Moles Driving me crazzzzzy

[Dargo]

Dargo: You bought a cat? Who buys a cat?

I thought they all came for free.

Sure, the kitten was free but the vet bills weren't. Therefore, it has the net effect of having bought a cat in my mind. Heck, it was a stray feral kitten that wondered up. I just allowed her to keep it since the dogs didn't eat it and ended up paying the vet bills for shots etc.

 

[MossRoad]

Sure, the kitten was free but the vet bills weren't. Therefore, it has the net effect of having bought a cat in my mind. Heck, it was a stray feral kitten that wondered up. I just allowed her to keep it since the dogs didn't eat it and ended up paying the vet bills for shots etc.

Hee hee.... we have had several $1000.00 and up "Free Kittens" and "Free Puppies".

I just got back from the vet dealing with one of our free kitty's hematomas on his ear.... the second one in two years, no less! $300.00 a pop! Vet says they have only seen 4 or 5 in the last 5 years and two have been on our free kitty.

And our first free puppy cost us $900.00 for a fence... at the first house. Then we moved to a different house and spent another $900.00 on a fence. Then we wanted to put in a pool in the dog yard, so we spent another few hundred enlarging the fenced in area. I told my wife, "Watch, I'll expand the fence and the dog will die." Two weeks later, he died. The free puppy had an enlarged heart and was on special food and medication for the better part of 14 years! If I keep looking up my eyes will get stuck that way!

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

O.K. I think what is really going on here is the dogs are catching the moles and the cats are stealing the kill!

I never had seen a mole until we moved to our current home. I looked out the window one day and saw the neighbor, a retired guy, standing in his back yard with a beer in one hand down by his left side and a smoke in his right hand with his right arm resting on a long handled shovel. He was just standing there. Smoke. Sip. Smoke Sip. All of a sudden he drops the beer, flings the smoke, runs halfway across his yard and starts smacking the ground pancake style with the flat of the shovel. I'm talking over the head handle swings like he pounding the hammer/bell thing at the fair. After about three huge whacks, he jams the shovel point into the ground and hops up on it with both feet. He does this in a circle around the point where he whacked the ground. Then he pops up a huge plug of dirt and slams it down on the ground next to the hole and starts stabbing the shovel and something. After several minutes of this, I see him scoop up some limp little creature and head back to the woods where he tosses it. Goes back, fills in the hole, grabs his beer, stomps out his smoke and resumes his position with arm on shovel standing there, sip, sip sip. Well, that got the best of me, so I go out, be nosy and ask him "What the heck are you doing?". He's hunting moles. He says they come out at 2:20 every day or something like that.

When I was a kid, a neighbor would stand out in his yard next to a mole run with a shotgun. A short while later.....boom. A handy shovel proved he never missed.

 

[cowboy357]

Boy, do I ever know that a dog will tear up some ground. You ought to see what two large German Shepherd Dogs and that dang lab can do in one day! Are you sure you've seen a cat get a mole? I thought doing so was a top secret of theirs that they don't want humans to see.

Oh, another thing, this kitten/cat can walk directly into the automatic dog feeder when any of my dogs are eating and they don't pay any attention to it, even as it rubs against their face while they are eating. Such disrespect! The kitten/cat has them all on it's side and seems to like to rub that fact in our faces. Dang dogs look like sissies now!!

Yep I see them work the mounds & get the moles , I,ll try to get some pics . There getting pretty thick again as the farmers been working the feilds again around Us .

We have between 30 to 50 feral cats ( ussually half are Kittens ) depending on the time of year & how Mother nature weeds them out . Why so many you ask ? I guess the surounding citys must have started a dump a pet in the country program I was unaware of . . Yes I,m guilty of feeding, watering & they even have their own cat shed & We wont pet them . But I dont have much for mice or moles , at least for long. .

I run any stray dogs off of the property & will probally never own any more , I just really got tired of burying them . Allthough I,m attached to some of the cats , its not quite as hard for me to bury them when nature decides to thin them out . . . Bob

 

[Dargo]

Hee hee.... we have had several $1000.00 and up "Free Kittens" and "Free Puppies".

I just got back from the vet dealing with one of our free kitty's hematomas on his ear.... the second one in two years, no less! $300.00 a pop! Vet says they have only seen 4 or 5 in the last 5 years and two have been on our free kitty.

And our first free puppy cost us $900.00 for a fence... at the first house. Then we moved to a different house and spent another $900.00 on a fence. Then we wanted to put in a pool in the dog yard, so we spent another few hundred enlarging the fenced in area. I told my wife, "Watch, I'll expand the fence and the dog will die." Two weeks later, he died. The free puppy had an enlarged heart and was on special food and medication for the better part of 14 years! If I keep looking up my eyes will get stuck that way!

Ahh, another fellow sucker...er...animal lover.

This is just the first time for a kitten. It was so filthy when it appeared that we had no idea it was all white until we washed it a few times and used a flea dip to kill the few hundred fleas on it. Is it bad for a cat to eat dog food? I have an automatic 50 lb dog feeder that I just fill every 3 weeks or so. The cat just eats with the dogs for now.

Big news! Kitten (doesn't have a name yet - comes to 'here kitty kitty) brought me another mole this morning!!

Oh, the vet asked me to fill in "breed" for the kitten. I put "cat" in the blank. Duh! Anyone have a guess? It seems to have medium length fur. Here's a picture.

Oh, the vet says he's in great health but suggests neutering and chipping. Thoughts on that? Another $225 or so for both.

 

[MossRoad]

For breed fill in Hosier Mole Killer! Good kitty!!!

Don't know about dog food.

Get him all the shots, vaccines, etc... and get him neutered. No need for any more cats in the world, for crying out loud. There are hundreds of thousands in shelters waiting for a chance to kill mice at your house.

I think neutering calms them down a bit and if done when young, they don't tend to spray to mark their territory. Our last cat was neutered and he lived 16 years, the last two with diabetes. Best cat I ever had. We currently have two big boys. Both neutered. Good cats.

One more medicine you might want to consider is Revolution. It protects the cat from many parasites, fleas, heartworm, etc...

 

[robb01]

I usually just shoot them when I see them moving

 

[Mike Costello]

Your cat is probably an "American Shorthair". It's the most common cat around. Good mousers and catchers of anything that moves!

 

[soulasphil]

I don't like moles because they are so good at digging galleries then used by all sorts of rodents which kill the plants by eating out the roots. Also my wife is extremely upset by the havoc they wreak in lawns and flower-beds. Repellents of various kinds do not stop them a minute. The best answer is traps. Both scissors and blank cartridge types work. The difficult part is to find the main galleries to put the traps there. Like previous posters, I place a stone or other obstacle under the trigger and sometimes cover the trap with a bucket but generally just fill the hole with loose earth. It's preferable to wear gloves to avoid leavind too much human smell on the trap. Each time I catch one and the dammage stops, I'm amazed at the destruction a single small animal can achieve ! Here are the latest victims ...

 

[Dargo]

Your cat is probably an "American Shorthair". It's the most common cat around. Good mousers and catchers of anything that moves!

Thanks. I'll put that down next time instead of "cat". I have to admit that it is funny seeing the little thing crouching down in the grass trying to hide as it sneaks up on something. Being a bright all white cat, he does a particularly poor job of hiding. LOL!

My mole traps came in today. I'll get them set when I can. We had a family emergency today. My wife's mother just passed away. The cat will be on his own getting moles for a few days. Sorry to interrupt the thread, but I sincerely appreciate the mole tips. Take care. Life is short.