woodmouse

[kitty miow]

Hello I am new to the forum and concerned about a woodmouse. We have a cat with a strong hunting instinct and she has killed at least one woodmouse a day. One that we rescued from her was alive but bleeding from a headwound. I picked it up with kitchen roll (to avoid human scent) I bathed the wound and put it in a ventilated tank while it recovered. This was a week ago. In the last 24 hours it appears very active, eating etc., and ready to be released. We are undecided where and when to release. Do we put it back to where we found it(our cats hunting ground) can we release it somewhere else, or is it a bad idea to realease once it has been in captivity? Can you help. Thanks

[turkeyneck]

Umm........................cats.

Well I can't help you but it seems to me if you put it back where you got it from it won't be long before it's a cat snack again

I'm sure they'll be others along in a minute to give you some sound advice.

But for now, welcome to WAB.

Lee

[operanut1972]

Hi kitty miow,

Again like turkeyneck, I can't offer expert advice, I think you should go with your instincts, putting it back where you found it would be like giving kitty an extra warm treat . If you think it has recovered enough to be released I would suggest seeing if there are any local wildlife rangers in your area and ask them for suggestions.

Anyway, welcome to the site, hope you stick around, on he whole we are a good crowd in here even if we can be a bit cheeky sometimes

[kitty miow]

Thanks to those who welcomed me to the site. I have good news. My son pruned several trees and covered the nesting site to deter the cat, making it more secure. We put the tank on it's side pointing towards the protected nest site(and where he originally came from) After a few moments he made his bid for freedom, right where we hoped he would go. In Less than a week he seemed to have grown, and recovered well. Job done!!!!

[treecreeper]

Hi Kitty and welcome to WAB

Don't start me on domestic cats and woodmice. I have woodmice living under my shed. The local cats, which have already wiped out my frogs, know they are there and hunt them cooperatively. Sometimes I go into the back garden at night and there are two or three cats there. No matter how blood curdlingly I yell at them I can't instill a permanent fear of entering my property.

[kitty miow]

So sorry to hear of your difficulty. I was wondering about ways of deterring cats from your garden. I have heard of garden ornements (dogs) that bark when they sense movement. If I hear of anything else I will report it to the forum. I now have another casualty, I think it is not injured but very shocked, so put into our 'woodmouse hospital', and will keep an eye on it with a view to release asap. We have 2 cats, who we love very much, both are rescued. Peter is a big softie, garden birds hop around him in the garden, but out of charactor he had a mouse in his mouth the other day and I managed to get him to release it, it was unharmed. Today I think he did it again to the mouse I have just found, he must have brought it for me. The other cat Winnie was rescued from abroad, we brought her to UK and she was in quarrantine for 6 months, so she is now always outside, but she has a very strong hunting instinct which worries and upsets us, and we feel guilty about introducing her to our wonderful wildlife haven/garden. So we continue to watch them both as best we can. Fingers crossed for our new patient. Good job I am retired and have the time!!

[Deb London]

Welcome to WAB kitty,

Deb

[lesleya]

We have had many a woodmouse brought in by both of our cats resulting in much moving of furniture and some loud expletives when one took refuge in my shoe!
I always put them straight back into the garden and have now finally solved the problems by shutting the cats in all night and giving them both very noisy bells.This has also stopped all bird catching as well.At least by my cats.
I wish I had done it earlier.
The only way of stopping cats from coming into your garden is to get a dog.
Since ours died, we are targeted by all passing cats, a powerful water gun and a slightly loopy husband seems not to have any effect. They just laugh.

[kitty miow]

I don't want to tempt fate, but no further casualties/fatalities since my son made the site safer. Yes dogs are a good detterent for gardens, my dog chases birds off the lawn though!! I tried collar and bell on Winnie but despite it being a saftety one, she hurt her neck when it got caught. So all three pets keeping me on my toes.