He was just feeding his python, you shouldn't be punished for this kind of stuff.
>but it's a cat!
So what? It's an animal. The only reason you consider the cat to be a less effective snake food is because it's domesticated. Cats fail the mirror test and aren't even considered self aware.
But he did it for entertainment purposes
Usually when you feel a snake mice
its to actually feed them
assuming that people don't laugh their ass off when they watch a snake swallow a live mouse whole.
It was a featured event in my 4th grade classroom to feed a live mouse to the class snake.