@gail, I agree. And on tangent, I’m increasingly of the opinion that I might start using mouses as a plural as that’s the more consistent form in general, especially if one wishes to consider houses as establishing precedent.
rob: I used to spend a lot of time with ESL students and still refer to things as mouses and fishies and sheepies. (the ies was my method of not sounding like a fool in other situations. Most just assumed I had a little sibling.