Eating Mice

[Guest Brenda]

My new greyhound caught and ate her first mouse today. Rusty, the older grey, merely kills them and leaves them in the grass but Fable showed tremendous gusto as she popped the offensive rodent into her mouth. I tried to stop her but she's new and therefore not terribly obedient. Should I be worried? I live in the country and there are no poisons anywhere around my property, nor do my neighbours, all quite distant from my house, use anything that could harm their pets. But I am nervous and would like to know what could be the result of this dietary anomaly.

[PattyHasThree]

I can't speak to "the result of this dietary anomaly," (love that phrase), but probably, your houndie would respond to a firmly delivered "drop it" command. My girl Peacock was very disappointed with having to give up her drop her prize, but she did it.

 

Patty

 

Shilo - what;s a mouse?

Maverick - I only watch for squirrels.

Jesse - I'm fond of butterflies.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

Buzz, my "challenged" Greyhound caught a big ole rat and ate a good portion of it before I realized what had happened. His digestive tract was just fine but I was so grossed out that it took me days before I would kiss him!

[Guest greybookends]

The hound should be fine. There is a possibility that the tiny little snack had a parasite and your hound could end up with some worms which are easily taken care of. Just keep an eye on poop, but otherwise she should be just fine.

[Guest Energy11]

Staggerlee ate a rat once, when we lived in Florida. We have field mice in the area here now, as well.

 

My worries about them eating rodents, are parasites, especially tapeworms, and other diseases they may carry.

[cleptogrey]

if you have your dog on interceptor or another heart worm med it should take care of any parasites that it may have injested. emily used to catch and eat birds(that's what i knew about- left over feathers), my terriers-voles. never any complications.

[Guest Stripeyfan]

I'm sure she'll be fine. Kelly's caught and eaten a few mice... AND he has IBD, so the first time it happened, I freaked. But there were no ill effects whatsoever! Maybe she's hinting she'd like a raw diet?

[silverfish]

My girl Susan caught a mouse and in two crunches it was gone before I could get to her - she had terminal kidney cancer and was on a low protein diet, and the vet laughed when I told him and said she'd caught herself her own protein since I wasn't giving her much.

 

However, she was a very high-prey girl and I bet she used to do it as often as she could at the kennel, maybe out in the pasture. By the way she spotted that little thing running across the lawn, targeted it, pounced and swallowed, it definitely looked as if she'd done that before. She wasn't surprised, or particularly proud. When I got all excited about it and yelled no, and ran for her, she looked round with a kind of 'What? What'd I do?' look on her face.

[Greyhoundcastle]

Ah, Brenda! Welcome to the world of "scavenger" dogs! Over the years, we've had hounds that caught mice, birds, squirrels and the occasional alley cat. Somebody tried a toad once - spit it out pretty fast - think it pee'd in the dog's mouth!

 

The current foster, Tango, has a developed a taste for locusts - those winged things that live in the trees and go buzz-buzz-buzz. When they hit the ground, she's ready to pounce. One lunge, one bite - crunch, crunch!

 

If you read back thru the various threads on this board, I think you'll find that most greyhounds seem to have cast-iron stomachs - thank goodness!

 

Hugs and scritches for your new gal and Rusty, too!

 

 

Annie Lambert