What to do with injured mice?

Australia
March 22, 2007 4:08am CST
Here's a scenario- you walk into your kitchen one morning, and you find a little grey mousey lying injured on the floor after having been injured by a cupboard door, something falling, or...something. The mousey isn't so badly injured it can't be saved, but it may have germs and has been raiding your cupboards and leaving excrement in your food products. What do you do? help the mousey? Or will you kill the mousey? And most importantly, why?
2 people like this
5 responses
theproperator
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
22 Mar 07
Honestly, I would probably take it outside and toss it over the fence to the stray cats that have taken up residence in the vacant house nextdoor. I'm too squemish to bash it's little head in, I'd be afraid I'd not do it right and cause the mouse a tremendous amout of pain instead of killing it. With the cats, I can tell myself that "nature took it's course," which is very trite, but better than having mouse brains spattered on my jacket.
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theproperator
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
23 Mar 07
Yeah, I know I could probably kill it quicker, if I wasn't such a wuss about it...
1 person likes this
Galena
@Galena (9110)
•
22 Mar 07
trouble is, cats aren't exactly clean killers. even if you had to hit it a couple of times, it would be more humane than a cat. and a mouse is so small, it would be difficult to miss anything vital.
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Galena
@Galena (9110)
•
22 Mar 07
I'd take it outside and kill it with a stone. poor little thing. yes, they can sometimes be saved, but I think with a small, nervous, wild animal it's not always fair to put them through so much stress to save them. it's often kinder to just kill them as cleanly as you can.
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judyt00
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
22 Mar 07
I'd put said mousey into a jar, seal it tightly, and put the jar into the garbage! There are far too many mice where I live, and the last thing we need is another one running around procreating.
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Strawberry_chaos
@Strawberry_chaos (302)
• Australia
22 Mar 07
waaah! you'd let the poor, already suffering mousey slowly suffocate in the jar?! i mean, sure, i understand you dont want any more of them around, but dont you wanna be a bit more humane?
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Galena
@Galena (9110)
•
22 Mar 07
that's horrible
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judyt00
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
23 Mar 07
In the jar, he'd just fall asleep and die that way. In a trap, he'd be hurt. And if I stomped it, it would definitely feel pain.
xParanoiax
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
26 Mar 07
Um..if it's injured most likely my cat has ahold of it, and in that case I let my darling Loki eat it. He needs variety in his diet. I personally like mice, but this is the way the world is. Everything eats the other in one way or another. Besides, if I tried to save the mouse it could die of a heartattack from being so close to me, and they carry diseases so it'd be rather hard to fix the mouse up myself. I can't afford vet bills. Even if I just find the mouse all injured and my cat's snoozing I'll wake my cat up so he can eat it. It's the only thing I can truly do lol. I won't kill something unless its absolutely necessary -- that includes insects.
1 person likes this
Strawberry_chaos
@Strawberry_chaos (302)
• Australia
26 Mar 07
well that's perfectly understandable. I cat doesnt eat hers, or even properly kill them sometimes if she catches them! at least your mousey wouldn't go to waste!
theVacuous1
@theVacuous1 (253)
• United States
23 Aug 07
I would help the mouse and possibly make it a pet. The reason the mouse has been raiding your cupboard is because it wants food and it found some. If you help it and/or make it a pet then it won't raid your cupboard anymore. It can't help teh fact it is a mouse looking for food. It just can't.