Rescued tiny mouse

[Jensine]

Hi all,

Only just joined this place today due to rescuing a little mouse.

We found him in our lounge today being played with by our cat! He looked ok so we scooped him up on the dustpan and put him gently outside.

A few hours later he was still sat in the same position and then it started to rain very heavily so we decided to take him in. We put him in a box with some bedding and a little water and apple but he looked almost dead apart from the occasional deep breath.

It's a couple of hours later and he's much better now. He has a slightly injured foot, but apart from that he's moving around, to snuggle and is breathing, I think normally now.

So I'm after any advice on what to do now? I don't want to put him out only to freeze to death or get eaten if he's not ready, but at the same time I don't want to keep him as a pet, certainly not with the cats around!

We thought about maybe putting him in the empty rabbit hutch outside just for the night to give him time to recover properly and see how he is in the morning and then release him into the wild? We've been very careful not to touch him.

Any help would be really appreciated! Don't want to have gone to the trouble of rescuing him, only to mess it up!

Thanks so much



Jensine x

ps. we named in already, but really, we're not keeping him lol, of course he's called Stuart though lol

[Dogghound]

If you put it in the rabbit hutch it would squeeze through the mesh. I think it would be best to release it in an area of local wasteland or well vegetated woodland edge, as soon as you can. It wont freeze to death they are used to living in cold temperatures and survive the colder months of the winter. Do you know what type of mouse it is?

[Littlesparrow]

I'm sorry i don't know much about mouse care, but I know they can get out through very small gaps, which was what you may have intend when putting him in the rabbit hutch. I think if it was me I would release him tomorrow if he looks o.k. well away from where the cat may find him.

[Farplace]

Welcome to WAB. this is a hard one. Does your mouse have fur? are it's eyes open? Any idea of species?

[theresa dockery]

There's not much you can do - if the mouse seems to be moving about normally, I would release it as soon as possible (it was most likely in a state of shock due to its injured foot).

Otherwise, I would suggest keeping him in a cat-free room overnight (do you have a plastic box? with air holes?) with some food & a source of moisture/water (chopped apple?) and then release him in the morning.

At least, that's what I would do - I know nothing about caring for injured wild animals but I have kept small rodents as pets. With animals of that size, there's only so much you can do in terms of medical attention/care.

[Jensine]

Hi all,

Sadly, little Stuart passed away.

We put him out in his little box but in the hutch so no animals could get him (that was before seeing all your lovely messages, thank you) but we found him an hour later out of the box and laying there like he was dead. So we brought him back in again as he was still faintly breathing. We made sure he was warm and bless his heart he tried his best but he died within minutes.

It was actually quite heartbreaking as he seemed ok before we put him outside:-(

Still at least in his final moments hopefully he was warm and as comfortable as he could be.

Thanks so much for all your advice, it is very much appreciated.


Jensine x

[Farplace]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I do hope you will stay with us at WAB. You can learn so much here.

Jan

[theresa dockery]

Heart-breaking - thanks for telling us the outcome though.

[Jensine]

Thanks guys for all your support on this. I will stick around, be interesting to see what I learn:-)

Jensine x