Indoor Cat Caught A Mouse...

permanentrose

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I'm sure this isn't uncommon, but it's the first time my cat has caught and killed something, so it was very unsettling to say the least. I was just wondering if there were any health concerns I should worry about with her catching and killing a mouse (fleas, other parasites, etc). Fingers crossed that there aren't any more in the house, but I'm sure Juniper will find them if there are...
 

Azazel

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Good kitty! :kneading:

She’ll be fine. :)
 

Kieka

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My crew rarely eat the mice they catch (or at least the ones they show me). I will usually trade them the catch for some treats so they don't eat it. While I don't use rat poison or chemical pest control at my house, other people do. That's the biggest risk for most cats, eating a mouse or rat that ate poison, so I try to limit how much they eat.
 

jen

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What a good cat! Mine used to bring them to me with a missing limb or half dead and gnawed on and I would tell her "You better finish eating that!" because it was so gross to even look at. She always did. Loved her mouse snacks. Or moles, or voles, or chipmunks... on occasional sparrow. She was a skilled hunter in her prime. Always finished the whole critter too.

If it becomes something she does all the time get her on Revolution or something that deworms, plus with Revolution you have the added bonuses of flea prevention, heartworm prevention and ear mite prevention.
 
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permanentrose

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What a good cat! Mine used to bring them to me with a missing limb or half dead and gnawed on and I would tell her "You better finish eating that!" because it was so gross to even look at. She always did. Loved her mouse snacks. Or moles, or voles, or chipmunks... on occasional sparrow. She was a skilled hunter in her prime. Always finished the whole critter too.

If it becomes something she does all the time get her on Revolution or something that deworms, plus with Revolution you have the added bonuses of flea prevention, heartworm prevention and ear mite prevention.
I hope it doesn’t become a common thing since it will most likely mean I have some sort of infestation...thanks for all the advice though! Wasn’t sure if I should deworm her or not. On another note, is deworming something I should be doing at all in general?
 

Azazel

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I hope it doesn’t become a common thing since it will most likely mean I have some sort of infestation...thanks for all the advice though! Wasn’t sure if I should deworm her or not. On another note, is deworming something I should be doing at all in general?
At this point I would just watch her poop and behavior and not give her anything unless you notice something strange. Most likely she’s fine.

I don’t deworm or use flea prevention on my indoor cats. I usually just deworm cats once when I first adopt them and that’s it. It also partly depends on where you live - whether you are in an area that has lots of fleas or not. I’ve never had a problem with indoor cats and I don’t like putting strong medications on my cats unnecessarily. I only use the meds as treatment after something has occurred and my vet has advised me to do this.
 

jen

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I agree with A Azazel for the most part, but monthly flea and heartworm prevention is something that is often overlooked in housecats. For worming you can have the vet check a stool sample after a few weeks to see if anything is in there. Tapeworms come from fleas and heartworms come from mosquitos. More and more cats are finding to be heartworm positive. Of course, where you live can play a factor on that too.
 

fionasmom

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We did have a rat issue about a year and a half ago because I like to have vines growing all over the house, but the small TNRed feral colony of 4-5 cats who live in my yard took care of that and I was able to let the pest control company go. The only danger I can see is if someone locally were using a poison pesticide and the cat got a mouse who had ingested that. You might have a sense of whether or not that might be occurring. Fiona herself was a steel eyed killing machine when it came to rodents or birds and while I did not encourage it and she was trained to stay only in the garden when I was home with her, it is the way of things with cats and prey.
 

DreamerRose

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It sure is. My two keep my house clear of mice, and I am very grateful for it. They are well fed, so they don't eat them anymore.

Mingo did get an internal parasite once, but I don't know whether it came from a mouse or from taking him outside on a leash. Just watch the poop, and if it changes, whisk her off to the vet (with a sample).
 

ileen

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Luciano caught a mouse one night this summer. I'm fairly certain he got it from the mouse coming inside from the roof when Luciano was in the hallway. Bad timing for that nearly boneless mouse who could enter under a closed rooftop door.
I had just let Luciano out in the hallway a short time earlier, so I was a bit surprised when he came back so soon, as he's usually out there at least 20 minutes patrolling the hallway & keeping watch in the stairway. He went straight into my room on the bed and was meowing a lot. I went in there to see what was up & since it was dark at first I thought he had gotten his mouse on wire toy down somehow when suddenly the mouse moved on its own. I felt a surge of adrenaline, but it was nothing compared to what Luciano was feeling, I'm sure. He was having a grand time playing with his new buddy, batting him around. He batted him off the bed and then brought him into the bathroom. I followed him & saw that the mouse was quite injured; he was able to move his rear legs & when he was leg side down, would attempt to scurry away. I realized the mouse was suffering, and as much as Luciano was enjoying his new toy, I didn't want him to potentially ingest poison, and I think my upstairs neighbors did put poison out to kill varmints who had been eating things from their rooftop garden.
I got a paper towel & plastic bag & picked up the mouse by the tail with the paper towel in my hand and placed it in the plastic bag. A super once told me way before I had a cat that if I ever caught a mouse on a glue trap, the most humane thing to do was to kill it to end its suffering. I brought the plastic bag down to the basement & I stomped on it. I hope never to do that again.
When I returned to my apartment, Luciano seemed to want to know where his new buddy was. I don't know if I'd be able to handle Luciano eating a whole mouse (or half of one - ugh), even if I knew it was poison-free.
 

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One night I had to stay at my parents. 2 story house. My cats were locked in my bedroom. Late at night they were meowing and scratching on the door. I opened it and they ran to the right,stopped,ran to the left looking up. I was finally to grab them and got scratched. They were very excited about something. End up being that my parents had roof rats! My dad joked that they should get a cat. He's allergic
 
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