Eek! Too many mice.

Maybe there weren't many mice where he lived before! We had a cat that was forever bringing in mice and voles. Often we managed to catch them but we did invest in a couple of humane traps. We baited them with peanut butter which small rodents seem unable to resist. The only problem with them is that you have to check them frequently.

That's what cats do. It's just their nature. Have you locked the poor thing outside?

Yep it is what cats do- not nice but they can't be cuddly and cute all the time.

Mine is too old and slow to catch anything now, but for some reason wet weather always seemed very productive and he used to bring far more mice in if it was raining.

Try putting a collar with a bell on it

Yes, Deedaa, my cat also seems to catch more of the poor things when it is raining.
Oh Minimoon, poor you, 5 is too many. My boy’s record is 3. Always at night. There is a specific, demanding squeaky noise he makes that always wakes me. Like you I usually manage to catch and release them or, less often, use the humane trap, baited with peanut butter or wet cat foot.
Vito, bells on collars cause stress to some cats. Imagine having noise permanently under your ears. My cat got very distressed when I tried to make him wear one.
Still love the fur-faced terror though.

I could try a collar, but I want to keep all my fingers. Toby is currently lying stretched out in front of the fire. I didn't lock him out for long.

If there were fewer mice where he lived before, he will be enjoying himself thoroughly now.

Tell him firmly that he plays with mice outside! If he brings in one living mouse that is ONE TOO MANY.

By putting him and mousie out and locking the cat-flap you should manage to teach him that he stays outside with them.

Just make sure when you open the cat flap again, or stand at the door and call him in, that he comes without a mouse. Open the door just sufficiently for you to see whether he has a mouse or not in his mouth but not wide enough for him to come in.

My queenie cat started bringing live mice in, when her brother became allergic to their food! She then woke him and handed over the mouse with appropriate instructions.

Once he and I cottoned on to the need for a change of diet, she went back to bringing in dead mice when she wants to make me a present of them, and eating her mice outside.

Her dear brother on the other hand, eats his lunch on the indoor door mat if I am not at home, leaving the head and stomach of his mouse for me to clear away when I come home!

And yet we love our puddy-cats, don't we?

Yes, you can put a collar on a cat, but they first thing they learn is to run, jump, walk and hunt without that bell letting out a tinkle.

Or they become expert in taking off their collars and leaving them outside where you never or only rarely find them.

In rain they do tend to catch more mice. I don't know if the mice find it harder to hear or smell a cat in wet weather, or if they haven't found out how to construct a mouse-hole that doesn't get flooded out!

When we play with kittens we are actually teaching them to hunt .
I've had cats which have been absolute devils with birds and had to stop feeding them in the garden .
I used to have aviaries and my cats could find a way in .
But some cats-usually fat ,lazy ones just can't be bothered .
Apart from overfeeding them there's no way to stop cats hunting !

one cat we used to have would bring a live mouse into the kitchen, let it go and pretent not to see it , but when the mouse moved he would stand on its tail turn his head away as if he was doing no wrong

My 14 year old cat leaves her deceased victims on the patio. If I’m out in the garden and hear her across the field very vocally announcing her triumph, I know she’s bringing a rabbit so I shut the door and she’ll drop it in front of the dogs. If she can get through the cat flap she bolts upstairs and releases them under a bed. Time and again I move furniture to catch an unharmed baby rabbit and pop it over the fence into next-door’s field.

Since writing the above I've only received one more mouse, this time deceased.
He brought in a dead baby rabbit not long after he came to live here, took it under an occasional table and proceeded to eat it's head. DH and I were eating lunch at the time in our dining area. The crunching was quite off putting.
He is a lovely boy most of the time.