Hello! So we have a kitten who caught her first mouse, and unfortunately, it did not survive the journey.
What do we do with the dead mouse? Household waste, wrapped in a bag? Throwing it back to the field probably isn’t a good idea either?
Burial with full military honours. Headstone of weeping angel. 5th March hereafter declared public holiday.
That ought to do it.
In other words; bin it.
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I’d just chuck it in the field. A bird of prey will get it if nothing else does.
It may get a bit stinky in the bin if you’ve got a few days before your next collection.
All waste is burned in switzerland, so best just into household trash
This approach runs the risk of a return (dead) customer… Might do bag it + bin it… thanks folks!
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We always just chuck them back in the field and have never had one return.
They lose their appeal to cats once they’re dead and no longer moving so they just get eaten by foxes or martens or birds of prey.
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What have you never heard of the legend of the Weremouse?
The undead mice in the rafters?
Never. I’ve even put them just outside the door as an experiment and they’ve never brought them back in.
They are never there in the morning either.
It’s not mice so much in our case but mainly shrews and voles.
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I can read the headlines…:
"EXTRA!
EXTRA!
READ ALL ABOUT IT…
MAD SCIENTIST REANIMATES FRANKENSTEINS MOUSE IN INSANE OUTDOOR EXPERIMENT.!!!
ZOMBIE MOUSE APOCALYPSE !!!
SAVE YOUR SELVES.
ARRRRRGH!
Whenever our cat brought in a dead bird or rodent I would bury at the back of the garden (much to the annoyance of the cat, who was perhaps expecting me to eat it with him).
Somehow it feels weird to put it in domestic waste.
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Kittens/cats don’t want anything dead. That’s why they gave it to you. Return it to nature as other predators are not as picky as felines.
It’s a kitten. And the first mouse. I would think well and measure my garden before I a) did that and b) if I did that would choose the size of that headstone.
If OP lives in the country: Throw it into the field. The fresher the better. Lots of animals who will be pleased to find it, tiny ones you probably don’t even know exist.
You could do that though with small animals like a mouse. Just get rid of the bag soon.
To close the saga, and some observations:
- The kitten loved the dead mouse. Absolutely loved it. She would throw it in the air and catch it. I think we have Satan’s kitty in the little girl.
- The field indeed gobbled up the corpse. But taking it out was a stressful experience, as the cats were both very interested in what exactly I was doing in the middle of the field. I felt like I was disposing of a body in front of the police.
The mouse will always be remembered as the first.
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One of the cats we had when I was growing up would kill shrews but never eat them. This made me assume that shrews were poisonous to cats, but sources online say that’s not the case, they’re apparently just distasteful to cats.
The Pygmy Shrew is one of the most common items that cats bring home. Shrews have smelly anal scent glands, so cats don’t like to eat them. A well fed cat may bring a whole shrew showing off its hunting prowess whereas a hungrier cat may eat the front end and leave the unsavoury rear end.
I would have like to have a dead mouse a few weeks ago to use as bait for the pesky Marder, but it seems to have gone away now.
shrews also have to eat basically constantly. If they go without food for even an hour they will die.
I’m sure a few humans think they are shrews.
Hmmm! Dont think I have ever seen a fat shrew.
I’m sure Baldrick’s rat recipes are adaptable for a mouse…
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@phil, they love raw eggs.