Help! Cats caught a mouse... What parasites/diseases do I need to worry about??

nekochan

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Ok my cats caught a mouse today in the house and I am freaking out. I wasn't home at the time, a family member found it in the middle of the kitchen floor (yuck) and it looked dead so he put it in a bag to show me when I got home (double yuck!) Well it turned out to be alive.

Anyway what I am wondering is what things do I need to worry about my cats catching if we might have more mice in the house? What can I do to protect them from diseases/parasites they might catch? Help please!

I guess in a way it's a good thing they left it in the middle of the floor because otherwise we wouldn't have known! The cats have been poking around in the corners the last week or so, but I thought they were just being weird.

I am not actually sure if they even know how to kill a mouse, because I rescued them as 3 week old feral babies so they never had a momcat teach them how to hunt properly.

I am really surprised a mouse would even want to go in a house with 5 cats!
 
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josh beck

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Though I think rodents are a relatively rare cause of rabies that's certainly a possibility. Did they have their rabies vaccine? also yeah I think parasites such as worms could be possible which is why something like Advantage Multi helps as a preventative.
 

josh beck

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Personally I think I would give them some sort of casual dewormer to be safe even without any symptoms. If symptoms develop obviously you would have to address those then.
 
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nekochan

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Yeah we're going to get Advantage Multi from the vet. I'll also ask her about dewormers we can use since I am bringing several of the cats in for exams later this week anyway.

They are all up to date on rabies, although my dog is due for her rabies vaccination right now so we are bringing her in too this week for that.

I hope they don't get Toxoplasmosis! I can't find out any info if there is a way to prevent that. My cats were tested for it and they were negative so  I just hope they don't catch it from a mouse.

I'm going to go and get some humane mouse traps tomorrow.
 
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josh beck

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Yeah it sounds like you're in a good situation if you've got an upcoming vet appointment just mention the mouse then. And I agree on the humane mouse traps the kind where their foot get's glued to a board you're supposed to throw out with them alive isn't very good...
 

ldg

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Well, they didn't eat it. So probably nothing. When we first rescued Chumley and were socializing him, he lived in his own trailer. He caught and ate (most) of a mouse (that's how we knew he caught and ate one - he didn't eat quite all of it). The only thing the vet suggested was drontal, for tape worm. :nod:
 
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nekochan

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Yeah it sounds like you're in a good situation if you've got an upcoming vet appointment just mention the mouse then. And I agree on the humane mouse traps the kind where their foot get's glued to a board you're supposed to throw out with them alive isn't very good...

Yeah I agree those sounded awful. When I saw the mouse was still alive I took it down by the canal where there is a wooded area and released it. I don't know if it will survive there but I couldn't bring myself to kill it or throw it out. It was really small so I am just hoping some mouse didn't have a litter in the house. It didn't look like a baby but quite small/young.
 
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nekochan

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Well an update, we definitely have more mice, I actually heard squeaking in the kitchen today! Yuck...

The cats are still really interested in certain corners/areas. I got mouse traps (humane) but have not caught anything yet. :/

I'm putting the cats on Advantage Multi.
 
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