What do you do when your cat brings in a live mouse? It seems to me that there are several options. And the options depend upon how things pan out and whether you fear or like mice. I like them.

Mouse in the home. Photo in public domain.

My cat will bring a mouse in and he won’t kill it immediately which is typical of domestic cats. This provides me with the opportunity to save the life of the mouse. However, it’s not easy to catch a mouse and then ensure that it is removed from the house to a safe place where your cat will not find it. Especially at 4 in the morning.

If I can, I try and save the life of mice that my cat brings in. Just this morning I did it. It was about 4 AM as usual. I can tell when he brings a mouse in because he makes a certain sound which I presume is a call to me the say that he has brought a mouse in! I am not happy at that precise moment because I know I have a task to do and it’s a task I don’t relish.

The mouse escaped underneath some furniture and by now (after years of experience) I can tell where a mouse will be hiding. I knew he was safe there so I carried on doing what I was doing and then when I was in the mood I put my cat into a place where he couldn’t get at the mouse, removed the piece of furniture under which the mouse had hidden and then with a towel in my hand I tried to place it over the mouse. I failed as he ran away quickly as mice do. Having chased the mouse across the room, I then managed to throw the towel over him and gently scrunched it up to carry him to the outside where I released him. I then allowed my cat back into the room.

That’s how I save the lives of mice. It can be complicated, however. An alternative scenario is to simply let your cat get on with it and eat the mouse if he’s not been stupid enough to let it run under furniture where it becomes inaccessible. Sometimes cats bring in dead mice. Sometimes I have let my cat eat a dead mouse. I don’t think it’s a good idea to allow this because mice have worms inside them and if your cat eats a mouse he ingests parasitic worms. I therefore try and get the mouse off him if I am awake or in the mood. He may growl at me when I try this or he may run out of the house to protect his prey from me. He believes that I am trying to steal his mouse.

I do give my cat deworming pills. I have to, of course. A further scenario is that if you are terrified of mice you simply run away and let your cat get on with it. But, as mentioned, they sometimes hide under furniture where you have to deal with them. You don’t want to leave them there for ever and a day until they starve to death and die. Or perhaps that is what you do and then you recover them after their death?

I’d be pleased to hear from people as to how they deal with live mice being brought into the house by their cat.

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