Cats and mice

[IamJen]

What do y'all do when one of your feline friends brings you a mo;use, etc. that is still alive? One of our neighbor cats used to leave us treats on the doormat, but then it stopped for ages (I wasn't sure which cat it was).

Then just the other day, Tillie, the cat that loves us, meowed at the back door and presented me with a live creature, a vole I think. I shooed the cat away, but first she took a swipe at the poor creature. I didn't see any external damage/blood so I collected it in some garden trays nearby. After a couple of minutes, it was moving around pretty well, so I ended up setting him free in another area. Tillie was not pleased, she sat meowing and staring at me for awhile. (she's snoozing at my feet now, so seems to have forgiven me)

I'd never seen one of our presents still alive before, but it's not really bothered me because well, that's what cats do. I couldn't seem to stand the idea of this little rodent getting massacred though.

 

[mlp]

I rescue any rodents that I can.

 

[KLS52]

I save them when I can, also.

 

[IamJen]

So I'm not so weird. It was very strange, almost like Tillie wanted Karl or I to see the kill. I went backed and looked in the patch of ivy where I set the critter down later and he wasn't there anymore, so I'm hoping for the best.

The circle of life is hard.

 

[mlp]

Cats do like to have their humans see the kill - sometimes, they're actually offering it as food.

 

[IamJen]

Hm. Thanks. I was trying to decide if I was just anthropomorphising her behavior, but maybe not.

 

[sallyomally]

Rhett brings birds occasionally- sometimes alive. I collect the live ones and put them in a shoe box for a few minutes to let them gather their wits. If they look OK, I let them go. If not we take them to the wildlife rehab lady.If they're dead, we bury them in the flower bed.My mother in law always let the cat eat the catch if it was killed, but I just can't make myself .I've heard some say that the cat should never see us take the "gift" away or they'll assume we ate it and bring others but I don't know if that's true.
From what I understand, it's a huge complement if a cat presents a kill to a human;kind of like repaying the hand that feeds them with a gift of food.
Funny thing -when we took up our old carpet, Rhett fell in love with the little scraps of carpet padding scattered around. I saved a few for him to play with and he "hunts" them. He takes a piece in his mouth and walks around yowling and eventually drops it at my feet. The boy's not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

 

[KLS52]

The circle of life is hard.

Indeed.

 

[sallyomally]

Indeed.