Escape & Fight For Life?

[Jiffykat]

I was watching tv after work and my mom came to talk to me. She was like did dad tell you? I was like what?!?! (With the tone of voice she used, I knew I should be concerned.) Then she was like well, we were watching tv and my dad saw something out of the corner of his eye and went digging in a pile of stuff and was like there is a rat in here! I was like on of my gerbils got out, why didn't you tell me?!?! He was like it wasn't a big deal. I was freaking out, did you put it in the right cage? He was like I put it in the one that was open, my heart just dropped, I ran upstairs, totally concerned that if one got out, more than one could have gotten out and they wouldn't even know that another one was missing. Everyone was accounted for and most of them were sleeping so they were like leave me alone, no need for ahead count, turn out the lights. I went back downstairs and was tlaking to my dad about which one it was, found out it was the two that I am split caging. Apparently after I fed them, I moved onto another cage and forgot to shut their cage. The last time I fed them was yesterday before I went to work at two. (I had class all day today and then had to work, so I hadn't get a chance to play with them of feed them yet.) So for all I know Hermione could have been running around since yesterday at two! Now that I knew which gerbil it was that got out, I went back upstairs to check on them again, after waking them up, I discovered that Hedwig had what appeared to be bite marks on her neck, my heart dropped, I was like oh my god. My cat actually acted like a cat and tried to eat her. I almost started to cry and started apologizing for forgetting to shut the lid. Then I looked at Hermione because that was the one that my dad said he put back into the tank. (I assumed he must have been confused as they look identical except the end of Hedwig's tail came of so she has a shorter stumpy tail.) I looked at Hermione and she had the exact same thing!!!! From what I can figure (as only one of the got out) Hermione or Hedwig climb over the divider and they fought thus causing the wounds. Then Hermione climb up the divider and out of the cage. She could have been wandering around the upstairs for mare than 24 hours. Which I am sad to say I didn't notice because I have been working like crazy lately and haven't gotten to spend as much time with them as I should be. However, this goes to prove the point, cats and rodents can be kept in the same house with incident. It wasn't my cat the bit either of them, they fought eachother, thank God it wasn't to the death, neither of them appear to be majorly hurt. Hermione is acting normal and Hedwig is moving a little slower than normal, but not acting too wierd. My cat would have had ample time to try to eat Hermione if she had wanted to, because she could have been out for a full day and she was found in my parents room, a favorite hang out of my cats. On a totally related note, what should I put on their bite wounds?

[Tenacious D]

Just apply Ointment regular NeoSporin would be fine on the wound, and about the cat... I can promise you that if you let your gerbil loose in your bathroom, and have your cat in there and NOONE around, It will kill the Gerbil, at time's cat's can be afraid to kill something with other's in the house because of punishment (They aren't stupid) but when noone is around their killing instints kick in and they will kill it w\o even thinking

[Jiffykat]

Thanks for your advice on the ointment, however, much of the time that my gerbil was out, my cat was home alone with her. Thanks for the semi-lecture on cats killer instincts.

[Zouave]

>> My cat actually acted like a cat and tried to eat her. <<

Unbelievable. Some of you just INSIST on keeping cats with gerbils, no matter how many stories we hear about escaped gerbils killed by cats. :mad:

Please USE PARAGRAPHS in the future; that was very hard to read.

I had an escape recently when doing a split screen - escapes happen to the best of us. Which is why I have no cats here!!

I am getting a Have-A-Heart humane trap very soon in case any others get out; it is too problematic to catch them any other way.

[Jiffykat]

My cat is more like Garfield, except she is too picky to eat lasagna. If we had mice she'd probably be like I won't eat you, just don't let the humans see you.

In the future I will try to use paragraphs, however I was really shaken up finding out that one of my babies had gotten out.

[Tenacious D]

Zouave, No offense but most people DO Have other pets besides plain gerbils in their house-hold, I have two dogs, one cat, one chinchilla, a gerbil colony and a mouse colony.... ok? If you just have gerbil's that's fine but most people have multiple pets such as Dogs and Cats (Most common) and it's quite simple to keep a gerbil from escaping if you are careful, And on the semi-lecture of cats instincts...Jiffy, it's a friggin' cat, All cat's in thier natural enviroment HUNT, If your's dosen't that's fine but most cats would kill a little animal running around the house and eat it, That's common sense right there cats are born hunters, Anyway enough of this thread the ointment part was answered and the cat part was pointless but entertaining

[LikeItOrNot]

My cat would have had ample time to try to eat Hermione if she had wanted to, because she could have been out for a full day and she was found in my parents room, a favorite hang out of my cats.

That doesn't prove anything. Just because a rodent is loose doesn't mean the cat knows it. Even if the cat was sleeping in your parents room, they wouldn't have known. When cats sleep, they sleep. They wouldn't know if a rodent ran by or was hiding somewhere. With some cats, they also have to be in the mood to chase or hunt something. For the first time in 6yrs, my cat recently decided to chase a bird outside. :rolleyes: So you just got lucky. It doesn't mean that if there's another escape, that one will be just as lucky.

Unbelievable. Some of you just INSIST on keeping cats with gerbils, no matter how many stories we hear about escaped gerbils killed by cats. :mad:

Dude you're just a cat hater in general. Everytime someone posts about cats and gerbils or a noob asks about them, you go on and on about how evil cats are. You just INSIST that they're evil, like they'll attack them in their tanks untill it knocks over and they can grab them. Are you one of those people that purposely poision them and run them over in the road? :rolleyes:

Just like with any animal, it comes down to responsibility, simple precuations and common sense. Simply using a tank with a screen cover and something to weigh it down is more than enough for most people. By your logic, if you leave your dog outside, forget to shut the gate and he gets hit by a car.... You'd blame the car. :rolleyes:

[LikeItOrNot]

have multiple pets such as Dogs and Cats (Most common) and it's quite simple to keep a gerbil from escaping if you are careful, And on the semi-lecture of cats instincts...Jiffy, it's a friggin' cat, All cat's in thier natural enviroment HUNT

I bet Zouave thinks dogs and cats can't be kept together either. I think he watched too much Looney Tunes when he was little. :rolleyes: