Topic: How to kill a mouse humanely? (Read 11446 times)

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #42 on:** July 17, 2007, 01:03:04 AM »

Sadly I have had many mice in the house in last 8 weeks, I have saved three, and one died but all others were already dead. Have also found a bird. Misa and Sasa go out everyday to try and catch some more grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Yesterday Misa was very excited in the kitchen walking around going murrowwwwww, murrrowwww and I told him i dint want any more murrrrowwwwwws in the house and I was worried he had lost another one but I think it was a false alarm

fluffycloud123 · « **Reply #41 on:** July 17, 2007, 00:54:48 AM »

just reading this made me upset. so glad i have never had a present yet, although lee said monkey left a bird outside the back door, when i went to see it had gone probs one of the neighbours cats

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #40 on:** July 17, 2007, 00:32:23 AM »

Well I am pleased that I put poor little mousie in a nice safe box on a soft bed and I hope he died peacefully and not in pain

blackcat · « **Reply #39 on:** July 16, 2007, 21:05:25 PM »

I'll bear that is mind if a next time happens...

Team Svartalfheims · « **Reply #38 on:** July 16, 2007, 21:02:19 PM »

That's why a tupperware tub is a good idea lol!

blackcat · « **Reply #37 on:** July 16, 2007, 20:58:41 PM »

Quote from: lynn on July 16, 2007, 16:46:04 PM

Remember if an animal is in the freezer and escapes its feet will stick to the freezer..this would be quite torterous and cruel.

It was in a freezer bag with a tightly secured opening. It was just hopping around inside the bag - horrible and not something I would do again, no matter the cause ...........

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #36 on:** July 16, 2007, 16:46:04 PM »

to be honest if "slightly alive" then i'd place in a box and allow nature to takes its course, dont bury alive, how awful.

on the toad subject .. can they control their own body temps ?

i know with reptiles although not technically advocated now but was acceptable before they can be placed in fridge or freezer for 10 mins (in secure padded container) to be chilled thus rendered pliable for xrays etc without the need for drug sedatives which is still fairly hazzardous to them.
Remember if an animal is in the freezer and escapes its feet will stick to the freezer..this would be quite torterous and cruel.

Mark · « **Reply #35 on:** July 16, 2007, 16:10:10 PM »

Quote from: schuey100 on July 16, 2007, 02:39:06 AM

So is the best solution just to bury them alive?

I would imagine its the worst way to go

clarenmax · « **Reply #34 on:** July 16, 2007, 16:07:04 PM »

Quote from: goatboy on July 16, 2007, 15:59:58 PM

If at some point this forum gets together for a drink or a cat show, I am not going to be sniffing any jars or accepting drinks of you lot. You all know way too much about how to knock people out.

Team Svartalfheims · « **Reply #33 on:** July 16, 2007, 16:01:34 PM »

If you pop them in a tupperware box before you put them in the freezer then they can't run around in the freezer.

goatboy · « **Reply #32 on:** July 16, 2007, 15:59:58 PM »

Quote from: lynn on July 12, 2007, 22:30:42 PM

Halothane is a commonly used anaesthetic gas. Its quite possibly what your cats are hooked up to in order to keep them under ga when they are having procedures done. Yes that would be possible to kill via that way but i can tell you knowing full well what halothane smells like and how horrible it is to breathe it the injection into the chest or normally the abdomen would be preferable. (if you hit the heart on a rat then its luck and nothing more)

If you have to mask down an animal for any reason they either panic like mad or breath hold.

If at some point this forum gets together for a drink or a cat show, I am not going to be sniffing any jars or accepting drinks of you lot. You all know way too much about how to knock people out.

schuey100 · « **Reply #31 on:** July 16, 2007, 02:39:06 AM »

Okay, this is getting silly. In the past two days he's 'gifted' me another three mice. Two were still slightly alive. I can't put them in the freezer, I just can't. I also don't want to splat them with a shovel!

So have we reached a conclusion to this? I'm not sure I can't see myself gassing the mice, plus I doubt gas is too easy to get hold of

So is the best solution just to bury them alive? Oh I don't know.

Right now my garden is a mouse graveyard.

blackcat · « **Reply #30 on:** July 13, 2007, 17:48:57 PM »

In Australia, where the cane toad is a horrible pest (and bad for kitties) they recommend putting the cane toad in a plastic bag in the freezer, which I duly did. Sadly the cane toad apparently lived at least long enough to hop around a fair bit as I find him, in his freezer bag, wedged down the front of the drawers ......... Not nice. Mind you it is nicer than the treatment my nephew gave to a mouse that the cat was playing with. I asked him to rescue the mouse, thinking we could put it outside, but no, what does he do but catch the mouse and throw it in the open fire - he never did that again, I can tell you. I shrieked at him for over an hour.

Poor lad is now wanted by the police in three states - seems the old saying that people who are cruel to animals are also likely to be nasty to others has a lot going for it.

Team Svartalfheims · « **Reply #29 on:** July 13, 2007, 17:36:17 PM »

I'd go for the freezer option if I ever had to but luckily mine eat their catches.

swampmaxmum · « **Reply #28 on:** July 13, 2007, 11:17:33 AM »

oh horrible, this brings back many memories of my beloved burmese Louis who caught so many mice, birds etc in SA - some he ate (disgusting animal that he was), some he brought me as half dead presents. I had to give them a whack with a spade to end it instantly and I used to get sick afterwards. Swampy once caught a big rat in his cat run - we had rats in the roof space in SA, yukkkk - and plonked it down on the persian rug (only decent thing I own), I took it outside and got the spade, looked at it and it's whiskers twitched....noooo....so I put it in an empty icecream box and put it under a bush. When I went back a few hours later, it was dead. I think though that leaving it was cowardly on my part and feel bad about it still.
It was about a foot long with its tail too. Horrible. Worst thing about cats.
A baby chameleon once stood up to Louis and spat at him - wonderful!! We also put a big bell around his neck, but he learnt to stalk with his chin down so the bell didn't ring

Some cats are just good hunters; sounds like you have one on your hands.

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #27 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:50:38 PM »

yes it is, isoflurane has kind of taken over from it but it is more expensive but much easier removed from the body and safer for the liver etc. the smell doesnt really affect the animals as they are 1) unconcsious anyway and 2) the o2/gas mix passes down the endotracheal tube and not the nose obviously.

However we have to refill each day and if you spill some PHEWY lol. (its a liquid that goes through a vaporiser type system on the anaesthetic machine)

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #26 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:40:24 PM »

sounds horible

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #25 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:30:42 PM »

Halothane is a commonly used anaesthetic gas. Its quite possibly what your cats are hooked up to in order to keep them under ga when they are having procedures done. Yes that would be possible to kill via that way but i can tell you knowing full well what halothane smells like and how horrible it is to breathe it the injection into the chest or normally the abdomen would be preferable. (if you hit the heart on a rat then its luck and nothing more)

If you have to mask down an animal for any reason they either panic like mad or breath hold.

Mark · « **Reply #24 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:27:46 PM »

I think its something like ether but probably safer as its usually used as an anaesthetic "gas"

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #23 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:19:57 PM »

What is halothane?

Mark · « **Reply #22 on:** July 12, 2007, 22:16:41 PM »

I looked at a site last night it it was a pet rat forum. She said that lethal injection wasn't an option as the veins are too small and the vet would inject into the heart which would be painful and traumatic. The woman said the best way was to use Halothane. She was talking about euthanising a loved pet so - She said make it comfortable on a towel on the sofa. put some halothane in a jar and put it close to the rat. The rat will fall asleep in seconds. Then put the jar so the rats head is in it. Its heart will stop in under a minute.

All very well but where the

do you buy halothane?

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #21 on:** July 12, 2007, 21:52:34 PM »

I do know mice can be suffocated very very easily. The mice traps we have are better than the old style ones. They are plastic and normally will spring shut around the mouses neck area, it does not break any bones but holds the mouse in place and basically the small chamber where its head now is runs out of air and the mouse dies. Now i know this happens very quickly as i've been at it within 30 secs (honestly less than a minute) of it happening and the poor thing is dead already.

Also if these traps happen to close on a leg etc the mouse can be happily set free with its leg uninjured. Not much use when faced with a cat victim though as i couldnt go and shut its head in one just to kill it iykwim.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #20 on:** July 12, 2007, 19:31:28 PM »

Misa likes his mice moving cos they are no fun if they are just lying there grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So was hoping the poor mouse may come round but he must have been too badly hurt. There was no way I could kill it, I am having problems killing moths.....the little ones.........and its all Kockas fault cos she taught me to have respect for animals ...........sigh

JackSpratt · « **Reply #19 on:** July 12, 2007, 18:34:49 PM »

Quote from: schuey100 on July 12, 2007, 09:58:27 AM

Well I thought so too, at first, but this guy owns snakes and needs to feed them mice. (horrible I know) Apparently it's a common technique used by snake handlers because what happens is that the mouse gently goes to sleep and then dies rather than having a prolonged death or sudden pain from a whack on the head. It also doesn't take very long because they are so small. The thought of putting a mouse in the freezer isn't all that pleasant to me though

I have a snake that I have to feed mice too, but am told the most humane way to kill the mice for the food is a tiny gas chamber. A girl came to collect a snake that I had taken to be rehomed (it was a bit "frantic" due to lack of handling and I wasn't experienced enough to help it) and she has her own colony of feeder mice.

I personally check the state of the animal if it looks like it stands a fighting chance, my cat is told to leave it and I put it in a small cage to recover. If they're beyond saving, I give it back to the cat. Mainly because if it's so close to being dead anyway, another few seconds will probably kill it. That probably sounds a bit gross!

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #18 on:** July 12, 2007, 17:33:45 PM »

Well i know the blind mice cant

Pinkbear (Julie) · « **Reply #17 on:** July 12, 2007, 16:57:58 PM »

Thank goodness mice can't read....

goatboy · « **Reply #16 on:** July 12, 2007, 16:22:09 PM »

Quote from: Dawn (DiddyDawn) on July 12, 2007, 12:05:39 PM

One of mine came back with a mouse the other day and it's insides were hanging out but it was still alive and running around ..........I wanted to put it out of it's misery but couldn't and ended up letting a couple of the cats out to finish it off.

That doesn't sound very humane to me lol Sounds like the William Wallace of the mouse world.

schuey100 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 12, 2007, 12:44:04 PM »

No, I couldn't do that. Oh, that's horrible.

Yvonne · « **Reply #14 on:** July 12, 2007, 12:41:56 PM »

What about drowning??

schuey100 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 12, 2007, 12:13:44 PM »

Quote from: lynn on July 12, 2007, 12:09:43 PM

someone once told me you can put these types of things into a bag and hold at the end of an exhaust pipe (petrol) and the carbon monoxide kills them in seconds. I still dont know if i could even do that though.

Hahahah

That's funny. Could you imagine walking along the road and seeing someone killing a bird or mouse with their exhaust pipe? The image of that makes me laugh, I can't stop

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2007, 12:09:43 PM »

someone once told me you can put these types of things into a bag and hold at the end of an exhaust pipe (petrol) and the carbon monoxide kills them in seconds. I still dont know if i could even do that though.

Dawn (DiddyDawn) · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2007, 12:05:39 PM »

One of mine came back with a mouse the other day and it's insides were hanging out but it was still alive and running around

..........I wanted to put it out of it's misery but couldn't and ended up letting a couple of the cats out to finish it off.

ccmacey · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2007, 11:55:04 AM »

I just couldnt do that.

When Harry has had a bird and nothing can be done, I take it away put it somewhere on its own to let the poor thing die without being torn to piece's.

I dont think there is a way other than to let the cat finish the job

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2007, 10:24:50 AM »

having said all that i had one mutilated paralyzed mouse (courtesay of fraser) and i wrapped it up in kitchen roll and took it outside grabbing the spade...but i just couldnt do it.

Pinkbear (Julie) · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2007, 10:17:17 AM »

Snake keepers like their mice intact, though..

A mouse caught by a cat is already in pain... Would you rather shiver your bits off for up to 20 minutes, with no fresh air and the smell of onion rings, or one swift blow between your eyes that takes 2 seconds? Failing the availability of a vet, RSPCA inspector or similar person, i choose to end such tragic circumstances quick and decisively. But I do confess it's very traumatic.

If you can't bare to use the hammer you use for jobs around the house, angling shops will sell you something called a Priest, which is used to despatch fish.

schuey100 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2007, 10:16:00 AM »

Well we're into moral conundrums here.

Is is more humane to kill an animal with less pain over a greater amount of time or with more pain over a shorter amount?

I'm thinking about what I would prefer, a quick stomp on my head, or to be frozen. I think frozen, especially as you go to sleep relatively quickly and the pain in minimal.

Then again, the morality of mouse killing is probably deserving of a topic in it's own right

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2007, 10:07:47 AM »

Yes i know this is what reptile owners and pet shop who stock fodder for reptiles do..but this is still an inhumane act, being frozen to death is not a rapid death in my opinion.

schuey100 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 12, 2007, 09:58:27 AM »

Well I thought so too, at first, but this guy owns snakes and needs to feed them mice. (horrible I know) Apparently it's a common technique used by snake handlers because what happens is that the mouse gently goes to sleep and then dies rather than having a prolonged death or sudden pain from a whack on the head. It also doesn't take very long because they are so small. The thought of putting a mouse in the freezer isn't all that pleasant to me though

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2007, 09:49:39 AM »

I think putting them in the freezer would be quite inhumane, unless perhaps if they were already unconcsious so unaware anyway. Unfortunately a quick sharp blow to the head area would be best...after humane lethal injection of course.

schuey100 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2007, 00:18:10 AM »

I know how you feel!

Author Topic: How to kill a mouse humanely? (Read 11446 times)

ccmacey