Ment to be a gift but ...

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

My cat, Roscoe, loves me. I know this is true because he brings me many gifts each day. And even leaves them at my door in the night so I will be sure to find them when I awake in the morning. Of course his gifts are not roses or candy nor jewels but the proceeds of his great skill at hunting (perhaps he believes I am incompetent and need looking after

) I find numerous mice and small birds every day and they are always already efficiently dispatched so I don't have to deal with wiggling (lol).... but today... he brought a LIVING thing to me. He presented it to me like a graduation gift (I am officially OLD enough to begin dealing with living prey it seems) The gift was a young robin who had only recently begun flying. He has a severely damaged wing and will probably never fly again but he(she?) is absolutely alive. I put it in a bird cage I have here and draped a cloth over the cage to give it some safety and peace then waited thinking it would succumb to shock (it is after all bleeding slightly and broken) but after 4 hours it is still alive and ready to take on the world if it must. I would like to give the poor little thing (oh nuts I am forced to admit to being a soft toach ....darn cat) a chance but really don't know where to begin. I would just set it in a tree and let it make its own way in the world but it is not able to fly and so would become 'cat bait' again I'm sure.

Any one have any suggestions?

 

[JourneysEnd]

Don't know about Canada.

Here the Texas Dept of Parks and Wildlife have people who are licenced rehab centers.

I have taken many of my "living gifts" to Ali, who takes over.

You might check to see if you have anything like that. Maybe query wild bird rescue ?

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Oh thats brilliant!! Why didn't I think of it. I couldn't find anything local that does rescues so I called the SPCA and they gave me a number for a person that does bird rehab in the area. I called her and she has given me some pointers (keep him warm, safe and dark for the time being which I have already done) and told me to leave him with a branch of berries (we have many ripe right now)and the water dish I already placed for him. If he survives until the morning I can take him to the shelter for long term rehab.

At least I know I am giving him a fighting chance this way. It does feel a bit silly worrying about a robin when there are so many of them but he so obviously wants to live I can't just leave him to die without trying.

 

[Lisa]

My cats are constantly bringing me presents

The day of me and my sister's high school grad one of our girls Meow-Meow brought us a live, and still flying, bird. Imagine getting your make up done and in comes your cat with a bird to put at your feet while it's trying to fly away. Most recently Chaos brought a dead mouse through the entire house to present to me in the computer room! Our kitties love us

 

[Reijel's Mom]

It does feel a bit silly worrying about a robin when there are so many of them but he so obviously wants to live I can't just leave him to die without trying.

Oh I don't think it's a bit silly, I would do the same thing. I've never understood when people give that argument about "there are so many of them, who cares". There are a whole lot of people, too, and probably most of them aren't nearly as nice and cheerful as a Robin

! Each being is an individual, after all.

 

[AceyHorse]

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm afraid the outlook may not be too good. As I am also a benefactor of such "gifts" from our resident hunter I have learnt (from an experienced bird rehabilitator) that a cats mouth is so filled with bacteria and such that if there is any kind of an open wound on the bird it will usually die within 48 hours. Sometimes the bird doesn't even have to have an open wound just to have been in a cats mouth is enough. You can however take the bird to a vet and he may be able to administor antibiotics which could save him. But thats still no guarantee.

Over all the many years of being brought these presents I have managed to save one bird, and she must have been so very very lucky to not be infected But she certainly had no marks on her whatsoever. Best of luck to you, and sometimes you never know.....miracles do happen.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

AceyHorse, I expect you are right and it is not at all to be expected that this bird will survive both the trauma of being a cats toy but also the terror of being held 'captive' by an even bigger predator(me) but as long as it continues to strive for life I can not but offer it any help I'm able. I keep expecting it to be gone when I go to check on it but I have placed a branch of berries in the cage with it and darned if it isn't eating them. It just sits quietly and watches me when I look in on it not at all panicked. Still the odds are definitely against any wild creature so traumatized surviving I think. If it lives thro the night I'll arrange for it to be taken to a rehabber and who knows, this might be that rare bird. On the other hand it is getting late in the summer and the robins are going to be flying to warmer climates soon, I don't think if it lives it will be ready for release in time to go so it will be indoors until next spring at least.

 

[AppyLover2]

I used to hate it when the cat brought me gifts like that. Don't have him anymore but after he brought me a live blue jay I went out and got him a collar with a bell on it. I think it probably saved some lives....and me some concern about what he kept bringing in.

 

[Margo_C-T]

This is one reason why I no longer have a cat. Don't get me wrong-I've had several wonderful barn cats--tame,always spayed and kept up on shots, but their home was the barn--the last one lived to be 16 years old. However, the strong instinct for predation in cats is more than I want to deal with anymore.

Don't feel 'silly' about trying to help the bird--to me, that's just a sign that you truly have a heart! I don't 'go overboard', but have taken wild birds into the city to the rehab folks...it's the right thing to do, when you feel there is a fair chance for the critter. If not, at least you have not allowed it to suffer untended.

I am not a 'bleeding heart'--have unhesitatingly shot a pigeon and one of the huge marauding ravens that were stealing the smaller birds'(flycatchers, a very beneficial little bird, here) babies...only with a pellet gun, but I am a good shot(and was lucky), and took them out with a single shot.(Native doves I encourage, and have several mourning doves as 'permanent residents' here now--pigeons I do NOT tolerate)--but I grew up on a game bird farm, and I LIKE most wild birds, and love having them around if they are not destructive nor harmful to other, beneficial wild ones.

I have a BARNFUL of swallows every year. I love them, but they are messy little beasts! For several years now, I've let them raise one 'nestful' of babies, then I take the nests down, and KEEP taking the 'replacements' down until they are ready to leave for the winter....this so that I will not have 400 swallows trying to nest the FOLLOWING year! (This year, there were around 15 nests, just to give you an idea....!) Sometimes the babies fall onto the barn floor; I no longer try to put them back, because when I have, they either jump RIGHT back off, OR, it scares OTHERS out of the nest, so I have learned that I must just let nature take its course.

Good for you for making this effort!

Margo

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Margo, you sound a lot like me. I don't like to interfere and will leave the wild things to make it or not as nature decrees but if a situation arises where something is suffering needlessly (or one species is dominating another to the point of annihilation ) then I will step in if I can offer any real help. I only have the one cat (mice are NOT a welcome house guest here) and altho a prolific hunter he usually sticks to small things like sparrows and Junkos. This young robin must have been exceedingly careless or unlucky but the fact remains the cat did catch him. The odd thing was his being dropped at my feet still alive. He is still living today and has been sent off for his chance at rehab. Perhaps he will thrive even tho he has been injured (maybe he won't) I hope they let me know one way or the other. He is only badly frightened it seems by direct contact and appears quit calm unless I actually reach for him, once I have him cradled in my hand he quits struggling and doesn't try to bite me. It may be that tonight he will crash but he is young and that can make a creature more adaptable it seems.

On the swallows; I wait every spring for the return of the swallows. In fact I know when I see them the mosquitoes have hatched as well. lol. As a child I would float downy feathers on the wind for them to build their nests. I have always considered them beautiful, even the 'mud' swallows. The tree swallows are no where near as messy, nor do they like to build nests in my barns like the brown chested (i think they are called) 'barn' swallows but I do enjoy watching both on the wing.

AppyLover2, I don't like to leave a collar on my cats out here. To much stuff for them to hang up on and this particular cat likes to climb trees. He has been known to get 10 -15 feet up and if he got his collar stuck on a branch it would be very dangerous for him. Plus belled cats don't take out mice as well either and his job is to keep my home mouse free. A job he does VERY well.