Terrible thing I had to do today.

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cudaspaz

cudaspaz

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Seriously.

My youngest daughter came to me crying that one of our cats dragged a little animal on our back deck and it was hurt bad but still alive.

I quickly realized it was a baby squirrel.

It was still pink and furrless with its eyes still sealed shut, but it was about 6 inches long and it looked so much like a baby human it was scary.

It was still breathing while lying on it's back and it was laying with it's hands and feet up in the air.

The cat bit holes all through the little guy and really tore it's feet up.

I told my daughter we had to put it out of it's misery because the mom would not accept it back and it was too far off to nurse back, and she told me NO!, but I assured her we had to unless we wanted the cat to come back and torture it more and I told her to go in her room and turn on the radio and try not to think about it.

I contemplated what to do and decided to drown it in a bowl of water that i saw there because I know drowning is one of the most easiest ways to go.

The poor little guy really fought it for a couple minutes, and it truly was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do because like I said it looked so much like a very small human baby, and it kinda freaked me out.

I feel like crap, but I realize I did the right thing.

I guess I'm getting soft in my old age, but I knew nobody else would do it.
 
I hate that sort of thing, it's like the food chain, it's fine but I don't want to see it in action. Our cat brings home rodents and birds all the time, the worst was a baby rabbit. You did the right thing for sure, even if it sucks.
 
You are a good man Spaz, This would have been hard for some men and easy for others. It had to be dun and you chose the right way to deal with this.
It is humbling to me to know you are a strong man with a good hart.
It will be easy for the mother squirrel to raise the rest of her family.
Mother nature has her way of taking care of her own.
Your cat was doing what cats do, so give the cat a small amount of milk.
That will help fight any germs the cat may have picked up.
 
Actually Cats are Lactose intolerant. Maybe giving it milk is not the best thing to do for it. Why not just give it back the Squirrel to chew on/play with? It obviously knows where the rest are and if its wants another one it will just go and get one. If you let it play with it it might get it out of its system so to speak.
 
Thats a bad deal spaz with your daughter & all. I think you did the right thing. But cats will be cats. We had a HUGE tom cat when I was a kid & he would bring home grown rabbits. He was a stout cat!
 
trigger_andy said:
Actually Cats are Lactose intolerant. Maybe giving it milk is not the best thing to do for it. Why not just give it back the Squirrel to chew on/play with? It obviously knows where the rest are and if its wants another one it will just go and get one. If you let it play with it it might get it out of its system so to speak.
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You have got to be kidding, Farmers has dun this for centuries :read2:



Lactose intolerant:toothy10::toothy10:
 
memike, Have never heard that before to give the cats milk to fight germs. I used to give them milk, but stopped several years ago because I thought it was bad. But if the "farmers" do it, gotta be good. I will start again once in awhile thanks.

And cudaspaz, You did the right thing. The mother squirrel would not have accepted it back......nature taking its course. :sad3:
 
memike, I said the same thing. I had to look it up. It says some cats can handle milk & others get the runs from it. I guess all my cats can "handle" it cause we have gave them milk for the last 30 years & no runs at all.
 
you did the right thing spaz, even though it was especially hard to do because your daughter naturally wished against it.
when i was younger, a racoon was hit by a car and dragged itself up on our steps, and i had to witness my grandpa beat it to death with a shovel. at the time it was pretty gruesome but now i know he was just trying to put it out of its misery
 
you did good

we had all kinds of animals growing up and we always gave them goats milk and they did fine
 
I contemplated what to do and decided to drown it in a bowl of water that i saw there because I know drowning is one of the most easiest ways to go.

The poor little guy really fought it for a couple minutes, and it truly was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do because like I said it looked so much like a very small human baby, and it kinda freaked me out. first off yea thats a hard thing to do cuz its so small. but secondly. do not drown animals. or anything else for that matter. its the worst way to go. fighting for air. if your tryin to put it out of its misery you dont make its last few minutes in life the worst possible. shoot it. cut it. hit it. dont drown it. u want it to be instantaneous. at least he wouldnt have suffered. and i have to think of this 24/7 over hunting season. i dont want to shoot a deer, squirrel, turkey or fox and let it suffer. i had to shoot a squirrel in the head last year point blank cuz a knife wouldnta done it. thankfully all the deer i shot are 1 shot one kill. just my 2 cents.
 
Well, the reason why I drowned it is because just in case my daughter was watching I did not want her to see me chop it's head off which was my first thought.
I've seen some nasty stuff in my time, and have dressed out plenty of deer and small animals, never a bother.

Believe me, I'd have no problem if it were an enemy yelling Allah akbar, but the fact that it was innocent and looked like a human is what got me bummed.
 
cudaspaz said:
Well, the reason why I drowned it is because just in case my daughter was watching I did not want her to see me chop it's head off which was my first thought.
I've seen some nasty stuff in my time, and have dressed out plenty of deer and small animals, never a bother.

Believe me, I'd have no problem if it were an enemy yelling Allah akbar, but the fact that it was innocent and looked like a human is what got me bummed.
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I hear ya spaz!! I have seen them that young before and like you said,
They look like a early new born babies skin and hands and feet.
I think drowning was the way to go so the girls don't see you betting or swinging a machete at it, or hearing a gun go off.
Shells cost money that put food on the table.
I am glad this is behind you know.:cheers:
 
we found 2 tiny baby squirrels once they were crying and crying for a few hours we decided to see if we could find it, something ransacked the nest or the mother was just gone and they were trying to find food and fell out one was hanging on a branch by one hand and the other was on the ground, the one that hit he ground didnt make it more than about 2 weeks, the other my wife raised till it was full grown. we had to make special formula, they dont sell it because they dont want you keeping them. there is stuff they need that is not in readily available formulas. they used to let it out and it would stay in the yard and come back then it would stay out a few days and come back, then it just didnt come back. there eyes werent open yet when we found them. i have a huge soft spot when it comes to animals. some people see me as a tuff guy but an animal can break me down real quick. the squirrel was a really cool pet, it showed affection, would get excited and run up from the floor to your shoulder in the blink of an eye when you would come home. only bad part, not potty trainable. went where ever and whenever it had to. they were named jack and jill, brother and sister.
 
cudaspaz said:
Well, the reason why I drowned it is because just in case my daughter was watching I did not want her to see me chop it's head off which was my first thought.
I've seen some nasty stuff in my time, and have dressed out plenty of deer and small animals, never a bother.

Believe me, I'd have no problem if it were an enemy yelling Allah akbar, but the fact that it was innocent and looked like a human is what got me bummed.
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well i can see doin that so your kid dont see it. theres really no easy way to do it. damn cats aint good for a damn thing. a dog wouldnta left it wouldnt itd been done for
 
Growing up on a farm, I ended up nursing back to health a number of animals that were injured or abandoned, including a number of baby birds caught by cats and pretty messed up, as well as a kitten that got caught in a fan belt.
I just can't stand to see an animal in distress not be taken care of.
The most amazing one was a baby pigeon, that was all pink, and had yellow fuzz instead of feathers.

Which is how I ended up with Kowalski. She was a tiny kitten abandoned behind my garage in Long Beach, and I ended raising her.
 
I had to make the same choice about a little baby bird...I was alone and hit it with a shovel. One hit and it was dead.

I never told the family about it. I just carried the pain alone until today.

It's never easy making tough choices. Still better than not making a choice or doing nothing.
 
I moved a piece of sheetmetal beside my building and uncovered a big fat field mouse. Popped back inside for the old riot gun. launched the phat phuck about 40 feet across the yard
 
ok, i am an animal lover to a point. i cant stand rats or pigeons, mice are iffy, depends what day they catch me and how much damage they have done.
 
From the Cats Protection League;

Cats should not be given cow's milk because they can be intolerant of lactose, a sugar found in milk. Giving a cat cow's milk, especially in larger quantities, may cause diarrhoea.

:read2::bootysha:
 
trigger_andy said:
From the Cats Protection League;

Cats should not be given cow's milk because they can be intolerant of lactose, a sugar found in milk. Giving a cat cow's milk, especially in larger quantities, may cause diarrhoea.

:read2::bootysha:
Click to expand...

By those standards, it should be illegal to feed humans taco bell.
 
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