Tiny mouse or mangy rat won’t have a hope against fearless rodent killer - Susan Dalgety

​Mice love Edinburgh’s tenements. All those interconnected buildings with countless hiding holes and nesting places make the city’s sandstone flats a safe haven for rodents.

According to an Edinburgh-based pest control company, the city has seen a 54 per cent increase in house mice this year alone

And now it’s official. The Capital is in the running to be the mice infestation capital of the UK, according to an Edinburgh-based pest control company which has seen a 54 per cent increase in house mice this year alone.

This will come as no surprise to long suffering tenement dwellers. Even when we lived by the seaside in Fisherrow, our second floor flat was plagued by tiny, screeching mice. They soon got wise to the “humane” traps loaded with peanut butter and we had to resort to more traditional mice traps to get rid of them.

And where we live now, very close to the canal, is perfect territory for rodents and not just mice. A friend of ours casually observed a plague of rats in Gorgie recently, brazenly feeding on the detritus around a communal bin store. He blamed Covid for the increase in both the number of rodents in our part of the city, and their boldness – which is exactly the same reason Wee Critters gave for the infestation.

So far, despite pulling up 150 year-old floorboards and knocking holes in ancient plaster, we haven’t encountered any mice in our new home. The dust has probably choked them to death – it has certainly played havoc with my lungs. But just in case they are lurking under the floor joists, we have got the perfect antidote – our kitten.

Star has been with us for nearly three weeks now. According to our vet, he is probably younger than advertised, but at the rate he is devouring his cat food and special treats – chopped chicken is a particular favourite – he will soon be the size of the Maine Coon that I once coveted.

And I dare any mouse – or rat – to come within sniffing distance of him. He is currently attacking his bed – an Amazon cardboard box made cosy with a pink fluffy throw – with frightening ferocity, and his Poundland Santa lasted three days before being consigned to the dustbin. A tiny mouse, even a mangy rat, won’t have a hope against our fearless rodent killer.