Had a cat we never had problems with mice. I assume the mice could smell the cat. Two years after the cat died we had mice twice. Had to babysit son's cat. No mice, cat died, had mice again.
Read that you should put red pepper near places that you may had had mice acess. Tried that, put mouse traps in several places in trailer that husband checks every few days. No mice in traps. No mice damage.
We checked every place we though that mice could get in before first mouse and each time we had mice.
We had mice chewing on a sit by the fire throw and some toilet paper so we have been lucky.
The no mice since we have been using the red pepper may have been shear luck but you can buy red pepper at Dollar Tree. Other places also but for a lot more than a dollar.