Guilt over live mouse

[Caerulea]

So, we have a 6 month old cat. Part bengal & part maine coon (part other stuff too I'm sure) & is DS3s cat who isn't here tonight

I just heard a commotion in DS2s room so went to check & delightful kitty has a mouse hanging out of his mouth. Again. This is mouse number 3 & it turns out it's still alive & unharmed.

Our three dogs followed me in cat growled furiously at them (he never does otherwise). I tried to tempt him to exchange with dreamies. That went as well as you can imagine.

So I tried sardines.

Equally ineffective.

So unless I wrestled that tiny thing out of the savage bastards mouth there is nothing I could do but leave him to it. And I have serious guilt!!

I've got to plug the hole I know the meeces are coming in via, I dread to think what we'd find brought in to us if he were an outside cat - which he'll never be cos outside cats round here seem to end up under cars, lost forever or assaulted by intact males.

Anyway. I'm wracked with guilt right now cos I'm soft as shit & the mouse was really cute & tomorrow I'm going to have clean up the pieces of it.

He's six months! Is this normal?

Don't feel guilty - once cat has caught mouse they're usually done for anyway. Plus surely you're glad not to have a mouse in your house eating through wiring ...

I refer you to my comment about being soft as shit 😭.

We had a rat citadel beneath our conservatory (we're very rural) and I couldn't deal with poisoning that either. And that's incredibly stupid.

Cats gotta cat

Mice are doubly incontinent and will poo and pee all over your house. Cat is good cat.

Your going to need to provide an outside safe space for this cat, bengals will piss everywhere if their unhappy.

Cats devastate wildlife in the UK, catching and killing 92 million wild animals in the UK.

In recent years I have had a complete rethink over my attitude to pets.
Over the years I have had cats, dogs, and small animals for my children, but I have come to a position where I think mass pet ownership is undesirable.

I have two cats at the moment, rescue cats I homed when my children were younger, thankfully never been big predators, and don't hunt at all now as they are too old and I don't let them out when hungry.
I read this week that Australia are considering a cat curfew to protect wildlife.

I know that pets can bring a great deal to us humans, but we have eugenically bred animals to be docile, low aggression, retaining juveniile characteristics so they respond to contact, stroking etc.

In some ways animals are living toys. Many don't have great lives, stuck indoors, left alone for long periods, deprived of pack interaction, migration, reproduction, bred for dysfunction and dependency.

There is certainly an argument in some cases, pets are a great antidote to loneliness, for those living alone, or the elderly. They bring companionship and safety. Service dogs enhance the lives of many, working, farm, military or police dogs do invaluable work.
There are over 20 million cats and dogs in the UK, most are kept simply as family pets, with many more types of animal living in cages, huts, tanks or endlessly swimming around in a bowl of water.

Pets and their food production emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, many have dull lives, many exhibit signs of anxiety.

I don't think we have a right as humans to keep pets as toys, it isn't fair to the pet, it isn't fair to wildlife.

Am I reading this right. You have mice coming unto your house and you thi k that's OK? They are filthy, carry fleas and disease and will make a stink where they live. You're lucky you have a useful cat.

@speakout the op wasn't asking if having a cat was socially acceptable! Although I think keeping a cat indoors their whole life is mean.

Totally. We've got to do some major work on the garden so will sort stuff then. He's extremely picky about his litter trays being clean & hates DS3 leaving him (2 resi school trips actually made him ill - we have to wait to neuter him till about a year as a result) & will wee in other places then but ATM he's not doing it.

No not at all, I don't think it's ok I just struggle with killing things cos they are inconvenient to me cos I'm human, that's all. They aren't housemice fwiw, they don't live in the house & haven't been into the living area. They've come in cos the dogs scootch dry food behind things in the conservatory where they eat.

After we lost our 23yo cat (not a hunter) I tried to convince hubby that another cat would be great after the rat incident to help deter more.

I don't necessarily disagree - but we do our best to make sure that he's happy & catered for. Having a cat outside here there's a high chance of dying & that seems more mean as does releasing a hunting beast into a bird & wildlife heavy area. We also have a high volume of traffic during tourist season. We've seen a behaviourist with breed specific knowledge so aren't going into this eyes closed. I'm more taken aback by the ferocity of his hunting skills.

I did have an outdoor cat for 23yrs.

Kinda wasn't expecting outright attacks, got to be honest. I was laughing at myself for being silly over a cat being a rather good cat.

For clarity - he does go outside & we take him places, just on a harness. He does go into the garden, on a very long lead anchored in the house. He loves to rough play with one of the dogs & cos the conservatory attracts flying things he has a blast out there hunting those (which would die anyway). I don't even stop him playing with some of my houseplants (cos they are safe) as I can see that's fun for him.

Our cat is a rescue cat. She is much adored and has a lovely life. She is an indoor cat completely through choice. She has zero interest in going outside. However I do think it's cruel to keep a cat indoors that wants /tries to get out. I think that's wrong.

Some harsh replies here. I understand your feelings OP, but your very well looked after cat is doing exactly what he should be doing. Cats often drop mice anyway in order to "play" with them so they generally get a chance to make a run for it. Getting something out a cat's mouth successfully is impossible. I'm afraid the odd corpse is inevitable and better than rodents infesting a space and I speak as someone who has spent many hours successfully capturing mice that the cats have brought in and then carefully releasing them

Regarding the keeping of animals as pets, cats generally have the opportunity to leave their home if they wish as they have freedom of movement, but they don't. There is a massive case for not keeping things trapped in cages ie the much abused rabbit and this is something I'll certainly never do again. Cats don't bark, attack people or shit all over the streets and a lot of predation of birds is from corvids not domestic cats. They are the best pet

Currently, though he is still very young, he's not trying to bolt or escape or anything. He has gotten out twice cos the backdoor was left open & he just pottered in the back garden till we spotted him.

A cattery is definitely on the cards, though, when we start on the garden though I've got hopes that he can play out there with the dogs in the open when supervised.

They are such fuss pots with litter. Mine had to have talcum scented ultra clumping, ankle deep, and the tray wiped with a damp cloth twice a day.

If you didn't empty it pronto he would wee on the tiles behind the cooker. Whoever sealed our hob did a great job.

@Blackbyrd Thank you & totally agree. I love snakes, always have, but would never have one - I can't imagine keeping an animal in a cage or a hutch. Tbh even a tank! We've got a pond that we just let nature populate rather than put things in ourselves.

This cat has another 6 months before he can be neutered which gives us time to work out how he can safely enjoy the outside. My old cat wasn't a hunter, plenty aren't, but watching this one - oooof he definitely would causing damage. Stupid thing ate a bee, got stung & whilst I was literally on the phone to the vets about it he caught & ate a cabbage white with his puffy little face. He really is fierce!

Behind the oven?! What a monster lol. This one went thru a phase of weeing on ds3's bed whilst he was in it. Behaviourist explained it was a love thing. 'I love you so much I feel safe to wee right here with you. Look at me. Weeing. I love you'.

Glad my hubby doesn't do that

It's an induction hob set into the counter. Bengals are ridiculously affectionate to their human.

Watch wildlife outside kill each other. There are birds eggs everywhere around here that have been taken out of nests. Nature is harsh and mean. Most cats are natural hunters. Mine catch mice and eat them everyday. If they bring one back alive when the cat puts it down to play with it we grab the cat and kill the mouse quickly then put the cat back to eat it. Don't like the suffering but nature is nature. Cat catches to eat and mouse is a natural cat diet. Better than buying raw meat that's lived in a factory all its life if that's how you feel.

Morechocmorechoc "nature is nature"

But keeping animals is not "natural". Having a domestic cat only puts further pressure on fragile ecosystems and wildlife. That isn't a finely balanced ecosystem which naturally includes some predators.

Keeping of pets and allowing them to hunt puts pressure on wildlife populations.
Cat numbers are high due to human activity- just another example of human wants shitting on nature.

@speakout but again the OPs question wasn't about keeping pets. I'm talking about animals natural instincts. Cat sees mouse, mouse gets played with and eaten. That's nature. That was my point, not mentioning whether or not someone should have a cat as that was NOT the question.

I'm saying OP should have no guilt re the mouse!

I’m surprised about the sardine. Next time, try chicken, it always worked with our two. ( pheasant was even better, but of course limited by seasonality).