Alan Day Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Washing in the bathroom two days ago,I noticed a funny smell,not the usual. I had cleaned out the drains a day before could that be the problem?I decided no. During the day the smell got worse and we recognised it.We have two cats ,one that kills mice etc and the other that brings mice in for the other one to kill.This smell we knew was either a dead mouse or rat.When I got in from work the smell was overpowering,something had to be done about it. I started work on it by removing the boxed in area around the pipes nothing.The bath side and end panels then followed, nothing.All these areas were siliconed in, so it was not a straight forward job.I then had an idea it may be up in the loft, the down pipes were boxed in and the smell could be coming from there.I then spent an hour flat on my face in amongst fibreglass, pipes and wooden beams with a torch.With my hands, arms and face itching,sneezing and my throat sore I gave up.It was a peculiar thing that during all this work the smell could not be pinpointed it seemed to come from various parts of the room. I got a phone call from my wife at work today to say the mouse had been found.It had crawled into the scales and died.As I was doing the work the scales were being moved around the room.She found it after cleaning up the mess I had made. Our bathroom is now a building site.It may however be a cunning ploy to get the bathroom decorated and the cats are in on it. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectacled Warbler Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Now that was FUNNY! Thanks for passing that one on! Hope you stop itching and sneezing soon...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 You are to stop breathing fiberglass. Ick. What a mess. So sorry. As one who had her entire basement flooded with sewer water and had to pay beaucoup bucks to have it emptied out (of previously very nice stuff)and all paper shredded ( some stuff was confidential), I share your pain. However, I LOVED your story. Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellowbelle Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 When we got our car's heater fixed recently, because the fan would only run at half-power or otherwise make a funny noise, it turned out that there was a dead mouse stuck in it. (Sickening...) I felt bad for the little guy, but...that's the way it goes, I guess. We have mice around here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 Warning: not for gentlemen of a squeamish temperament My cats often bring rodents home, sometimes live. One shrew escaped from the cats by running under the (closed) bathroom door. Unfortunately it ran head first into the tubular cellophane wrapper from a tampon, got stuck, and suffocated ... . Samantha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barnert Posted September 24, 2005 Share Posted September 24, 2005 One would think there was fertile ground for a joke here, but the best I can come up with (after going through the whole rhyming dictionary with several ideas in mind) is "The Cellophaning of the Shrew." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 The final update on this story is that the bathroom has just been completed. (New bath, basin,shower and toilet. All tiled and no mouse holes). I can say that I am considerably better at playing the concertina than plumbing. I can now get on with more serious stuff. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 The final update on this story is that the bathroom has just been completed. Hmmm..., only 8 months? That's faster than the average plumber round here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnrobinson Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 'My cats often bring rodents home,' Sorry to be a boring Biologist pedant, but shrews are insectivores not rodents (like voles, mice and rats). Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 one of my cats had a tendency to bring in birds and small 4 legged animals. The birds she ate and the only evidence would be a beak and a pair of claws- thankfully nothing else. However when it came to 4 legged animals she just brought them in for a game of chase. Normally saying STOP in a very loud voice usually made her freeze which let us collect small animal and release it. One very original small animal on seeing the cat freeze and sit down decided it needed a hiding place-it ran under the cat who sat there looking extremely puzzled and then very annoyed when we lifted her up to retrieve small animal and take away her 'game'. Her first 'kill' was 1/2 a sausage which she brought to us very proudly and deposited on the floor-as a gift?? strange animals cats. one of my other cats had a love affair with a table lamp and could often be found sitting next to it with a front leg draped over the shade (when the lamp was on) or with her head under the shade. she didn't like concertinas very much ( so as not to wander to far from forum topics). chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Hi Alan, Thought I had detected a lack of posts in recent days! My mother has two cats; the mouser is really patient, waits for hours in the garden, and is a deadly killer . The other cat gets so excited when she does actually catch a mouse, that she takes it into the house, just to show mum how clever she is . More times than not, the mouse is still alive at this point, although some have been known to escape back into the garden. Mum has rescued others. A couple of years ago, I visited a day or two after such an incident. Mum was concerned because the heating was not working, due to a lack of pilot light under the gas fire. "No problem", I said, "I'll press ignition and get it running again". We could smell a feint trace of gas at this point. Well, half an hour later, still no joy, and an open window had not cleared the smell of gas . We then consulted the neighbours, who very kindly suggested that the fuse might have blown (happened to them, a few years earlier). I replaced the fuse; joy, oh joy, the pilot light came on , and the heating worked. I went home at this point. Next day, mother was still concerned about the smell of gas. I returned, and yes, it was bad. So, we called in the British Gas engineer . An hour later, he confirmed no leak at the point of supply, and that we should call in the heating engineer to check gas fire and boiler. Next day was a family 25th Wedding Anniversary party, some miles away. I called around for mother, and the smell was even worse. Still, we set off, having closed the windows, hoping that there would be a house to come back to . Several hours later, we were back in the house, and I detected that the smell was very localised. I moved the freezer unit, and, yes you've guessed it, there were the remains of the mouse which had sought shelter a few days previously! I left mum to clear up the remains, as a telephone call summoned me home; friends had arrived early, and were waiting on the front door-step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlfinkels Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Hmmm. Maybe I missed it in the original story, but where exactly did the mouse wreck the bathroom? Seems to me that poor mouse who gave his life for the greater glory of mouse-dom is being made the bad guy here. -jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_boveri Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 we once found a dead mouse in our furnace's air filter, which meant that we were breathing in dead mouse fumes for several months... it was petrified and very gross. i much prefer the live ones to the dead ones, i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Besser Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 I can say that I am considerably better at playing the concertina than plumbing.I can now get on with more serious stuff. I just suggest you refrain from playing the jig "Mouse in the Cupboard." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 I just suggest you refrain from playing the jig "Mouse in the Cupboard." Reminds me of the following song from the 60's: A Windmill In Old Amsterdam A mouse lived in a windmill in old Amsterdam A windmill with a mouse in and he wasn't grousin' He sang every morning, "How lucky I am, Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!" Chorus: I saw a mouse! Where? There on the stair! Where on the stair? Right there! A little mouse with clogs on Well I declare! Going clip-clippety-clop on the stair Oh yeah This mouse he got lonesome, he took him a wife A windmill with mice in, it's hardly surprisin' She sang every morning, "How lucky I am, Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!" Chorus First they had triplets and then they had quins A windmill with quins in, and triplets and twins in They sang every morning, "How lucky we are Living in a windmill in Amsterdam, ya!" Chorus The daughters got married and so did the sons The windmill had christ'nin's when no one was list'nin' They all sang in chorus, "How lucky we am Living in a windmill in old Amsterdam!" Chorus A mouse lived in a windmill, so snug and so nice There's nobody there now but a whole lot of mice. (Dicks & Rudge) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatFace Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 I just suggest you refrain from playing the jig "Mouse in the Cupboard." There is also Mouse on the duvet and my very own Rat in the bed. Also Rat in the oven, though I don't really approve of that. Or you could sing I smell a rat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 There is also Mouse on the duvet and my very own Rat in the bed. Also Rat in the oven, though I don't really approve of that. Or you could sing I smell a rat. I sense a Monty Python thread-drift coming on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted May 31, 2006 Author Share Posted May 31, 2006 I have passed on your very very interesting point Chris regarding shrews being insectivores to my cats and they have made a note of it. In fact they have just gone out for a couple of hours of Wat Watch. What a wonderful thing to take all the tools out of a room you have been working in for weeks,almost the same as completing the repair of a concertina that has not played in years. My wife is so pleased with the bathroom, I am banned from going in there as I might make a mess.I shall have to buy a bucket in the morning.I think she may have been joking. If the bedroom is the next job she may not be. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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