Cats mortally injuring but not "finishing" off mice... how do I end the suffering?

[Swttea]

I wasn't sure where to put this, sorry..

I guess some mice got into the house with the freezing weather, and my cats have "caught" two in recent weeks. Neither time did they "finish" the job, but left the mouse mortally wounded. The first time, we went to retrieve the mouse and Tuck chopped down hard...seeming to finally "finish" it after who knows how long playing with it. But tonight they injured another, and seemed to have no interest in "finishing" it. It was just rapidly breathing and unable to move, and since it wasn't scattering, I guess it wasn't that interesting anymore.

I'm someone that refuses to use kill traps and always caught-and-released a few miles from home. I know mice can harbor disease, but... I just have a really hard time killing anything.

What do you do with not-dead-yet-but-clearly-dying things your cats injure??

(To be clear, I'm not upset at the cats. I'm jus a baby, I guess, and I don't want the mice to suffer)

 

[ArtNJ]

I think many cats have a little orca (notorious for playing with seals before killing them) in them when they aren't hungry, or to get into the correct branch of the animal kingdom, are more tigers (frequent sport hunters) than lions (which only kill when hungry). Perhaps its more humane, but I find it pretty awful when a cat eats only part of a mouse, which is also common. I found a headless mouse body several times, and a stray mouse head at least once. Thankfully those were always outside -- though two weeks ago I found a seemingly uninjured mouse corpse in the house that my cats must have killed without ever biting -- i.e., they played with it, to death.

You aren't going to change biology and convert your tigers into lions. It is what it is. So just deal with the mouse situation as best you can and continue to understand they are following their natures.

 

[molly92]

Sorry in advance for being a bit graphic...

The most humane way to end a mouse's suffering is to snap its neck quickly. Instant and virtually painless. I haven't actually done this myself, but I've considered it a few times when I had sick mice at my pet store job, so I looked it up. This is done a lot in research labs and by some reptile owners who feed mice, so there are instructions on the internet if you look for them. I did look into CO2 asphyxiation, but this is a bit complicated and might not be as painless.

It's a really hard thing to do emotionally, and I don't think you can be blamed if you want to put it outside and let some other predator take care of it "naturally." If you want to intervene, though, that's my best suggestion.

 

[danteshuman]

I vote get an exterminator before they start breeding! You can do catch them alive traps but release them a few miles away! Also you want to find and seal however the little vermin are getting into your home.

I hate saying this but I strangled a mortally injured bird to give it a quicker death. The poor finch was lying belly up, with blood coming out of it’s beak! I was crying as I did it but I did didn’t know what else to do. The rest of the birds I caught where they hopefully survived. (Dante brought them inside to catch/release/catch torture them to death.) A few injured birds I knew were probably going to die so I put them outside, in a hanging flowers basket (that Dante couldn’t get) so they could at least die in peace if they were going to die. The problem was solved by hanging the feeders high so my lazy cat couldn’t catch them that easily.

If your aim is pretty good you try keeping a hammer around for emergency mice euthanasia, so to speak.

Please do not poison the mice. A cat (or other predators) could get sick from munching on dying or dead mice.

 

[di and bob]

I have gone through this a lot too, and I always feel so heartbroken that something is suffering so. I once had a litter of baby bunnies, (and what is cuter than that?) and the buck somehow broke through the fence and was in with them. when I found them he had chewed off every one of their legs, it was a nightmare. I went through several scenarios of how to end their pain, suffocating was too much struggle for them, etc. and finally, I took a shovel and quickly chopped down on their necks. it was the only way I could think of to quickly end their pain. I was devasted and crying.
If you don't see blood, just lay them gently outside in a place the cats can't get to them, cats can panic/traumatize a mouse or bird so badly they are paralyzed with fear and many times recover, though they can die of fright. Cats 'train' prey not to move by repeatedly stopping and dragging them back until they don't move at all. I wish you luck, no way is going to be easy.....

 

[ArtNJ]

If you don't see blood, just lay them gently outside in a place the cats can't get to them, cats can panic/traumatize a mouse or bird so badly they are paralyzed with fear and many times recover, though they can die of fright. Cats 'train' prey not to move by repeatedly stopping and dragging them back until they don't move at all.

+1. Yes, we once thought that we were going to rehab a baby bunny. We poked and prodded and it barely moved. We got a cardboard box, some lettuce leaf, gathered the family, etc. 15 minutes later when we were finally ready, we went outside again and put the bunny in the box. It insta-jumped out of the box and sprinted away. A WTF moment for us, but we later realized exactly what your saying.

 

[game misconduct]

crush the head by stepping on it fast simple clean death

 

[di and bob]

I did that to a mouse once and I was traumatized myself, the 'feel' of it beneath my shoe was disgusting!!! It is the quickest though if you can get past that. I just never agreed with drowning or suffocating, I can't think that is a terrible way to go, I would rather have a quick death, instantaneous.

 

[klunick]

The cat that came with our house used to hunt baby voles. She would scratch at the door to show us. Normally it had a puncture to the throat but was still breathing. It was sad but "circle of life" and all. We would just toss it into the woods or she would grab it first and finish the job.

 

[susanm9006]

A long handled garden spade works well to crush the neck, and you don’t need to get close.

 

[Willowy]

If it doesn't look mortally wounded (punctured abdomen, broken back, etc.), I just take them outside. It appears they recover most of the time, or at least there's no body when I check later. Wild animals are tough. If it looks mortally wounded, I call one of the dogs over and let them handle it. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have dogs that will kill rodents, ugh.

One thing that snake owners do if they want to feed freshly-killed rodents is to hold them by the back legs (not the tail) and swing them into a hard surface (preferably concrete, as wood may be too "bouncy") so that they die immediately of blunt force head trauma. That seems slightly less gruesome than stepping on them and should be fairly humane. But still, ugh.

 

[LTS3]

The current AVMA euthanasia guidelines are here: AVMA guidelines for the euthanasia of animals

CO2 asphyxiation is the most commonly used for rodents. I don't know how one would do this at home, though, especially for a random occurrence such as this. Maybe ask your vet or a wildlife rescue or someone who breeds and sells rodents as reptile food.

The most humane way to end a mouse's suffering is to snap its neck quickly. Instant and virtually painless. I haven't actually done this myself, but I've considered it a few times when I had sick mice at my pet store job, so I looked it up. This is done a lot in research labs and by some reptile owners who feed mice, so there are instructions on the internet if you look for them.

Yes, labs do cervical disclocations but as a secondary method for death confirmation. The primary method is typically CO2 or an OD of anesthetic if the mouse is undergoing a terminal surgical procedure. Cervical dislocation as the primary method is rare and must be justified on the protocol and approved by the IACUC before any animal work can be done and personnel must be trained how to do the procedure properly.

 

[danteshuman]

So we are back to hammer or mallet or fire place shovel to bash the poor mouse’s head in with one quick blow.

DiandBob that train prey bit explains why I never found a bird after I released them to die in peace! Poor little birds! That baby bunnies story sounds awful.

but we can’t change a cat”s nature. Only try to limit their access to prey to terrorize for fun. Their wildness is part of why we adore them!

 

[goingpostal]

Without really knowing what you are doing and being wild mice, I would stick to the quick smash with a hammer or shovel to the head/neck. Or put in a bag and slam against the wall worst case. I used to co2 my feeders and have done CD but that involves holding them and doing it carefully or you are just as likely to deglove their tails or not snap it right on the first try. If the cat has gotten claws/teeth on it at all it's likely dead from bacteria even if it may not look injured fyi.

 

[Swttea]

Well, it feels a little better to know i’m not alone at least! I know mice are considered pest but anytime I’ve notice we had one I would put a no kill trap down and take it a few miles away. When I was a teenager we had put glue traps down once in an effort to catch brown recluse spiders. that is a whole nother story... i guess eggs hatched in the house because they were EVERYWHERE, and their bite can be very dangerous, especially to a diabetic (me), so we were trying to get rid of them (joys of the south!). Well one night a mouse got stuck to it and it was horrible! It was crying and flailing so much. We put gloves on and unstuck it outside. Never used those types of traps again, and I’ve put down my fair share of kill traps that failed to kill or killed slowly, so I stopped using those a long time ago too. It’s definitely my preference to trap and release somewhere near a wooded area.

My husband did have to take care of the mouse last night. After about 30 minutes it was still unmoving and it’s breathing getting worse. We couldn’t let it suffer anymore. I don’t know exactly what method he used but I assume he crushed it. He is just as bad as me about killing things, so he didn’t like it either.

Again i’m not upset at the cats at all! I knew they would do this eventually. It seems a few times a year when it gets super cold we have a few come in. Ive tried to block the entry points but I think some are in places I can’t get to without removing a wall or something. I just wish they’re give them a quick death! Or the mice would smell they (currently FOUR) cats in the house and stay away!

 

[fionasmom]

Definitely try to make sure that you don't end up with a vermin problem. My experience is that with rats you have a chance as they are bigger and sort of have a location for your snap trap but mice can be very hard to catch. A friend had one under her dishwasher and it was a few repairs before they got him out.

I have usually done the "put the dying animal someplace safe and let it pass in peace" approach. This would not work for a number of these stories though and I understand that. Years ago I had two cats who went out on tieouts when I was home...Zoe and Granada. They were masters at killing mice despite being on a lead.

The only animal have ever actively killed was a rattlesnake at my previous house which was in the foothills. They were everywhere and one night one got into the garage, probably had been there before. Garage was attached to the house and so I called AC who told me to call back when I had "contained" the rattlesnake and they would pick him up. At the time I had a very old dog and a couple of little kittens and was terrified that he might access the house as neighbors had found the rattlers in very odd places. I was so scared that I was crying but I got a shovel and threw a tarp over the snake and started to beat him like crazy, actually figuring that I could get medical help for myself quicker than I could for my pets being pretty sure that the FD in the area carried antivenom. Of course, it took me about an hour to get up the nerve to see if he was dead, which he was, and so I threw him behind my house for the hawks who seemed very impressed that I had done all the legwork for them.

 

[molly92]

The current AVMA euthanasia guidelines are here: AVMA guidelines for the euthanasia of animals

CO2 asphyxiation is the most commonly used for rodents. I don't know how one would do this at home, though, especially for a random occurrence such as this. Maybe ask your vet or a wildlife rescue or someone who breeds and sells rodents as reptile food.




Yes, labs do cervical disclocations but as a secondary method for death confirmation. The primary method is typically CO2 or an OD of anesthetic if the mouse is undergoing a terminal surgical procedure. Cervical dislocation as the primary method is rare and must be justified on the protocol and approved by the IACUC before any animal work can be done and personnel must be trained how to do the procedure properly.

That's absolutely true, I forgot about the 2 method rule.

The anaesthetic is fine, but I do not like the CO2 at all. This isn't the first time I've disagreed with IACUC guidelines though, and it won't be the last.