Hurt/Wounded Rabbit

Peyton Manning

Hey folks,

Bit of advice needed here. We live beside a field that's swarming with rabbits at the moment, and our unfortunately our cat has been doing some hunting lately. I've had to remove several dead rabbits from the back yard, but today I found her sitting beside one that's still alive. It's breathing and blinking, like obviously still alive. There's a couple of bits of blood, but it doesn't seem to be majorly injured I can't tell if it's legs are hurt or not, but it's not running away, it's just lying there. I picked it up and moved it closer to the field but it still won't move. Could it be in shock or something, or is most likely done for, or is there anything I can do for it?

Cat has a bell, and a loud one at that, around her neck and even adding that to the fact she's a fat mess, she still manages to catch the odd rabbit

Artstaaar

Would you consider putting the rabbit in a box and bringing it to the local vet? Poor bunny My cat is a serial hunter too, I like to call her Ted as in Ted Bundy because she's always bringing home dead and, to my horror, live, injured mice I can't imagine how horrid a rabbit would be though. If I were you I'd bring the rabbit to the vet, at least to have it put down, b/c you don't want to leave it suffer She may kill it herself before you get the chance though. Why are our fuzzy friends so cruel?

Peyton Manning

Problem solved. Our little victim seems to have recovered and trotted off, because he was nowhere to be found when I went to check on him. Cat and dog were both inside, so neither of them touched him.

God speed bunny, God speed.

homerhop

Why are our fuzzy friends so cruel?

Whats cruel about it?

Sigma Force

If it happens again most vets will treat wildlife for free.
Also check out wildlifematters.ie

Maybe keep the cat in for the next few weeks or limit the time the cat spends out esp. in the early mornings and evenings. There's a lot of baby rabbits and some are pretty much fully grown but they have no sense of danger some of them so they are easy prey for cats etc.

Artstaaar

homerhop wrote: »

Whats cruel about it?

I'm not getting into an argument with you about animal instincts. You know what I meant.

homerhop

Artstaaar wrote: »

I'm not getting into an argument with you about animal instincts. You know what I meant.

I am not looking to get into an argument either, I just donbt see what is cruel about it.

Artstaaar

homerhop wrote: »

I am not looking to get into an argument either, I just donbt see what is cruel about it.

Well obviously my cat isn't cruel and doesn't have any sense of what being cruel is. Rather, it makes me feel a sense of cruelness about life to see a helpless creature being murdered by a larger one. What makes us human and all that.

homerhop

ok

kildare.17hmr

cats hunt for fun and will kill just for the hell of it, keeping it inside for a while will just stop him while he is inside as soon as you let him back out he wll be at it again, id be carful though because cats are considered cats fair game when they are on land they shouldnt be on especially if they are out hunting, electric fence collar to keep it in your garden might help?

Zapperzy

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

cats hunt for fun and will kill just for the hell of it, keeping it inside for a while will just stop him while he is inside as soon as you let him back out he wll be at it again, id be carful though because cats are considered cats fair game when they are on land they shouldnt be on especially if they are out hunting, electric fence collar to keep it in your garden might help?

I have never seen these for sale in Ireland. Maybe in america they might be more common but Iv never heard of them on this side of the ocean. Even if they were available over here I would never use nor recommend one. A better way of keeping a cat inside a garden is by installing a special cat fence such as the purrfect fence or katzsecure, or by building an enclosure.

kildare.17hmr

Zapperzy wrote: »

I have never seen these for sale in Ireland. Maybe in america they might be more common but Iv never heard of them on this side of the ocean. Even if they were available over here I would never use nor recommend one. A better way of keeping a cat inside a garden is by installing a special cat fence such as the purrfect fence or katzsecure, or by building an enclosure.

Iv seen them for dogs alrite but not cats, would have thought it would be similar if not the same thing tho. the 2 fences you mentioned sound like they will do the job, owners responsability at the end of the day to make sure their cat is not causing trouble!

kildare.17hmr

Artstaaar wrote: »

Well obviously my cat isn't cruel and doesn't have any sense of what being cruel is. Rather, it makes me feel a sense of cruelness about life to see a helpless creature being murdered by a larger one. What makes us human and all that.

only spotted this now, Opinions like this really confuse me, that is not murder its life for all animals, its how they and we for that matter survive

Artstaaar

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

only spotted this now, Opinions like this really confuse me, that is not murder its life for all animals, its how they and we for that matter survive

Yeah, obviously, but its not nice to look at, I don't see how that's hard to understand? Do you like watching animals kill other animals? I sure don't. That doesn't mean its wrong or the animals are bad, it just means I'm a human with emotions and concepts of suffering and death.

Artstaaar

There's no point really trying to stop your cat from hunting or keeping him or her in, in my opinion. Its just what they do. Unless they've been raised to be indoor cats, they'll whine constantly until you let them out, they're stubborn little things!

Traonach

Artstaaar wrote: »

There's no point really trying to stop your cat from hunting or keeping him or her in, in my opinion. Its just what they do. Unless they've been raised to be indoor cats, they'll whine constantly until you let them out, they're stubborn little things!

I have five bells on my cats collar. It's definitely reduced the amount of birds he kills. He hasn't caught any bird in months since I put multiple bells on him.:) Keep them indoors at night and especially at dawn and dusk will also reduce greatly the amount they kill.

Discodog

Unfortunately if the rabbit was bitten by the cat it may well still die. Cat's mouths are full of bacteria & cat bites almost always become infected. This is often why a rescued bird, mouse etc dies a day or two later.

If you rescue any wildlife from a cat it needs an antibiotic injection asap.

kildare.17hmr

Artstaaar wrote: »

Yeah, obviously, but its not nice to look at, I don't see how that's hard to understand? Do you like watching animals kill other animals? I sure don't. That doesn't mean its wrong or the animals are bad, it just means I'm a human with emotions and concepts of suffering and death.

Ah i get ya now, it was the way you said it and used the word murderd but i understand what you ment now about not liking seeing it and i understand that sorry about the confusion!

In answer to your question, it does not bother me as i hunt and see this myself on a near daly basis BUT i do not like to see undue suffering and will not leave an animal wounded

Graces7

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

cats hunt for fun and will kill just for the hell of it, keeping it inside for a while will just stop him while he is inside as soon as you let him back out he wll be at it again, id be carful though because cats are considered cats fair game when they are on land they shouldnt be on especially if they are out hunting, electric fence collar to keep it in your garden might help?

Now THAT is cruel...

Graces7

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

only spotted this now, Opinions like this really confuse me, that is not murder its life for all animals, its how they and we for that matter survive

Exactly so.. But it is not pleasant to see. One of our cats brought a dead mouse in a couple of nights ago.. then she started eating it and the sound of the bones crunching freaked me out. And it is different than hearing her eat a chicken wing.

I am sure that if we had to kill and gut our own chickens etc fewer of us would eat meat.

Last week she brought a live one in; and when I grabbed it I forgot we are now a two storey house and dropped it out of the window...where the window box was in the old place..Poor wee thing...

Graces7

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Ah i get ya now, it was the way you said it and used the word murderd but i understand what you ment now about not liking seeing it and i understand that sorry about the confusion!

In answer to your question, it does not bother me as i hunt and see this myself on a near daly basis BUT i do not like to see undue suffering and will not leave an animal wounded

Hope that you hunt for need and not sport...

planetX

less cruel than the deaths of the horses and cows in catfood tins. I wish people would apply their sympathy across the board.

Irishchick

Even though your cat may not be an athlete it still will be able to do its job as hunter. He/she is probably catching the weaker sick rabbits that cant move as fast.

Artstaaar

Traonach wrote: »

I have five bells on my cats collar. It's definitely reduced the amount of birds he kills. He hasn't caught any bird in months since I put multiple bells on him.:) Keep them indoors at night and especially at dawn and dusk will also reduce greatly the amount they kill.

Oh these things are definitely great ideas and I agree with them, its just pretty hard to stop them completely

kildare.17hmr

Graces7 wrote: »

[/B]

Now THAT is cruel...

I didnt mean a shock collar for a cat i have seen ones that send out a high pitch sound if the cat strays out of the garden, i remember a guy who had one for his dog to keep him in an open back garden and it seened to work well

Graces7 wrote: »

Hope that you hunt for need and not sport...

I dont need to hunt i enjoy hunting as a sport, foxes would be left there but i eat any rabbits i shoot and have lots of people to take any i extra i have to give away and the dogs love it so they are used for the most part