The 2 young cats of my neighbours are always playing in our yard, which we like to watch, however today they were toying with a mouse, well at least one of them was.
The mouse seemed to be able to only walk in circles and everytime he stopped moving the cat pushed him so he would run circles again.
I was doubting wether i should interfere, but the mouse didn't seem to be in a good state, cause otherwise he would've ran away and sure as hell no matter how hurt, i wouldn't kill him, but the cat wouldn't either, i think they're not even aware what they are dealing with and are unknowingly bullying the poor mouse. I needed to pull some carrots out of the ground so a few hours later the cat was still toying with the mouse i went into the yard so the cat went to wait in the bushes i checked the mouse with a flashlight, physically he looked fine to me, so i did a quick google check and the mouse probably either had an ear infection, meningitis or cerebral hemorrhage, causing damage to his vestibular system or whatever it's called.
Anyway the cat played with the mouse for a few hours more then i looked again and the cat was gone, when through the yard with a flashlight and found the mouse dead.
question is what would you do?
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I have 4 cats and they kill so many animals :-\ But one thing is for sure, if I have the opportunity to save a mouse, rat, bird or anything from them, I do it instantly. What did you wait for hours for ? Just take a towel, catch the mouse with it and release it somewhere far away from the cats.
the reason i didn't interfere and didn't know what to do was because there was obviously something wrong with the mouse, he/she would've died definitely, though i think still it would have been better if i did what you're saying cause at least he wouldn't get bullied anymore, though if i released him somewhere else a bird or a cat would've probably still got to him, but at least a bird would kill and eat him, the cat just pats him so he moves which is the thing he finds interesting, besides annoying him and causing a lot of stress he didn't really harm him, physically on the outside the mouse looked fine even when he was dead.
it may have been that the mouse was poisoned. If you could have caught the mouse and put him in a box for observation that may have been the best thing to do.
Also keep in mind that many people put out poison for rats and mice and it is common for pets to eat these mice and rats and then become poisoned themselves.
Maybe put this collar on the cats: http://www.audubon.org/news/how-stop-cats-killing-birds
Although cats really belong indoors only: https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/