What to do when your cat brings a dead animal inside
Finding a dead mouse or rat left behind by a pet cat overnight causes sudden worry about unexpected wildlife and potential health risks. This unexpected discovery leaves owners uncertain about how to safely handle the carcass and whether unusual physical signs on the animal require medical concern.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Disposing of the animal using gloves and disinfecting the areaDid this help you?
- 2Throwing the prey away secretly so the cat's feelings are not hurtDid this help you?
- 3Reduce regular food intakeDid this help you?
- 4Find ways to prevent geckos from getting into the houseDid this help you?
- 5Coexisting with the animal to let it catch mice and volesDid this help you?
- 6Calling state wildlife management or animal control for guidanceDid this help you?
- 7Using live traps like a Hav-a-Hart trapDid this help you?
- 8Hiring a pest exclusion company to seal cracks and ventsDid this help you?
- 9Finding holes and plugging themDid this help you?
- 10Removing prey from the pet's mouthDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Last night my cat made a ruckus chasing the stoat. No idea where it came from. Saw the stoat again this morning.”source ↗
“Do I coexist with the stoat? What am I supposed to do?”source ↗
“I don't want to kill it, hence me asking if I should coexist with it to handle the voles.”source ↗
“I had a stoat come strolling across my garage like it owned the place earlier this year just after I bought this old farm house.”source ↗
“I'm getting tired of getting lizards out of his mouth, tired of finding lizards tails, still twitching btw.”source ↗
“Cat just brought in a dead mouse whilst I was all snug in bed.”source ↗
“I could be being stupid, but the other dead rats/mice have always had plain black eyes, this one's got odd ones.”source ↗
“just wanted to see if anyone has had this before and is it something I should worry about?”source ↗
“Is it possible all this wild protein has actually made her gain weight??”source ↗
Where this came up
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