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[fl0werch1ld]

I've been owning rodents since I was 9. My Roborovski broke out one time and got chased around by the cats at 3 am while screaming at the top of her lungs (my mom described it as "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE") but there haven't been any cat-related injuries.

They think the cats will, for some reason, be more aggressive toward my hypothetical mice than they were to my hamsters just because they're... mice. What difference does it make? To a cat, a mouse is just a hamster with a tail.

Why do they think this? How can I convince them otherwise?

For reference, my mom's 53 and my dad's 49.

[Sparrow]

To be completely honest with you, there is a big difference. Hamsters are more "sturdy" than mice. A mouse will be killed by a cat more easily than a hamster, unfortunately I've seen cases of this too many times when taking in rescues.

Hamsters have more cushioning so to speak, they are not as slim and slender as a mouse. A cat grabbing a hamster wouldn't instantly kill it, it's going to get hurt, sure, but it's not going to instantly die from the pressure that the cats mouth would put around the hamsters body. They are rounder, fluffier (which helps prevent punctures from the teeth), their necks are shorter, their feet are closer to their body... I've seen hamsters that have been attacked by cats that came out looking perfectly fine aside from being a little shook up. I've seen mice be decapitated or split in half by a single cat bite. There are not many survival stories of mice that encountered cats.

That's not to say that you shouldn't have mice as pets if you have cats - but you do have to make 101% sure that there are no chances of escaping the cage or cats getting a hold of mice tails through bars...

[fl0werch1ld]

To be completely honest with you, there is a big difference. Hamsters are more "sturdy" than mice. A mouse will be killed by a cat more easily than a hamster, unfortunately I've seen cases of this too many times when taking in rescues.

Hamsters have more cushioning so to speak, they are not as slim and slender as a mouse. A cat grabbing a hamster wouldn't instantly kill it, it's going to get hurt, sure, but it's not going to instantly die from the pressure that the cats mouth would put around the hamsters body. They are rounder, fluffier (which helps prevent punctures from the teeth), their necks are shorter, their feet are closer to their body... I've seen hamsters that have been attacked by cats that came out looking perfectly fine aside from being a little shook up. I've seen mice be decapitated or split in half by a single cat bite. There are not many survival stories of mice that encountered cats.

That's not to say that you shouldn't have mice as pets if you have cats - but you do have to make 101% sure that there are no chances of escaping the cage or cats getting a hold of mice tails through bars...

 

Well, that. makes sense, but how do I convince my parents that it won't happen as soon as I bring them home?