Eating mice and vomiting

2dogmom

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Brady has discovered that some mice have moved into the unfinished basement. Mighty hunter that he is, he kills one every so often and leaves most of it where we can admire it upstairs near his play area. The thing is, he eats part of it and both times he's vomited up his regular food. Is there something I can or should be giving him to make him better able to cope with whatever nasties these mice may be carrying? Or should I be glad he's puking whatever it is out of his system?
 

blueyedgirl5946

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Is there any chance these mice have been poisoned outside or even in the basement. If so, you need to be very concerned and take the cat to the vet. If not, maybe he will catch them all soon and the problem will take care of itself.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946

Is there any chance these mice have been poisoned outside or even in the basement. If so, you need to be very concerned and take the cat to the vet. If not, maybe he will catch them all soon and the problem will take care of itself.
I would call the vet
 

strange_wings

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There could just be a chance that he can't stomach the mice very well for some reason since this has been happening for a while - maybe the fur or bones. I doubt you'd put poison bait down in and around the home with so many pets.
I've had cats that vomit up various catches, rodent, rabbit, and bird.
Do know, though, that rodents commonly carry toxoplasmosis. So for both your family and pets safety you should consider putting down traps (out of pet reach).
 
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2dogmom

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Thanks - I'd say the chances are zero that anyone would have poisoned them. We live in a rural area and can barely see our nearest neighbor through the forest. I wouldn't dream of using any kind of poison in our home. The only times we have tried to trap mice (which was in the attic) we used spring traps and peanut butter. So I can't see where any poison would have even come from.

I didn't know about toxoplasmosis but I do know that they can carry diseases, I just wasn't sure if anything could be transmitted to a kitty. After all my cat isn't the first one to nibble off a mouse head (I thought).
 

strange_wings

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^There are other things wild mice and rats can carry besides that and roundworms. One being fleas and ticks that can carry various diseases (Lyme's is actually picked up by larval/nymph ticks feeding on rodents) and even bubonic plague in some areas. Cats could get infected if bitten by fleas or ticks carrying those diseases when they kill and eat a mouse. There are a lot of things that can make you very very sick that mice carry and spread through their feces and urine, so they need to go.

You might want to look into new traps instead of the old spring ones. And though many people are tempted by humane traps, if you take an prey animal away from it's home and dump it somewhere strange you are killing it - so they're not really humane.
 
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