What's your wounded mouse protocol

[felinelucky]

For a bit of a bloater, my cat is a quite efficient hunter. Never eats what he catches, but plays with them endlessly. What do you do when you find a small squeaky or feathery creature that's still alive but clearly isn't going to pull through? I feel like I need a humane killing jar with chloroform or something.

I'm afraid to say I put them outside, shut the cat in and let nature take its course, I feel bad that it's not going to be quick but I just can't bring myself to do anything else

Agree with the previous response.

Today 19:13 EdithGrantham

I'm afraid to say I put them outside, shut the cat in and let nature take its course, I feel bad that it's not going to be quick but I just can't bring myself to do anything else sad

This 👆

Hit with something hard over the head. Soz

Could take hours to die outside

Heavy shoe will do it

Fortunately my old boy isn't much of a hunter but on the odd occasion we do have a casualty I get DH to dispatch them, he's totally unsqueamish and can do the necessary without becoming a weeping wreck like I would. I don't know how he does it, and don't want to know, but it's very quick and as humane as it can be. It's better than letting them suffer.

I love my cats but the whole torturing small animals to death thing is awful - I try to liberate as many of the victims as possible but if they're beyond help I think killing them quickly is the kindest thing to do. I cover them with a bit of kitchen towel, say a small prayer to the mouse/vole/shrew/bird gods and whack them with something heavy.

Kill the mouse. Kindest thing to do. Cats are arseholes.

@Hallucion

Hit with something hard over the head. Soz

Noooo, not the Squash with Brick treatment - can't bear it.

I call for the other cat and as soon as Cat 1 thinks its trophy is about to be stolen by Cat 2 the unfortunate victim is quickly dispatched and eaten.

My husband shoots it between the eyes with an air pistol.

I'm two minutes from the vet, I box the mouse or bird or shrew up and the vets PTS peacefully

A brick. It’s the kindest thing. Shutting it away from the cat is a horrible option, it could be a long death. If someone could assure me that wrapping it in a sock and putting it deep in the freezer I’d do that, that would feel better than a whack with a brick.

I put live ones out in the grass (away from moggie) and hope they recover or at least have a peaceful demise. Better than being chewed on alive.

Agree with the stolen trophy one. My cats are bad for stealing each other kills so they've learned to be quick about it now. Yeah not much you can do but hit them with something hard. Or a rat trap? Place them on and quickly move fingers?

Leave the cat and its prize outside, don't intervene.

having said that our first cats were pretty dedicated killers so almost never had any very nearly dead ones to deal with

and current cats are really not very good at hunting, so almost nothing to do. They seem to be more retriever than feline hunter, this time of year it's mostly the Housemartin babies who have over estimated their flying skills and end up being collected from the lawn by idiotcat who likes to show us....at least half a dozen last year all unharmed and put in a box on the top of the shed to try again with their flying skills.

@Etinox

A brick. It’s the kindest thing. Shutting it away from the cat is a horrible option, it could be a long death. If someone could assure me that wrapping it in a sock and putting it deep in the freezer I’d do that, that would feel better than a whack with a brick.

Freezing is much crueler - slow and painful death. Brick / spade would be much better.

I put it in a bag (freezer type bag) and hit it very hard with a brick or similar heavy object. I don’t like doing it

If it's clearly injured, I leave it with the cat to finish off. If it's a superficial looking flesh wound and it's otherwise seemingly moving ok, I grab the cat and shut it in and release the rodent in a different place. The cats ALWAYS look for it where they last saw it and can't comprehend that it's been moved so it doesn't need to be released far away to escape.

Probably a stupid question but I dread being faced with this scenario and have often wondered if it would be possible to dispatch them by putting them in a small airtight box? I just couldnt bear to let them suffer but equally couldnt cope with whacking them with a heavy object. But then suffocation isn’t a nice way to fie either I’m sure. Horrible dilemma

If you can’t do the brick thing (and I can’t) then putting them outside for a bird/fix/feral cats to dispatch is really your only option.

Heavy frying-pan. More precise than a brick. Cover the mouse with some newspaper so you don't have to see it and then whack hard. It really is the kindest thing to do.

@Puddlelane123

Probably a stupid question but I dread being faced with this scenario and have often wondered if it would be possible to dispatch them by putting them in a small airtight box? I just couldnt bear to let them suffer but equally couldnt cope with whacking them with a heavy object. But then suffocation isn’t a nice way to fie either I’m sure. Horrible dilemma

Suffocation would be an awful way to go. But I wonder if, in the days before health and safety, a small airtight container and a hefty dose of chloroform would have been a good solution. and whether I could get some off a dodgy website

On the PTS point, I do actually live near to a vet, but they're v busy. Not sure they'd be up for a tiny partly chewed mouse. But I'm going to ask them what they recommend as well.

Thanks @IceLace100. I haven’t done the freezer and won’t.