The Taming of the Shrew

[addiebee]

A bit of excitement at my condo this evening. Doug and I were headed out to dinner and we were rounding up the kitties in the garage, but Archie wouldn't move. He was growling and then grabbed SOMETHING in his mouth and dashed into the house. Well, he had killed a little critter. He ran into the dining room  and was backed into a corner growling at the other cats, but he dropped it on the floor for me. I grabbed some paper towels and picked it up. It didn't look like a mouse. Dark gray fur, short bottle brush tail with a white tip, face and feet were wrong. By my research, I think it was a northern short-tailed shrew. RIP little shrew. Your fatal mistake was to come into MY garage. And I am glad none of the kitties tried to eat it. Apparently it has stinky glands under the skin and the saliva can be poisonous!!  It wouldn't kill a cat but it would not have been fun if Arch or one of the others had been bitten trying to get this little guy.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Oh boy!  I'm glad they didn't actually eat it too!  Poor lil thing!

 

[Winchester]

Awww, poor shrew. I'm glad they didn't eat it.

 

[jcat]

Shrews really do stink, and they have piercing squeaks when they're frightened. We have a slew of them in our yard, and the cats love to catch them, but never eat them.

One thing you have to be careful of is wires, because they'll chew them. We had the phone company out several times because shrews had chewed through ours, and every time they had to dig up our front yard. They finally got smart and put the line through a pipe. they're climbers, too.

 

[lorie d.]

And there would have been a lot of excitement and total chaos inside your house if the shrew had still been alive when Archie brought it inside.  R,I,P. little shrew.