# Cats caught a mouse, does he have any chance of survival?



## Daisyvayle (Mar 1, 2016)

EDIT: Looks like there's no saving him now, he's pretty close to death  Oh well. We tried.

//
My sister and I rescued a deer mouse from our cats last night. We have him in a little container with some shavings, a little cap of water (we have no spare water bottles at the moment), Half of a plastic sup as a hide, some mouse food, and toilet paper as bedding.

Our cats have caught and killed mice before, as well as catching them and not killing them but even when we try to save those ones they always die within a few days because they are in shock.

This little guy though, has actual mouse food and shavings because this time I have pet mice so I have some supplies and knowledge from owning them. He's also borrowing a reptile heating pad (8 watts) from my leopard gecko who is in his cold hide at the moment so wasn't using it but I'm giving it back to him as soon as he needs it so it's just very temporary for the mouse.

He seems a bit active, and alert, compared to other mice we've 'saved' from the cats. He has a couple of matted spots on his fur, which are probably wounds, but nothing is dripping and it's not like his guts are hanging out.

He is cleaning himself and though I haven't seen him eat or drink yet he happily drags himself around and towards the food. He picked up some of it but dropped it after.

His hind legs not working doesn't seem to phase him much though I know prey animals are built to hide injuries and pain so it's hard to tell.

Would it be kinder to just put him out of his misery or does he have any chance of surviving this? If he doesn't go back to full health and somehow regain control of his hind legs, I'll be keeping him of course.

Not 100% sure if it's male or female yet by the way.

PS. I definitely cannot bring him to a vet. My mom would never lend me the money or drive for the safety of a random wild animal, a mouse at that. Plus I'm pretty sure vets aren't allowed to treat wild animals including mice? I heard that somewhere.

Any advice would be great, Thanks <3


----------



## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

that's a shame


----------



## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm so sorry to hear this. When a cat gets any critter, it's always a total tossup whether they'll pull through, and most of the time it seems like it has nothing to do with what we do to save them. It's just a matter of where the cat's teeth punctured them, and whether those organs are vital. Thank you for caring, and doing what you could!


----------



## mich (Sep 28, 2013)

Might be an idea to put a collar on your cats with a "bell", then the mice etc can hear when they are coming and get out of their way.


----------



## FlufferNutter (May 6, 2016)

Sorry it went down like it did. It's tough when your cats put you in that position, been there. For people reading this in the future though I do want to point out that Deer Mice (with their white bellies, big eyes and pointed noses) can carry Hantavirus, a nasty respiratory disease that is lethal 50% of the time, and are best left alone. A 20 year old woman who lives in the next town over from me just died from it. 20 years old!


----------

