Real Mouse. What would your cat(s) do?

[aussie_dog]

I picked #4 (run after it, play with it, but not kill it). We've had mice in our garage only once, about 3 years ago (maybe 2 years ago) so only Willow got to experience the mice world. The first time she saw one, she was in my arms, and when she saw it, she started going nuts, kicking me and wacking me, trying to get free so she could run after it. I think once she was on the floor in the garage and a mouse shot out from out of nowhere, ran across to the other end of the garage, and disappeared, and Willow ran right after it.

Judging by my experience of watching them with moths and bugs, I'd say both cats would definitely run after a mouse and definitely catch it, but probably wouldn't kill it. They seem like the types where the size of the mouse (compared to an itty bitty moth) would freak them out, so they either drop the mouse or aren't sure what to do. Once Willow got a bird in her mouth and just froze, but I didn't know she had a bird in her mouth until I'd picked her up and started hugging her, then saw the live bird inches from my face. When I dropped Willow (and shrieked) she dropped the bird, which ended up being okay and was later released out the door (it had flown in through an open window, flown through the house with Willow hot on it's heels, then crashed into the front door which we all heard and investigated)

 

[darkeyedgirl]

Hammie would seek, destroy, and leave no evidence.

Zorro would bite it's head off and leave it laying somewhere.

Jessie, Dusty and K.C. would cry, bat it around, play with it; but certainly they are too prissy & propurr little girls to EAT a mouse.

Snickers, he would probably ask it to hang out & play games with him or plan to put on a show for us... like Tom & Jerry?

 

[lionessrampant]

Leo got a mouse from our basement, killed it and brought it, proudly, up into my kitchen, purring and trilling and rubbing against me the whole time. Gracie is my real enthusiastic play-er, so I'd hate to think what she'd do if she got the opportunity to take on live prey. I'm assuming, since both of mine were stray for at least part of their lives, that they can both hunt pretty well.

 

[eilcon]

Since Gracie and Pete are the mighty hunters around our house, I suspect they'd handle a mouse the same way they do bugs — catch, torment and kill it, then bring it to me as gift.

Although Katie developed quite a reputation as a hunter during her kitten days in Belgium, she'd probably think it was beneath her to engage in such an activity now.

It's hard to tell with Claire. I'm still getting to know her.

 

[tari]

Well, I KNOW what Tailer and Harvey would do, because we got a few mice in our old apartment. Tailer would immediately catch it, play with it until it was dead, then drop it in the middle of the floor and meow at us to come and "fix" his new toy. Harvey would watch the whole thing, chase after the mouse at any opportunity, but not really do anything with it.

I don't know for sure what Forest would do. To my knowledge, he's never come across one. Given how he reacts to bugs, though, I'm pretty sure he'd do his level best to chase it and catch it. His CH would give the mouse a definite advantage, though.

 

[rang_27]

I can't vote because I think my 4 differnt cats would react totally differnt. If it was when I still had Smokey I would definatly say catch it kill it & eat it, she was a world class mouser, especially for a cat with no claws. (my boys now have all their claws) Levi I think would deffinately catch it, don't know if he would know what to do after that. Jordan would probably run like the complete maniac he is right at the thing & if it didn't have a heart attack it would get away (he has not stalking ability what so ever). I think Isaac & Maggie would have no idea what to do with a mouse they might chase it just because it moves.

 

[mom of 10 cats]

We had a visitor last night. An apparently suicidal mouse ventured into our feline domain last night and was promptly caught and killed by Phoenix. We were alerted to this by her ferocious growling, threatening anyone who dared take her prize. She did not want to surrender it even to me! I grabbed it (with a paper towel) from her mouth by the tail while the two of us were telling her to drop it. By the time she released it, she had torn its little throat out down to below the sternum. Blecch!

Tybalt's comment on this: "Somewhere out there is a group of mice. They're thinking, 'It's been hours and the scout's still not back, sir. We fear the worst.'"

 

[evnshawn]

Well, let's see. Ace was a kitten rescue and then indoor/outdoor for five years till we adopted him, so you'd think he'd kill it. However, he is the only cat I've ever seen that has no instincts. He thinks, really hard, about anything. Like if he wants to jump on a chair (which we allow), he will sit and stare up at the chair for several minutes as if calculating the distance and required trajectory. Skittles and Ozzy were rescues, but they were so each so young when rescued that I doubt they got "trained." Pepsi doesn't play much, but she was feral for several months, so I suspect that if she saw a real mouse it would be a goner. And she trained the kittens, so it would be whoever got dibs on it.

When I was a kid, we had a male tabby named Tiger (original, no?) who would play with the mice FOREVER before killing them. One time he had one and was throwing it up in the air using his mouth as a launch pad. The poor thing just fell over dead after he did that a few times.

 

[binkyhoo]

As far a Binks has it, those little furry mice are real.

 

[abbycats]

Dion is my mouse hunter. He sits at the stove and waits, and waits, and waits. He always catches them when I am in the kitchen. I panic everytime. He plays with the mouse tilll it dies. Stanley my other cat got the mouse from dion and tossed it in the air almost 3 feet!! Dion has caught 3 mice. Rick always takes the mouse away from the cats and I won't ask what happened to it, for my own peace of mind.

 

[rockcat]

Both of ours are indoor-only. Oliver has never seen a mouse. Tripod was found outside as a small kitten and I believe he was a hunter at that time.

Lizards occasionally get in. Most of the time they escape without their tail.

Once Tripod caught a tree frog. When I figured out that something was in his mouth, I made him spit it out. It was intact and hopped away when he was let go outside.

So, my guess is they would play with it and then it would get away.

 

[rang_27]

Originally Posted by evnshawn

Well, let's see. Ace was a kitten rescue and then indoor/outdoor for five years till we adopted him, so you'd think he'd kill it. However, he is the only cat I've ever seen that has no instincts. He thinks, really hard, about anything. Like if he wants to jump on a chair (which we allow), he will sit and stare up at the chair for several minutes as if calculating the distance and required trajectory. Skittles and Ozzy were rescues, but they were so each so young when rescued that I doubt they got "trained." Pepsi doesn't play much, but she was feral for several months, so I suspect that if she saw a real mouse it would be a goner. And she trained the kittens, so it would be whoever got dibs on it.

When I was a kid, we had a male tabby named Tiger (original, no?) who would play with the mice FOREVER before killing them. One time he had one and was throwing it up in the air using his mouth as a launch pad. The poor thing just fell over dead after he did that a few times.

Sounds to me like Ace is an engineer stuck in a kitties body.

 

[gemlady]

Of our previous cats -
Tom Tinker came to us as a kitten. Not really weaned yet. The Sunday after we got him, we came home from church and heard the oddest noise from the living room. He had caught a mouse as big as him! He went on to be a terror to mice and rabbits and anything else that entered our yard.

Smoki caught a mouse in our kitchen one afternoon. The mouse apparently fainted, so she poked him until he came to. He promptly ran into the kickspace under the cabinet and knocked himself out. Smoki picked him up and carried him under the table and started poking him until he came to. When he was conscious, he took off and ran into the kickspace and knocked himself out again. This process repeated itself several times over the next hour. The mouse evidently killed himself by running into the same place over and over and over...

Oh, the other day Ari and Topaz both were stalking a mouse in Mom's room.

 

[kaleetha]

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

My cats would look at it running it around and then wonder what on earth to do with it!

Mine too! With the exception of Captain who IS a mighty hunter and once swallowed his mouse in one gulp!

 

[sandra]

Back in IL... When I had Patches

. She would catch spiders and bugs and such, her and my ex-housemate's cat Tiger never had the occasion to catch mice because of our apartment complex spraying for pests every now and then.

 

[jean-ji]

I came home one day from work and was changing clothes, my husband got home a few minutes later and called "Hon, did you see this down here?"
This, was a dead mouse at the back door that I walked right over because I though it was one of the play mice. Yikes! I'm still doing a double-take every time I see a "play" mouse on the floor.