To Dismay of Inspectors, Prowling Cats Keep Rodents on the Run at City Delis

[Terri]

NY Times

Across the city, delis and bodegas are a familiar and vital part of the streetscape, modest places where customers can pick up necessities, a container of milk, a can of soup, a loaf of bread.

Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.

When a bodega cat is on the prowl, workers say, rats and mice vanish.

More (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/nyregion/21cats.html?em&ex=1198472400&en=01d074d484f9d2f8&ei=5087%0A)

So, would you rather risk having a cat hair on your box of Special K or mouse droppings? Easy choice for me. :D

[righton]

Sounds like feral cats are taking over the extermination business - will/do a better job than any city employee. More power to them. And besides, they won't be asking for a raise/time off/added vacation.

L&L

[RW]

If I were a deli/bodega owner, I'd keep the cat at home or some place out of the sight of an inspector and let the kitty loose at night, when most rats come out to feed. There's a reason why kitties sleep during the day, mostly and prowl at night.

I live near a large, vacant lot on the canal. Rat the Cat With NO Personality, snoozes under my neighbor's truck during the day, and hunts mostly at night and late afternoon. Natural instinct, I'd say. This time of year, it's dry and little fruit and such like available, and this is the time of year she catches more rodents.