I think I would rather have a cat (outside) I have allergies!
My mother had a lot of mice and this was after her cat died. I was out on a quiet morning cleaning her birdbath and I saw the man next door pour out 4 dish pans of dog food and then he went to work. After the 4 dogs ate half of the food they were full and went to sleep. Then I kept watching and saw grackles and crows taking dog food and drop it into my mothers birdbath. Gravy-train, no wonder the water was red.
Then when they were done the mice would come out from under the house and help their self and run back under the house. This was their food source! Back and forth they went!
I have always had a bird feeder and have never had mice or rats, I also do not have a dog or cat so there is no food source there. It could be your neighbors, do they put out dog or cat food? Are their garbage cans secure? The garbage cans can also attract raccoon's and foxes even in the city and they are rabid. This is very bad.
It is possible that my feeder attracts a few mice but there always seems to be a stray cat some where in the neighborhood. If there was no cats I might have a problem and I would get my own cat.
The city has given us new trash cans that mice and animals cannot get into because the lid is heavy and stays down. Here is a similar can.
http://www.bearicuda.com/critt...
