More animal drama...

gcvmom

Here we go again!
One of our cats, Harley, caught and killed a baby cottontail this evening. :( Left it right by the back door for us. The kids and I were all watching it nibble grass earlier in the afternoon. They are all really upset and mad at the cat and mad at me for some reason. The poor little thing was the size of a little kitten, and so soft... sigh. easy child wanted me to bury it, but I told her it would be better to toss it down the hill so that it could provide nourishment for some other creature. That's just the way of nature. They don't like it, though. Sigh.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I'd have buried it. It would've made the kids feel better about the situation. Sad but those things happen. Burying it would've made them feel like they put the baby to rest. Throwing it over the hill probably felt cold hearted to them.

I understand what you mean. Just saying this is how a kid would look at it, cuz my Mom would've done as you did.....and did often, and I always thought she was so cold hearted for doing it.

They'd have probably delt with it better had it been an adult.

I'll never forget when my kids were small. Our beagle was playing with a baby bird in the yard. They totally freaked. I go to get the bird I'm certain is dead and disgusting, only to find it quite alive and soggy from doggie slobber. Fortunately for baby bird, I'd spotted the nest earlier. Went thru a pecking Momma and thorns to get baby back in the nest. Why? Because my kids would never have forgiven me if I hadn't. Thank goodness Momma continued to care for the baby.....who happened to be getting flying lessons when the beagle snatched it up.

Hugs
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
They were mad at me before we'd even talked about what we were going to do with the carcass... I let them see it and touch it. They could see it was not moving at all, despite still being warm. Anyway, they did not see what I did with it. I think I was just a convenient person to vent on. The cat does not respond to their anger over the killing, but mom does.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Our dog, Ella, has killed many animals in our back yard-nothing is safe! She's killed birds, rabbits, voles, a squirrel, mice, and probably many more I'm unaware of. The only one that ever bothered my kids were the baby bunnies (the rabbit didn't bother them but the babies did). She brought one of the babies in our house and it was still alive-poor thing. Two of them the kids saved and took care of for a couple of days and then we told them they needed to set them free in an area by our house. husband and I knew they didn't stand a chance but difficult child to this day will ask if we think they are still alive-they even had names for them.
 

house of cards

New Member
Eleven years ago, my now seventeen yo saw our cat with very large mouse, definitely not a little grey field mouse. Being the kind hearted soul he was, he picked up the mouse to save it. It bit him!. In his surprise he flung it into the field, came in and told us. Poor kid was so confused as to why the mouse bit him..."didn't he know I was trying to help?"

We called our pediatrician to see if we had to worry about rabies in a panic. He said things where probably fine but to get the mouse if we could(he always was too laid back).

We actually were able to catch the mouse with at least 2 puncture wounds in his side, we had a plastic cage from gerbils and food and we nursed "zippy" ( he zipped my kid's skin off) back to health while zippy was trying to chew thru the cage. We made it the 2 weeks and released zippy back into the wild. Memories.

I also have had plenty of the gifts from the cats, yuck.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
I had a cat growing up that would always bring us his trophies. He's get a mouse and not kill it...just torture the poor thing. He'd sit for hours batting it around the back yard. He'd let it get a good 10 feet away, then trounce on it again. Flop it aorund...let it go, and the cycle continued.

The worse was we always had a bunny den way in the back yard. Now, the cat preferred biunnies. If you've ever heard a bunny SCREAM when they are being killed, it's heartwrenching. They scream like a little girl. Why that momma bunny continued to build her home in the same place year after year is a mystery to me.

Abbey
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
When Dude was about 10 -

He got up one morning and went into the laundry room. We were sitting in the den (right next to the laundry room) and Dude stepped on "something". He let out a scream that was hysterical, frightening, and not as high as a 10 year old's voice would be - but he was really scared and he screamed "AHHHHHHHH a RAT a big RAT." and immediately DF got up to look.

It was not a rat. Our pitbull had caught a rabbit and brought it in the house and left it on the rug by the dog door.

We still laugh about him screaming like a man over a dead rabbit. I know he was horrified, but he didn't swear (not normal for Dude) and he was truly scared.

DF buried the bunny -

Our cat recently brought in a mole. I told her it's one ground destroyer per bag of cat chow. So far she's holding up her end of the bargain. I just wish she wouldn't bring it in the house so "proudly".

Blech.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I think this is the largest creature Harley has caught. He's an awesome mouser, though. And that DOES make me happy :)
 
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