Theres a mouse problem

Right now, in our house, we are having a big mouse problem. In the past week I have seen more mice run across a room, then I have ever seen in my life. Yesterday one came out from under the couch and kind of looked at us, then my dad through something at it and it ran back under the couch. No matter what we do or try we just can't get rid of them. My mom says that we need to get a cat in order to get rid of the mice. My dad is the only one who does not like the idea, so we are stuck with the mice. To keep the mice out of our food we have to wrap everything twice. Its a pain but at least they don't get to the food.