's the humane trap, baited with peanuts, placed somewhere along the skirting where little furry things like to run, especially in the dark. I check frequently but often hear the click when it goes off.
I prefer to do this rather than kill them because they're often shrews or voles and not house mice.
My husband once caught a hamster by using a milk bottle (I know, where can you find one these days?) with food in the bottom and tilted at an angle that meant that the hamster couldn't climb out again.

Update!

It emerged from under the fridge freezer, must have taken the scenic route from behind the washing machine, then disappeared again.

Minnie was on sentry duty by the bit of plinth next to the oven, so perhaps she had heard it behind there.

Once this episode is over, I will be taking some of the advice given 're humane traps, spider catchers etc. Thanks to those who suggested them!

Do not allow the mouse to stay behind the washing machine etc. because it will eat its way through wiring or whatever.

Charleygirl I love your "do not allow the mouse" etc post!

I will draw up an eviction order and get Oliver Sprout to serve it! (Where is that cat when you need him?)

Madam Min, exhausted by her very unusual activities, (she usually restricts herself to the odd bit of rug rearranging on the landing) has gone for a lie down on the sofa.

Hopefully it will not be a regular occurrence. It took Tara about 13 years to decide it was not a game any more, much as shed a hot supper.

You could try leaving a Wellington boot on its side near where you think the mouse may be. This was a tip I got from my mum, and I’ve used it successfully several times. The mice seem to think it’s a safe place to hide and you can pinch the top part of the boot together to stop it escaping as you evict it from the house!

I don't know the answer to the problem but we had a live frog brought in this morning. OH took it out to the garden but later it was back in again. Dead this time.

Once the mouse realises that the cat is no longer on watch, it might come out of hiding, if you`re quick you`ll be able to grab it and take it outside. That`s what I`ve done on the odd 2 occasions that Mia`s brought one in.

Another update!

It emerged from God knows where, first I knew was seeing Minnie sort of chasing it along the edge of the kitchen cupboard plinth in a decidedly half hearted manner.

As I predicted, it went under the kitchen door and therefore was in the hall, with access to the stairs and the sitting room!

It was now scuttling around the skirting board in the hall.

Mr P leapt into action! (Well, he came out of the sitting room)

Arming himself with only a large glass and a Cotton Traders brochure, he attempted to catch it. His manoeuvres were something to behold, I haven't seen him move like that in a long time, actually cancel that, I haven't ever seen him move like that!

While watching all this, and after draining the potatoes, I opened the front door.

The mouse went out.

I'll add to the humane trap & peanut butter chorus! We had a field mouse in. My two cats just watched it, thinking it was there for their entertainment and made no attempt to catch it.

It was lured into the trap and I deposited it in a nearby playpark.

I unexpected scooped up am,, field mouse from a bag of bird seed recently. I didn't notice until I saw its little beady eyes peering at me from inside the bird feeder! It must have had a rude awakening.

Phoenix ? loved the story.

Phoenix - I love your cat stories! ? Good old Mr P!

It's bad enough when it is your own cats, but taking GD home, giving her tea, and then sending her to get changed for ballet, she ascended halfway up the stairs and screamed.

There lying dead on the landing was an adorable baby rabbit. The culprit cat very proud of himself for having dragged it through the cat flap and up the stairs without us noticing. So I am now left to

a) shuffle upset granddaughter into her bedroom

b) ascertain rabbit is truly dead (thank goodness it was, as I would never have been able to dispatch it)

c) find kitchen towel and newspaper to wrap it in

d) drop it into the dustbin

e) scrub DD's carpet

e) wash hands, retrieve granddaughter

f) drive as fast as I safely can to get GD to ballet

g) demand G and T on return home!

Aw jeez, I would have been to carry away ?