Will withholding rewards encourage my cat to do his job?

Nope. I don’t even expect them to love me. They are cats, afterall. I’m lucky they let me love them. That’s enough for me.

Cats so what cats want to do. If that happens to be something you also want then its a bonus. Nothing more.

Milo here:I am lowering my expectations for Gail at an alarming rate. Pity. She seemed moderately intelligent when we started this partnership.

I harbour dogs whose main job is to hold the floor down and warn me of prowling cats that pass by any window.

My pussycat helped me once by polishing the floors.
She had an itch probably and was ‘sleigh riding’.
Left a long, thin brown stain though.

Every time I leave the house, I tell the cats what chores they have to do that day (dishes, laundry, cleaning the shower, et cetera). They never do anything. I don’t know what I’m paying them for.

@Seelix
I know!! Lazy beasts. Worse, is when they shred and scatter the pieces of the list and then I have to pick it up. Talk about adding insult to injury.

You want to rent my cat Inky? She drug in another lizard last night, of course, not dead either, thanks to my quick thinking I was able to get it in a jar before it got loose in the room. You won’t have mice for long. Even with a bell, she seem to be quite the huntress. After she catches a few of them, word will get to the rest there is a new sheriff in town. You might have to have the stomach to polish the mouse off since she likes to play with her food before getting down to business.

I had three cats once. I discovered field mice in my laundry room in the basement. I put all three cats inside the laundry room, gave them specific instructions and shut the door. An hour later I eased the door open only to discover them curled up together sleeping on the dryer. The little mouse scurried though an opening around a water pipe for the washer.

Well, needless to say, I fired all three and put out rat poisen. The cat union steward, whom I didn’t know lived next door, sent me a letter threatening me with something called Weingarten Rights. I called BS on the steward and ended up getting sued. I was in hock for cat litter, catnip and kibble for years. Damn lazy cats.

Sweetie, you have the roles reversed. As soon as this realization sinks in, the frustration should go away. Some people are put on this planet to serve cats, not the other way around.

I expect Izzy to be independent and free-willed, and to think she runs the place. In that, she succeeds admirably.

I expect Darwin to be stupid to the point where he may physically endanger himself. (Yes, he is named after the Darwin award.) Given that he still doesn’t quite understand that Izzy has no interest in being his friend, I would say he also succeeds… though I wonder if succeeding at failing is really success :/

I do not suggest it. You are not feeding and housing them, they are honoring you with their presence. They don’t like it when we forget our place in the pecking order. Feline retaliation can be brutal.

My cat does not DO mice. He will hunt for certain higher level animals in the garden, but mice… no way.

I don’t think Feline Employment Relations Legislation allows us to sack them. I think actually you may have been misled about your relationship with your cat. You actually work for her/him. Did someone tell you you were the boss? I would suggest you clean up the mouse poo asap and before the cat notices you are falling down on your duty to keep their environment up to standard! Could find yourself in trouble.