Round 1: Mice

There is a saying among wilderness survivalists: "Mother Nature is the world's most successful serial killer." As much as we enjoy nature, the reality is that most of us live our entire lives trying to keep nature at bay. Nature isn't just squirrels and flowers; it is also disease, floods, mold and rot, animal attacks, hypothermia, earthquakes and more. We love nature, but we underestimate it at our own peril.

Mice (and/or rats) are everywhere. They get into everything. This was one of Lyndsay's biggest fears. Not only do they carry diseases, but they can destroy an RV from the inside out by wrecking insulation and chewing through wires. She told me it would be an ongoing battle.

Meet General Drumpf of the Mouser Division.

Sentry duty.

We had our worries about General Drumpf's competence. As a kitten, he climbed up onto the counter while Lyndsay was cooking and walked on a hot stove element. After jumping off the stove, he immediately clambered back onto the counter and walked on the exact same hot element a second time.

Then he did it a third time.

Then he walked on the element again the next day... three times...

It took him three days and walking on the same hot element nine total times to figure out he shouldn't walk on the stove.

Well, at least mice and rats don't like the smell of cats and cat urine. That alone would at least be some protection, but we were still worried.

At least he likes driving.

We spent some of the summer of 2019 doing Work Away. While on Work Away, we learned that Drumpf wasn't stupid; he just was not in any way an indoor cat. He took to the outdoors immediately and loved it.

Rear guard.

He started with hunting insects and learned quickly. He would come with us on walks. On the trail you see above, he would run forward to check things out and keep watch. When at a fire he would patrol the perimeter until we went home. Out here on Vancouver Island he even comes with us on walks by the ocean.

In August of 2019, we stayed in an RV park outside of Winnipeg. We tried to keep Drumpf on a leash while in the park and would even take him for walks. Other RVers had dogs; they outright thought we were nuts for having a cat in an RV and laughed hysterically at a cat on a leash. There were even statues of dogs everywhere.

Surrounding the RV park were wheat fields. With good weather that year, the wheat was already golden yellow and ready for harvest. But harvesting the wheat meant the farmers were destroying field mouse habitat.

The RV park was invaded.

A lone warrior prepares to face the horde.

Thousands of field mice fled the fields and entered the park. Every single RV in the park became infested with mice. Wires were getting chewed, food was getting ruined, insulation was getting destroyed. You could see them climbing up the outside of the RVs. People told us how they could hear the mice climbing inside their walls.

All but two. Ours and our neighbour's.

Every single night after the harvest, Drumpf would leave anywhere from 3 to 6 dead mice in front of or underneath our trailer. There's no telling how many he had killed elsewhere and not bothered to bring back. While everyone else was buying mouse traps and poison, we didn't get one single mouse in our trailer. Drumpf proved himself and earned his keep.

Here on the Island, mice are less of a problem. Rats, on the other hand, can be seen running across the highway at dawn and dusk. But we weren't worried. We had Drumpf. And sure enough, it wasn't long before Drumpf killed his first rat.

Our guardian getting well deserved rest after a long night of battle.

If you're going to live in an RV full time - or even just for a few months of the year - our top recommendation is to have a proven mouser in the family.

Round 1 goes to the Ladobruks; all thanks to General Drumpf.

Let's keep the conversation going. If you have questions about training your cat, leave a comment or use the contact form on the right.