This made my day

[Willow]

One of my cats brought in a tiny shrew earlier on.. I took the tiny mite off the floor and noticed it was still alive - barely. It was on its back, just breathing and twitching its legs occasionally .. I thought it was dieing and popped it into a small lidded box with some tissue to let it die in peace..
An hour later, Tony noticed the cats were showing an interest in the box - when we took a look, a very lively shrew was scurrying around in it
I've just popped into the thick undergrowth behind the pond.. it shot off like a bat out of hell..
I feel great - thats one saved for christmas

[kate egg]

Ah bless, that reminds me of when my cat brought one in many years ago, I was the only one brave enough to catch it! And it survived, maybe they are hardy creatures

[vyxxn]

Our cats have had quite a few mice and frogs confiscated and released - its great when you get one in time - but they 're soon off out to get another. One of our cats disappeared for a few of days and came back with one eye gouged. She's fine now and doesnt seem bothered at all - but she cant catch a thing anymore

I'm not advocating gouging cats eyes out here - but I reckon a Long John Silver eye patch would work a lot better than a bell

[wendy]

How lucky is that shrew.
How awful for your cat vyxxn.
Wendy

[Willow]

I did some reading on shrews after we 'rescued' that one, apperently they dont taste very nice to deter predators.. Thank goodness I did read up on it too as I was going to keep it in till the morning and found that because of their tiny body size and metabolism, they have to eat every two hours at least or they die.
They're carnivores and since I didn't have any wood lice or worms in my fridge I couldnt have given it anything..
I've rescued no end of frogs too.. I'd been told that they scream and cover their eyes when in danger but found it hard to believe till I saw and heard it for myself....

[bluebell]

I rescued a shrew out of the jaws of a friends cat a couple of months ago, luckily I had some thick gloves on cos it actually tried to take a chunk out of my finger, which really shocked me.

I carried it off into the undergrowth and released it and it hid in a hole. That didn't surprise me at all!

[p.penn]

Frogs also play dead!

[echelon]

My cat chased a mouse and the only place it had to hide was up the kitchen drainpipe. My husband spent the next hour dismantling everything in order to retrieve it, but to no avail. I had to flush some cold water down the pipe and lo and behold, out came the mouse, soaking wet and freezing cold! We brought it into the kitchen and rubbed it with some kitchen towel - it was still alive, but not doing well. Then I had a brainwave - I fetched my hairdryer and set it on warm and dried and warmed the mouse. It started to move a little, so we placed it into a plastic critter container that I had with some bedding, food and water. An hour later it was stuffing its face with grapes and hamster food!!! I let it go the next day and it was fine

[Willow]

Frogs also play dead!

I can well believe it..
The cats have caught quite a few frogs but I havent found a single one with any sort of injury even though they were brought into the house..