Many years ago I noticed my cat playing with something in my garden in suburbia in Dublin. I went out and there, in an enclosed back garden was a white mouse with the cat playing happily with it. I did not think before I put down my hand and the mouse ran up it, I brought it in and put it in a hamster cage. It lived happily there until it died two years later.
Last year my two cats started leaving presents outside the front and back door for me - dead rats (Yuck), even grown men who were working here at the time would not remove the bodies, so I had to do that myself.
I attended a meeting with an animal psychologist once and he said that when a cat leaves something dead at your door it is offering you something in return for the care you give it.
I used the humane traps last year in the house for mice and forgot to check one in the hotpress. When one of the builders checked it he shook it and said there was nothing in it but when he took it outside and opened it out jumped a tiny mouse who charged as fast as he could across the yard and into the field with the builder chasing after him - that was comical - poor ickle mouse ;)
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