The cat caught...what? Mole? Vole?

14 years ago

What did my cat catch? I have a suburban yard: lots of bunnies and squirrels, raccoons at night, possums:

anything else is good at hiding.

My mostly indoor cat, who normally only is out while I am gardening, caught something. She is a lousy hunter and is front declawed so this is a once-a-year event. She tracks things but they hide in the leaves snickering at her. I came in from gardening last Saturday afternoon. A few minutes after I came in she came to the closed patio door. My husband went to let her in then saw she had something in her mouth and called me. I only saw it for a second before she realized we might take it away from her and bounded off again. She was holding it in the middle of the back, with it's nose and tail hanging down. At first glance we thought it was a mouse, but the fur was dark, maybe black. I think it may have been a little bit bigger than a mouse. The tail did have fur, so it wasn't a young possum. The nose or snout may have been a little pointed.

Baby mole? Vole? I've never seen either. No trace of tunnels. What else?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

bean_counter_z4
14 years ago
I might be wrong but I think mice have the longest tails. Voles med length and moles stubby. Hard to indentify as it is being carried across the yard at 30mph. lol
donn_
14 years ago
Vole:

{{gwi:277148}}

Mole:

{{gwi:277149}}
Related Discussions
Landscape help
Q
Comments (36)
Are you certain they are voles and not moles? It doesn't matter. I have had great success putting out cat poo. Every time I cleaned my kitties litter box I dropped the poo into the mole holes. It didn't take long for the moles to move! Cats are their predator and they did not want to be in the area. If you don't have a cat ask a friend who does if you clean her litter box in exchange for the cat poo. lol! Of course you will want to explain why before you ask. If you haven't made friends in the area go to the nearest vet, rescue organization, or human society. Offer to clean litter boxes... Guaranteed to work with no chemicals. Oh...and if you can't find the entrances to their holes just spread teh poo around in places you won't step in it.
...See More
Voles
Q
Comments (15)
Feral cats are wild. I know a woman who was feeding, "taking care of" a cat that showed up in her yard. The cat scratched her. The woman was dead 2 days later from severe septicemia due to the bacteria from the cat. I have a few voles also; will try something other than a cat! (Unfortunately my German Shepherd doesn't see anything smaller than a chipmunk...)
...See More
Have you ever had mice?
Q
Comments (107)
To those advocating against Sticky Traps, ive just used a set of 4 sticky's to catch both a Rat and then a mouse that have been living in my kitchen avoiding my two cats who wait hunting for them all the time. The rat has ran through the house even through their long cat tunnel in living room. When the cats became aware they chased it through the house 3times i cornered it under a desk, then it slipped away until one day with the slider open i litterally ushered it outside with only a determined glare and a sweater to pounce on it if tried anything, it leaped in the air next to the fireplace landed and looked at me realized i would move slow if it moved slow... it thought about escaping but its only option was under the couch where sides were blocked and its been trapped under on several occasions with both my cats hunting it under where they can reach but it hid deeper where they can't and waited them out for hours,,, they are out/indoor so they would leave and rat stayed...happened many times until i ushered the thing out. But i kept Knala inside who was going to catch and eviscerate in in the Garden tho i did not want her brining it in again as she does not kill most of her prey and leaves most unharmed(Lizards) as she lives with a Bearded Dragon. I foolishly left the door open some nights later and the rat had been waiting and Waltz its lucky butt back inside to live.... Cats very clearly notified me it was under refrigerator so i used 4 sticky Mouse traps, upon returning home it was flopping about Lucky as can be as my cats came i very soon and would have annihilated it. It did bleed from a toe as it had struggled but calmed down as i covered it then slowly helped unstick the cute thing, last one was a team effort of using me pulling its tail while she pulled using her hands and pushed with a hooked toe to land in the enclosure i set. Now she lives in my room above Zorro Dragons Dubia Roch Colony. My 3rd Grade teacher breed rats and gave them to her student to keep as pets, i had one for 4 years as a kid and fed my corn snake live mice for 17 years so i see them as much as pets, or pet food as i do as pests. They are remarkably aware and cute little buggers, worth noting Scabberina(she my pet now :3) is far smaller than the male rat i had as a small child who as the time felt like smol pupper. Quite a ridiculous adventure with comical senses ive only seen in Mouse Hunt or Tom n Jerry... The mouse who i only just caught today using the same 4 recycled mouse sticky traps was entirely unharmed(no injured toe) as i audibly witnessed the moment it got stuck and promptly calmed it down then helped into enclosure with food n water. This Mouse has had so much facetime with me as its been living between stove, behind cuppord wall and refrigerator for 19months+ coming out to clean used dishes or find crumbs, highly intelligent tiny thing only my silent lava corn had a chance of catching on the fly, which is where this mouse will end up after its lived out rest of its life. I love Aĺl animals will always put my life at risk to help another good person no matter what species as Humans would never have been able to sustain their evolutionary path in life without that deep unconditional empathed universal kindness engrained into human soul. This may seem an exaggerated level of wholesomeness but meta-Physic spiritual morals aside this conscious understanding of life is practical on a fundamental degree of practical higher functionality as the whole point of life, even through opposing force is only to create systems that perform the most work with the least amount of effort. (Manly P.hall,Alan Watts, JBPeterson) MeaningWave is recommended music for any folks out there. Asolutley every thing in this life carries meaning down to the finest details only until we realise and respect that truth constantly from every angle do we wash our minds of the associate hate and fear that other corrupts minds instill through the life we grow through. Feel for yourself, unify thoughts and emotion and be free to make your own choices through love. Stay true your values that you help form between you and nature's sacred truth's don't be fooled, don't compromise. "There's a war going on and the prize is the soul"~Prince "most people are good(they have to be)...i know it sounds corny, but love is the answer"-Elon Musk
...See More
POLL: Biggest Garden Menace?
Q
Comments (168)
Loopers, nasty things will defoliate your bougainvillea toot sweet! They are on their second go at mine. The first time they defoliated them 100%. Armed with information (as a new Master Gardener), treated them with Bt. (Bacillus Thuringiensis). Take that loopers! It only works on worms, caterpillars. But it does work! and way less harmful than chemicals.
...See More
tiffy_z5_6_can
14 years ago
OMG,
That is one huge mole Donn!! We have them in our gardens and they try to get in the basement in the winter but the cats get them. Never seen one that BIG!!!
tracey_nj6
14 years ago
Possibly a shrew? My darling furball, also mostly an indoor cat and not a good hunter (won't even chase the darn squirrels) got out one night. She tried to bolt in the house after only being outside for about a minute, with a strange animal in her mouth. Unfortunately, she punctured it's backside, and it did die, but I had gotten a few blurry pictures. Someone here on GW identified it for me. I'd never seen one before that incident, and haven't seen one since. For the life of me, I can't find the photo, either on my HD or Photobucket account.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the pics! Better than I foung googling.

Rules out the mole: those digging paws are pretty prominent. Shrew I hadn't thought of.

How does a vole differ from a mouse? In appearance. Most mice I've seen have lighter fur on their bellies, this creature did not, that I could see. Fur was darker than any mouse I've seen.
cloud_9
14 years ago
Maybe it was some child's escaped pet mouse (or the progeny thereof). They come in black. Perhaps that would explain your cat's ability to catch it too.
Deb
oldroser
14 years ago
Voles look like mice but are black. Probably was a vole.
They are very destructive because they eat plant roots and bulbs. GOOD kitty!
remy_gw
14 years ago
Hi,
This page shows a few shrews.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: Shrews
goodhors
14 years ago
Mice have long tails. We have two kinds, the gray mouse and the brown with white belly. Brown ones, Deer mice come in pairs, if you kill two, they are gone. Grays, House mice are non-pairing, come in quantities. I hate seeing the gray ones, you never know if you got them all.

Voles here are mice sized, with very short tails, like Hamsters. Also come in quantities, but I have never had them come into the house. Barn cat catches a bunch of them. Look very like mice, just no tails.

Shrews are tiny, often dark, about half the size of a mouse. Maybe as large as a lady's thumb. Terrible fighters, will kill mice and eat them. I look at the funny noses to see if they are shrews. Some are star shaped noses, or other wise different than mice. Usually the eyes are also very small, compared to mice with big eyes.

A full sized Mole is about hand sized with the front feet looking like he wears baseball mitts!! Way oversized front feet to allow lots of dirt moving very quickly. You might mix him up with a small rat, but not a mouse. Much bigger than mice. They also might have a funny shaped nose to help them locate earthworms in the dirt and aid in moving dirt as they tunnel along. I don't think they kill mice like the shrews. My dog is more likely to dig up a Mole and flip it around to kill it. One small dog with big ears will track the digging mole, while the other large dog does the digging to find Mole. I get the corpse as my present or find it later in the yard. The cat doesn't work that hard, she only chases things above the ground.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
14 years ago
I think I've ruled out mole: I did see the paws and they weren't mole-like.

I'm still stumped between shrew and vole. It was black or almost black, had a pointy nose, was maybe a little bigger than most of the mice I see. But the tail was not noticeably short: average mousy kind.

I did some reserch based on the links provided. I hope I can find out because now I'm worried about my garden if it was a vole! If it was a shrew then I can be happy if they are around: apparently they are carnivores and really like to eat slugs. I have had a lot of slugs with all the rain and could use some help. I did see the cat tracking this critter for a long time under some low-growing perennials, before she caught it and came to the door; I don't know if that's a "lifestyle" clue. (the cat won't eat slugs: I've offered them to her. Even if I make them move, she treats them like a pebble. Bugs paying dead, that's another story.)
reginacw
14 years ago
Shrews are tiny, aren't they?

The cat caught...what? Mole? Vole?

Comments (11)

Related Discussions

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)Original Author

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)Original Author

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author