What to do with injured prey

[BerylStreep]

My cat has had a mouse-fest today.

One got away
One got eaten
One was injured. I moved the injured one to a pile of wood in the garage, so that if it was going to recover it would have somewhere safe to do so, but I found it on the grass about 6 feet away several hours later. It was still alive, but panting and I don't think it is going to make it. I've kept the cat in for the rest of the day so that she can't get at the mouse. I know the kindest thing should have been to kill it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

We are also coming into chick season, and my cat often kills birds .

What do you do with injured prey? Leave it to let nature take its course? Intervene? And if so, how do you do it in a humane way?

If I think prey is injured enough that it wont make it, I do kill it myself. I use cervical dislocation, but I was trained to do this at a job I used to have so it is the easiest way for me.

Perhaps you could crush their head?

We (I lie - DH!) disposes humanely of injured prey. I think it's the fair thing to do rather than letting them suffer. He puts the injured mouse in a thin plastic bag, holds the bag by the handle and then hits it really hard onto a flat surface (usually the floor). The impact has always killed them instantly but you don't have to actually see anything or do much.

Kindest thing is to leave the cat to it. .
Unless you fancy a summer of personally finishing half killed things off?

Knock it on the head with something or pick it up and knock its head against something hard.
Or just let the cat out and let it do it itsself.

A mouse I would hit with a spade - couldn't see it suffer.
We have taken a few birds to the emergency vets to be euthanised.
Luckily only 1 of our 3 cats is a hunter.

My cat used to bring her prey home, often neglecting to kill it, cue me chasing nice and birds round the house.
I found extra bells on her collar helped

OrangeJulius I am wondering what your previous job was that you were trained in cervical dislocation. Black Ops?

I always feel like cheering when I extract a mouse from the jaws of death and discover that after a couple of minutes of getting over the shock they scamper away. I thought that might have happened to the injured one today, but it wasn't to be.

The one that got away today was super feisty - it was in our hall on its back legs squaring up to the cat and eeking for all its worth.

Oh dear - mouse number 4 has just been brought in, luckily unharmed, it seems. My cat has obviously found a nest and is just raiding it. Fortunately I heard the cat flap and the squeaking, and was able to intervene and put the mouse outside straight away, much to my cat's annoyance.

I finish them off myself with a spade. Then bury. My cat mostly catches spiders and earth worms though

Bonzo I had a cat many years ago who would catch earth worms! I'd never experienced it before, or since! It was pretty gruesome arriving down to find earthworms, or parts of them, all over the carpet.