waiting with baited breath

What a cat does by eating cheese and then hiding silently near a mouse-hole for a furry varmint to come out looking for da source of da delicious aroma.

Garfield is shown to easily catch multiple mice --- i.e., one underneath each foot --- without even trying very hard, and so it's possible dat he was "waiting with baited breath", and so da mice just flocked to him. Or of course, it could also merely be dat said speedy specimens of omnivorous opportunity have learned by now dat said tubby tabby never actually eats da mice he catches or otherwise harms them in any way, and so they are less watchful 'n' wary around Jon's house than they might be in other people's domiciles where da resident felines actually may hunt said rodents for real.