The old momma cat that comes back here from the neighbors to eat was playing with a dead mouse under the bird feeder! One of the kittens left it there and she found it. She was flipping it in the air and chasing it. This is a cat that is about 10 years old ! But it was funny!
I word of caution Captain, (however apology in advance if you're already sure that it's not the case) - But usually dead rodents found in the open (specially those which are accidentally dropped by birds) are often poisoned due to rat poison - Which people carelessly use and conveniently forget about, (while the poison continues to be in the environment for years, all the time remaining active)... So pets should always be discouraged from playing with dead rodents. In fact whenever I come across any small dead mammal (like mice) I do go out of my way to bury it. So that no other pet gets hurt. Poisonous insecticides and other pest control chemicals are extremely harmful to everyone. However their irresponsible use is also extremely rampant all over the world - Simply because people assume it to be a good thing, while the reverse is actually true... Which is why secondary poisoning is a subject that people are just not aware of. Please see this page: http://pets.thenest.com/can-cats-die-ea ... -9060.html
Captain, we have a 14 year old cat that loves to play. She will bat a paper wad around the living room, get a game of "woo kitty" going (don't ask, it's embarrassing for people our age to play woo kitty with a cat), and can chase a string around for quite a while. I'm sure if Feliz our cat found a dead mouse she'd make a toy of it, too! Your mama cat must have a bit of kitten in her.
S-H, I agree with you about some that use poisons with out thinking. There are some types I will not use but I found one that is relatively safe to use and works in a totally different manner that what you find normally. I have used it about three years in our barn and my feed room with no problems, and we have three big dogs that love to hunt rodents, gophers, moles and anything else that moves. Can`t have cats because the dogs would hunt it too. If a dog ate a chunk of the poison it would require a shot from the vet but would not kill the dog. That's the only thing that you have to be careful about and make sure the dog doesn`t have direct access to it which is not a problem here !! Unfortunately some of these things are necessary when living in the country and field mice are present. Winter time they will invade your house and you know what they do then.
I try to watch my yard carefully because I am pretty sure our neighbors poison squirrels, chipmunks and mice...they leave their garage doors open and things can run inside. I worry about kids playing with the dead critters ..
Mart I too agree with you 100%, and I really wish people all over would become more responsible when using poison. I myself also know that there are situations where one cannot help but use poison. However, I try to avoid it as much as possible. 7 times in life (3 times during childhood) I was pleasantly surprised to notice wild honeybees' nest on my property. So after seeing such a wonderful sight I at once first make sure that honeybees get access to clean water, and also sometimes coat a little bit of grease on some of the branches upon which the hive was built (so that other crawling insects wouldn't be able to get to it). Because sometimes crawling insects like ants can introduce fungus inside the beehive, leading to complete colony collapse. So I do whatever I can to prevent this from happening. A few times I also thought of placing a net around the hive, so that bees can come and go through it - While hummingbirds can't, (as they like to steal the honey). But I later realized that this is one of nature's way also. Therefore I don't go to that extreme anymore. However every single time, my hives did not survive for more then a few months - Only because some inconsiderate neighbor (as a matter of routine) sprays insecticide on all his flowers... Whenever I complained to that good for nothing son of a w****, that your irresponsible use of insecticide is killing all my bees - I automatically become the bad guy in the neighborhood, for trying to propagate "harmful & angry creatures" in an urban area - Sigh... But on the plus side, (and thanks only to the honeybees) I once in a while do get to grin ear to ear also. Whenever my neighbor's irritating little children get stung! Anyway, as for the matter discussed in this thread, I too believe that fun and games are just as important for animals (specially for Dogs and cats), as they are for us. Because in my opinion animals (mammals) are people too. So I really lose it sometimes, whenever I see irresponsible use of poisons...
