# The part of the mouse my cat won't eat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2001, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172 "2001-06-09T11:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/1 "2001-06-09T11:24:33Z")
My cat catches and eats mice. Eats 'em from nose to tail. Except, he won’t eat one organ, something smooth and grey-green. What is the thing he won’t eat? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/2 "2001-06-09T13:07:53Z")
WAG: gall bladder. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/3 "2001-06-09T19:18:52Z")
More likely the caecum. At least that’s what most of my cats would never eat. My current cat eats even that (and then barfs up the whole mouse an hour later.) The gall bladder is likely to be avoided in larger animals, such as rabbits. It is bright green, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/4 "2001-06-09T19:23:53Z")
This suggests that the gall bladder in a mouse is too small for you to notice easily, and is a “tiny white dot”: [http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu/labs/mousepic.html](http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu/labs/mousepic.html) ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2001, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/5 "2001-06-09T19:27:17Z")
The only thing my cats eat are the heads. I don’t think I want to know why. ---
**Author:** ![MathDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@MathDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MathDoc)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/6 "2012-07-23T07:17:47Z")
The cat owner who filmed this captured a pretty good image that appears to be the intact rodent uterus with a very visible placenta and multiple fetuses. My cat has left several of these behind too and it took me a while to figure out what they were. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lHssjdSr6Ns/maxresdefault.jpg "Mouse guts from cat snack") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHssjdSr6Ns) But why doesn’t the cat eat it? ---
**Author:** ![kob09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kob09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kob09)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/7 "2012-07-23T07:23:40Z")
My cat leaves that gray-greenish organ behind as well … I first suspected kidney, but it’s too big for that… size-wise and according to the form it would be the stomach. But I’m not sure neither. I never think of asking the vet when I am there ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/8 "2012-07-23T08:07:02Z")
How interesting, I never knew cats would do that. (When I owned cats they would disassemble the occasional mouse they caught but seemed to be uninterested in eating them) I wonder if there’s a reason for them doing that? They don’t like the taste perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/9 "2012-07-23T09:26:08Z")
My cat likes to eat just one half (front or back) of the mouse and leave the other half directly in the path I take to let the dogs out first thing in the morning, before my eyes are working correctly. She doesn’t seem to prefer one half over the other, which leads me to believe there isn’t one particular organ that is anathema to cats. Could it be a segment of intestine containing something unpalatable? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/10 "2012-07-23T09:27:21Z")
I thought they left it as a present to you? ---
**Author:** ![kob09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kob09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kob09)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/11 "2012-07-23T09:36:06Z")
it has a kidney-shaped form but is far too big in relation to a louse to be a kidney. you can simply pick it up… the surface is dry and clean… might be the cat doesn’t like the stomach acids ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/12 "2012-07-23T11:56:46Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > How interesting, I never knew cats would do that. (When I owned cats they would disassemble the occasional mouse they caught but seemed to be uninterested in eating them) > > I wonder if there’s a reason for them doing that? They don’t like the taste perhaps? Well, I quite like beef muscle tissue, but I hate the taste of beef liver (or any liver, for that matter). The various cats I’ve had have all had individual food likes and dislikes. So maybe it IS that the cats don’t like the taste. Or they are amateur anatomists, and would appreciate some paw-friendly scalpels and tweezers. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/13 "2012-07-23T12:29:24Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I thought they left it as a present to you? Mr AaronX Sir I send you half the Kidne I took from one mousie prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. From your bedroom ---
**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 23, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/14 "2012-07-23T12:46:15Z")
> [@](#): > > “Love to eat them mousies, Mousies what I love to eat. Bite they little heads off… Nibble on they tiny feet.”—B. Kliban [http://bestuff.com/stuff/love-to-eat-them-mousies](http://bestuff.com/stuff/love-to-eat-them-mousies) [http://www.etsy.com/listing/51276034/b-kliban-love-to-eat-them-mousies](http://www.etsy.com/listing/51276034/b-kliban-love-to-eat-them-mousies) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LweTcDegxek/hqdefault.jpg ""Love to Eat Them Mousies"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LweTcDegxek) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/15 "2012-07-23T13:14:08Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Mr AaronX > Sir > I send you half the > Kidne I took from one mousie > prasarved it for you tother piece > I fried and ate it was very nise. > > From > > your bedroom I’m a bit rusty on cat talk, but I thought it would be something like, “I gives you mousie, you makez cheezburger?” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/16 "2012-07-23T14:29:52Z")
> [@kob09](#): > > it has a kidney-shaped form but is far too big in relation to a **louse** to be a kidney. _I will not eat it from a mouse I will not eat it from a louse I do not like green organ jam I do not like it, Cat-I-Am_ ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/17 "2012-07-23T14:54:13Z")
zombie or no i’ve seen cats swallow mice whole in 10 seconds. crush the skull a few times and swallow head first. there may be a difference between outdoor, indoor and inbetweener cats. if it is food you need you don’t want to loose it to another animal. ---
**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 23, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/18 "2012-07-23T15:37:22Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I’m a bit rusty on cat talk, but I thought it would be something like, > “I gives you mousie, you makez cheezburger?” JtR reference. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/19 "2012-07-23T15:49:50Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I thought they left it as a present to you? One of my former cats used to almost-kill mice and leave them in my shoes, still twitching. The first time, my foot finished the job. Though the cat’s gone now, and I don’t have mice anyway, I still shake out my shoes before putting them on. ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172/20 "2012-07-23T16:33:09Z")
It’s most likely the liver. Less than an inch, probably less than a half-inch? I have had a cat leave identifiable livers around after mousing. The bile pigments in the liver can make it appear more green after death, rather than the red-brown of a live liver. Speaking here as someone who has seen my share of both live and dead livers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-part-of-the-mouse-my-cat-wont-eat/68172.md?page=2)