# Look what the cat dragged in! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535 "2017-07-17T23:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/1 "2017-07-17T23:11:45Z")
Tonka caught a rodent-like creature. **anamorphic** suggested it’s a shrew. The body is about three inches long, has a flexible nose, and is in NW Washington (state). I looked at online, and it does look like a shrew. [Here’s a pic](http://s107.photobucket.com/user/llaaksonen/media/Dead%20rodent%20cropped.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0). Is this indeed a shrew? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/2 "2017-07-17T23:19:57Z")
On further googling, it looks like it may be a [vagrant shrew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrant_shrew). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/3 "2017-07-17T23:28:02Z")
You may want to check out a [certain Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=830266). (It’s not about you but a certain website.) Just a friendly heads up, really. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/4 "2017-07-17T23:40:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You may want to check out a [certain Pit thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=830266). (It’s not about you but a certain website.) > > Just a friendly heads up, really. Yeah, but it’s what I have. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/5 "2017-07-18T04:51:44Z")
Shrews are just one of those critters that seem like they belong in an anthropomorphic children’s book rather than real life. I had no idea we even had shrews until a stray cat we were looking after kept leaving these long-nose tiny-eyed mouse things laying about the yard. Evidently, there must have been quite a lot of them. Except, maybe not anymore. Edit–wait-flexible nose? What were you doing to find that out?! ---
**Author:** ![anchie33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@anchie33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anchie33)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/6 "2017-07-18T10:21:02Z")
May be rat … ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/7 "2017-07-18T12:47:57Z")
Definitely a shrew. My cats used to bring these up all the time. Like 2 or 3 _a day_. Many they would eat, leaving behind only the stomach or the very hindmost of the hindquarters, but others they would leave for me intact. Oh, there would be other prey (baby squirrels, bunny, mouse, adult male peacock, etc.), but mostly shrews. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/8 "2017-07-18T13:25:17Z")
Too bad it’s dead, otherwise you could tame it. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/9 "2017-07-18T14:24:56Z")
Aren’t shrews a very close relative of humans … maybe you cat is displacing her latent anger by showing what she wants to do to you … it’s a warning, stop tugging her ear hairs so much … ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/10 "2017-07-18T14:39:36Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Too bad it’s dead, otherwise you could tame it. Not if it’s a Killer ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/11 "2017-07-18T15:19:15Z")
> [@Magicicada](#): > > I had no idea we even had shrews… Me too. Never thought about them, and apparently I thought they were European things. In reading the Wikipedia article, I feel a little bad for it. We have plenty of insects and spiders up here, and shrews eat them. Mice are cute, and I feel a little bad for them too. But the shrews are cute _and_ apparently beneficial. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/look-what-the-cat-dragged-in/791535/12 "2017-07-18T15:30:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Yeah, but it’s what I have. You can have [http://imgur.com](http://imgur.com) just as easily.