Do cats have a conscience? <Townies, avert eyes now>

[snigger]

Please don't shriek and hide behind a cushion - what you're about to hear can happen in the country.

Ten minutes ago, lying in bed, watching tv, a tiny field mouse scampered across the bedroom floor.

They're mowing in the field next door, this is no surprise to us - but the cat's reaction was.

The mouse made it from the window recess to the fireplace, and sat there, quietly.

The cat, lying on a rug by the fireplace, got up, strolled over, sniffed the mouse, and walked away.

This cat is the most murderous mouser known to man - she brought in a mole last night, fgs.

The mouse was so calm I flung a towel over it and released it (I'm not spiteful) and the cat is ... unrepentant.

So, do cats have a conscience? House mice bad, misdirected field mice ok?

Not in our house - field mice are fair game, poor little mites. If I manage to rescue one I take it over the road to release so it has a chance.

Mine don't.They are evil.Occasionally they even eat slugs (caught no 1 doing this tonight.Yuck)

Blee - our's has done that too. Wanders about with a slug in her mouth - I fear that she's going to start depositing them in my shoes.

I can't believe someone else's cat does that!

maybe the mouse has a protection racket going? you know, your cat leaves him and his mates alone and they won't sent in foxes?

Maybe the mouse smelt ill or of something the cat didn't want to eat/catch?? One of my cats would have done the same but she is 18 yo and has never caught anything in her life!! The other one would have hit it on the head with his great big paw and flattened it!!

God, I've just released the Robert de Niro of mice into the geraniums.

None of our three have any sort of conscience, no...

The worst is that they like to catch hummingbirds (here in huge numbers at the moment.) The only (small) consolation is that they do actually eat them, rather than kill and leave them.

We can't keep them as indoor cats as we keep a hobby farm and we'd be overrun with rodents if we did...

i wish mine would get rid of some of the slugs that come in my kitchen!

vole season here. having about 6 a day presented proudly at the mo.

I fear the cat is committing acts of atrocity in reprisal for her original weakness.

At least eight field mice slaughtered in the garden in the last two nights - and that's just the ones left in full view.

Voles'll be next.

i had a cat that loved mice,he would sit in the garden with little field mice running over him,he even rescued one that my killer cat brought home,he grabbed it and took it back outside and let it go he was a very odd cat

We actually breathed a sigh of relief when the cat, left a mouse present. She had been really poorly and it was a nice sign that she was properally on the mend. She is ferral and adopted owners rather then us adopting her. Birds are her favourite and i have seen her tackle the heron that likes the fish. Jumping out of trees to catch them or the bats. SHe is a nutter as she is a small cat and half her targets are bigger then her.

She has no morals and no remorse. But she generally eats what she kills...

... not that it makes the target species feel better