# What do you do with injured mice??



## gemma1234

My cats bring in on average 3 mice a day. Mostly (thankfully!!) they're dead but sometimes they're not. My delightful cat seems to take pleasure in breaking their back legs straight away so they can't run away and he gets maximum play time!

This morning it was pouring with rain & I was in the house alone with my toddler so I couldn't do anything but I watched my cat bat, pounce on & fling this poor mouse in the air for 5 full minutes before it actually died.

I know this is all natural (althouh I think in the wild a cat would be too hungry to play with its prey for such a length of time) but I can't bare seeing an animal being tortured.

I have a real problem with killing an animal even if it is for their own good so just wondering what everyone else does with live but injured animals that their cats bring in.


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## zippie161

I hate the thought of them suffering too - & as a huge animal lover never like the thought of me killing anything! But its times like that where i just have to think of the poor thing suffering and in the past i have unfortunately had to do it once.. i put the dying mouse in a bag and sharply swung it against a wall a couple of times and then (dont laugh!) i felt its pulse to make sure it was dead, wrapped it up nicely and put it in the bin


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## Cyberfyn

Living next to open fields and having had cats forever, I've had to do this countless times. If I see one of ours playing with a mouse/bird/weasle ETC, then I'll rescue it & if it's fine, then I'll take it somewhere relatively safe and release it. If, however, it's injured badly then I'll help it on it's way into the next life. Drowning or suffocating are slow ways to do it though. I have an old rounders bat I use! Not a pretty or elegant end, but sure is quick and painless for the poor little buggers. :mellow:

Ian F.


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## yeahuloveme

with birds I used to have to break their necks, I would put them in the shed if I thought they would survive but they never did, and with mice grip their tail and one hard swift smack down with their head on the concrete, seems harsh but kills them instintaly .
still cried every animal I killed though


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## Jonescat

I think the batting behaviour has its roots in the fact that prey is dangerous and they need to make sure it really is dead before they get too close. Even a tiny mouse can bite, give a cat an infection and kill it. So they have developed this way of dealing with it. It doesn't look nice to us but it isn't play as we think of it. (Just trying to help you not think too badly of your cat).


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## bella88

I usually just keep them in a container over night, including birds. No-one in my family has the courage to kill them.

Usually, by the morning they have eaten and are trying to get out. One time my cat woke me up with a mouse at about 3am. It was barely moving and I was sure it would die, but put the mouse in a container, and naively used book for a lid. When I woke up, the mouse had chewed it's way out lol.


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## Philski

zippie161 said:


> i put the dying mouse in a bag and sharply swung it against a wall a couple of times


That's what I have had to do, too. It's never nice, but once a wild animal is injured beyond a certain point, I'm afraid it's a goner anyway - I just convince myself it's the only humane option.


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## peter0

If its okay i'll let release it back into the fields at the back of the garden but if they're a bit shook up or injured they go in a spare tank for the night with food and water and i release them the next night. My cats calmed down a lot with his hunting. Before it would be everyday now its once or twice a week. My dog Bert rescues the mice. He picks them up in his mouth comes inside and gives one of us it


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## gemma1234

Argh- looks like I'm going to have to get tough! The mice are never in a fit state to be release/kept in a box then release as they always have 2 broken back legs so can't move. It's so hard because I worry I'll do it wrong. I guess you can't go too far wrong with a baseball bat. I tried once to chop a mouses head off with a spade but I just stood over it for 10 minutes trying to make myself do it & I literally couldn't!


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## broccoli

my childhood cats used to catch mice - the only one not fit to release...i gave back to cats to finish - i'm a wuss...........


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## Lumboo

My Furbies raid my sons craft drawer and extract pipe cleaners -not sure why but they love them. They leave these offerings outside our bedroom door for us to find each morning which I guess is their equivalent of leaving us mice or birds. 

Not until reading this thread have I been grateful that they have not injured a bird.

I couldn't even euthanise my fish, let alone being able to do it with a mouse. I am a total coward. I cry when my husband kills a mosquito....


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## Space Chick

I'm going to sound like a heartless cow here, but I leave my cats to it.... It's nature, it's what they do.

However, I have a complex relationship with mice, we back onto woods and I had an infestation in my kitchen one year, got into all my food cupboards and poo'd in them, ruined loads of food. At that point I came out with a motto "You poo in my cupboard, you die" it was mouse traps originally (Thomas my last cat, whilst a good hunter preferred larger prey to mice ), then I had chickens and they are AMAZING mousers... Now Sabrina is chief mouser, she doesn't give the hens much of a chance.. Although I have had to ban her from the bedroom at night after a few live mice in bed


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## gemma1234

Space Chick said:


> I'm going to sound like a heartless cow here, but I leave my cats to it.... It's nature, it's what they do.
> 
> However, I have a complex relationship with mice, we back onto woods and I had an infestation in my kitchen one year, got into all my food cupboards and poo'd in them, ruined loads of food. At that point I came out with a motto "You poo in my cupboard, you die" it was mouse traps originally (Thomas my last cat, whilst a good hunter preferred larger prey to mice ), then I had chickens and they are AMAZING mousers... Now Sabrina is chief mouser, she doesn't give the hens much of a chance.. Although I have had to ban her from the bedroom at night after a few live mice in bed


My chickens once caught a mouse... I went to rescue it and by the time I had unlocked the pen it was dead! At least the chicken have the decency to do it quickly. I wouldn't mind leaving the cats to it if they didn't drag it out so long. I get nature but somehow a cat with a big full belly leaping around the garden playing with a mouse which is then just left once the fun is over doesn't seem so natural


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## Lunabuma

I used to have a very heavy paving slab... Place the mouse in the optimum place, tilt the slab right up and then let go ..... Run away before the splat and come back an hour later.

Cowardly but it did the job. I love all furry things but cant stand knowing an animal is suffering.


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## SharonC

I do some volunteer work at wildlife sanctuary and we see a lot of cat related injuries to all sorts of animals and birds.

For birds, phone your local sanctuary up (if you have one) and they will either repair any damage or put the animal out of its misery. I have taken a bird to my local vet in the past so the poor thing could be pts.

Not really sure about mice, as we have never had any in, but I have nursed a few back to health if possible and released them the following day. More often it is the shock that will kill the mouse rather than any wounds it receives. If you do release a mouse, make sure it is in the same place you found it if at all possible as it will have a family network nearby.

Us humans don't like it, but it is nature at its best/worst depending on you view


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## nicolaa123

Uhm once I had to rescue my cat from a mouse, I went outside and riley was there with a mouse and I thought oh poor mouse until the mouse stood on its back legs and hit riley with its front legs over and over again! I would have taken photos but my first thoughts were for my cat being beaten up and then the mouse!!! Riley has not been the same since


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## Cyberfyn

Lol. They don't always get it their own way. Honey, our female Maine Coon likes to hunt bigger prey. Her current fav are rats. And being rural, we get the big farm rats! At the minute she's got a bitten nose and a cut lip where there's been a bit of a battle 

She always wins though. This is a young rat she left us. Lay a Biro pen out and you can see how big it was. The adults are almost twice as big!









She doesn't play with them though. Being a true ratter, she goes in for the kill like a lion & grabs them by the back of the neck!

Ian F.


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## gemma1234

My cat bought in a rat the other day. I was sat working in my office an she just walked in & dropped it at my feet looking really proud of herself. It was a similar size to the one in your photo. The rats really bother me because I worry about the germs with my son. My carpets must be practically sterile the amount I steam clean them these days.

I like the paving slab idea- definitely can't go wrong with that... Is it strange to go out and buy a paving slab for that purpose?!?


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## amandael

Jonescat said:


> I think the batting behaviour has its roots in the fact that prey is dangerous and they need to make sure it really is dead before they get too close. Even a tiny mouse can bite, give a cat an infection and kill it. So they have developed this way of dealing with it. It doesn't look nice to us but it isn't play as we think of it. (Just trying to help you not think too badly of your cat).


Yes - and its natural for them to bring live prey home to kill in front of family as a teach-in. I think adults initially feed dead prey to kittens, then bring home live prey to kill in fron of them, then live prey for them to kill themselves. Then out for hunting lessons.

It is horrible to watch. My old cat hunted but only brought in dead stuff. She got th idea we were not too keen and used to munch them in a quiet corner of the garden. I find I am more accepting if they actually eat it.

And better a dead rodent in the home or garden than a live one !!!!

(Don't like it when its birds though ........)


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## koekemakranka

Only very occasionally do they bring a rat or mouse in. I have a short heavy pole outside that I bash them with. Instantaneous. Horrible, but I can't have rats in the roof. They often bring lizards or geckos in, which upsets me. Usually, the lizard is completly unharmed and as soon as they drop it at my feet, I take it, thank them and place it back in the garden.


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## AnonymousUnknownPerson

gemma1234 said:


> My cats bring in on average 3 mice a day. Mostly (thankfully!!) they're dead but sometimes they're not. My delightful cat seems to take pleasure in breaking their back legs straight away so they can't run away and he gets maximum play time!
> 
> This morning it was pouring with rain & I was in the house alone with my toddler so I couldn't do anything but I watched my cat bat, pounce on & fling this poor mouse in the air for 5 full minutes before it actually died.
> 
> I know this is all natural (althouh I think in the wild a cat would be too hungry to play with its prey for such a length of time) but I can't bare seeing an animal being tortured.
> 
> I have a real problem with killing an animal even if it is for their own good so just wondering what everyone else does with live but injured animals that their cats bring in.


 You should take it outside and put it in a safe place such as a thick plant or bushes. Here they can make a safe burrow and have a good chance of surviving. You can put food in there to help them but if you do, make sure that you don't touch it or get your scent on it because they will smell you and assume that it is dangerous. I recently spotted my cat having a great time with a mouse. I chased him for twenty minutes, until finally I trapped him in a neighbors yard and picked you mouse up (Don't do this as you can get rabies very easily. Get gloves first) and relocated it to a different part of my neighborhood is a big plant. A few hours later, I was happy to see that we had made a safe burrow.


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## tabelmabel

The thread you have replied to is over 8 years old!


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## SusieRainbow

As @tabelmabel says this is a zombie thread so I will close it.
Incidentally it's UK based foorum so we're luckily Rabies free. Why don't you tell us a bit about your pets?
Welcome to the forum


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## Torin.

Super old thread. But since it has been bumped up and since the advice given is wrong, I'm just going to leave this here:









Casualties usually appear fine at the time due to the adrenaline rush of being caught/ around humans, but releasing them without ABs is not saving. But 'out of sight out of mind' mentality and rose tinted glasses mean a lot of people don't bother. Either seek medical treatment for your cat victims via a specialist rescue or give them a humane death.


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## amskaylen

gemma1234 said:


> My cat found a mouse yesterday. He broke its back legs and just left it there. I couldn't just leave the mouse there especially since my cat was finished playing with it. It was fine (other than the broken legs) so I fed it and gave it water. I woke up this morning and the mouse is still alive and feeding itself. I don't have the courage to kill it. However it seems to be doing fine. It can still move around and drags the leg behind it. I don't have the heart to kill it but I hate seeing it dragging the legs behind it.


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## ewelsh

Torin. said:


> Super old thread. But since it has been bumped up and since the advice given is wrong, I'm just going to leave this here:
> 
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> Casualties usually appear fine at the time due to the adrenaline rush of being caught/ around humans, but releasing them without ABs is not saving. But 'out of sight out of mind' mentality and rose tinted glasses mean a lot of people don't bother. Either seek medical treatment for your cat victims via a specialist rescue or give them a humane death.


well said @Torin.


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