My cats are killing everything!
Discussion
What can I do to minimise the slaughter? Even though my cats wear collars with bells, they are killing everything that breathes! Seriously, everyday there are animal parts on my doorstep. Usually just the kidneys!
Yesterday I came home to 2 new born chicks, a mouse and a shrew. The chicks must have been taken from the nest. The day before one of the cats was looking through a window with a rabbit in his mouth and the same again happened a couple of days before that. As for mice..I'm surprised there are any left around here.
I should point out this is a rural location, but nonetheless, it's all a bit sad. So what can we do? My wife says we should feed the cats up as much as possible, but I think they just want to kill all day long.
Yesterday I came home to 2 new born chicks, a mouse and a shrew. The chicks must have been taken from the nest. The day before one of the cats was looking through a window with a rabbit in his mouth and the same again happened a couple of days before that. As for mice..I'm surprised there are any left around here.
I should point out this is a rural location, but nonetheless, it's all a bit sad. So what can we do? My wife says we should feed the cats up as much as possible, but I think they just want to kill all day long.
KrazyIvan said:
Feed them less, that way they'll eat what there killing, you won't see it and save money. Win win.
Seriously though you live in the country and have cats, There is little you can do to stop them short of keeping then in all the time.
what he said.Seriously though you live in the country and have cats, There is little you can do to stop them short of keeping then in all the time.
Seriously, you have pets that are notoriously efficient hunters yet don't like the fact that they are doing what they do best.
Have you tried playing with the cats with a laser pointer, this may tire them out and satisfy the hunting urge. You do need to remember to give them a reward afterwards else they will feel frustrated. Our cats have the Zebedee catnip mice which they love to play with.
R8VXF said:
KrazyIvan said:
Feed them less, that way they'll eat what there killing, you won't see it and save money. Win win.
Seriously though you live in the country and have cats, There is little you can do to stop them short of keeping then in all the time.
what he said.Seriously though you live in the country and have cats, There is little you can do to stop them short of keeping then in all the time.
Seriously, you have pets that are notoriously efficient hunters yet don't like the fact that they are doing what they do best.
Have you tried playing with the cats with a laser pointer, this may tire them out and satisfy the hunting urge. You do need to remember to give them a reward afterwards else they will feel frustrated. Our cats have the Zebedee catnip mice which they love to play with.
Maybe we'll get them bigger, louder bells. So heavy they struggle to move!!
one of mine rarely kills - spends his time sleeping and laying on the bed.
my other cat is a killing machine. we've had :
mice (10-15 per week)
Birds (small)
blackbird x1
squirrels at least 3
magpie x 1
several pigeons
he's a nightmare.
i just think its his nature, he is constantly out hunting. he is really healthy and seems to live for hunting.
my other cat is a killing machine. we've had :
mice (10-15 per week)
Birds (small)
blackbird x1
squirrels at least 3
magpie x 1
several pigeons
he's a nightmare.
i just think its his nature, he is constantly out hunting. he is really healthy and seems to live for hunting.
We don't really get kills but we get an awful lot of stuff released in the house. God knows how she gets them home and through the cat flap completely intact but we've had in the last year:
Loads of mice mostly alive. Often they run off into the lounge and the cat falls asleep which is exactly what you want on a Monday evening after work.
5 Rats (nice)
3 Birds
1 dead bird but I think that was a recapture after it had died from the shock of being "saved" by me.
1 Goldfish. I couldn't save this one.
Get the odd shrew as well but she seems bored of them now.
Had a mouse left outside which I trod on popping out to do the recycling. I am getting good at catching stuff now and have found a pint glass the best method.
Only way we have found to limit it is to try and hold the cat hostage overnight as this is when they are at their most efficient apparently. Issue with this is that she wakes me up at 3 in the morning and if I don't relent has a massive steaming poo in the litter tray that I can smell one floor and several rooms away and then starts emptying the washing bin.
Loads of mice mostly alive. Often they run off into the lounge and the cat falls asleep which is exactly what you want on a Monday evening after work.
5 Rats (nice)
3 Birds
1 dead bird but I think that was a recapture after it had died from the shock of being "saved" by me.
1 Goldfish. I couldn't save this one.
Get the odd shrew as well but she seems bored of them now.
Had a mouse left outside which I trod on popping out to do the recycling. I am getting good at catching stuff now and have found a pint glass the best method.
Only way we have found to limit it is to try and hold the cat hostage overnight as this is when they are at their most efficient apparently. Issue with this is that she wakes me up at 3 in the morning and if I don't relent has a massive steaming poo in the litter tray that I can smell one floor and several rooms away and then starts emptying the washing bin.
One of our two is a good hunter. We get live frogs released into the house on a regular basis, I've never seen them kill one and sometimes they'll be a frog sat in the kitchen with the cats, maybe they want to be friends.
Mice are generally killed unless I hear her come in with them, she makes a distinctive squeaking when she has some live prey.
Last year she took down a few magpies which upset the other magpies a lot, so far this year no birds but we have lots nesting nearby.
The best was a few weeks, I saw her playing with something on the lawn. I then saw an orange flash from the grass, she's got hold of a small koi. After it stopped flipping about and died she just left it outside. We then went out for the evening, when we got back the koi and been moved inside and presented to us in her food bowl. I'm sure there is an upset neighbour nearby missing their fish.
Mice are generally killed unless I hear her come in with them, she makes a distinctive squeaking when she has some live prey.
Last year she took down a few magpies which upset the other magpies a lot, so far this year no birds but we have lots nesting nearby.
The best was a few weeks, I saw her playing with something on the lawn. I then saw an orange flash from the grass, she's got hold of a small koi. After it stopped flipping about and died she just left it outside. We then went out for the evening, when we got back the koi and been moved inside and presented to us in her food bowl. I'm sure there is an upset neighbour nearby missing their fish.
Well it's all part of the circle I suppose. Nature doing its thing. But if you've ever heard a rabbit screaming, it really is disturbing!
I'm getting a bit cheesed off with the blood stains on the doorstep. Admittedly, these moggies do generally eat what they catch. But kidneys are left strewn everywhere! Interestingly, the new born birds were not eaten yesterday.
I'm getting a bit cheesed off with the blood stains on the doorstep. Admittedly, these moggies do generally eat what they catch. But kidneys are left strewn everywhere! Interestingly, the new born birds were not eaten yesterday.
dmitsi said:
One of our two is a good hunter. We get live frogs released into the house on a regular basis, I've never seen them kill one and sometimes they'll be a frog sat in the kitchen with the cats, maybe they want to be friends.
Mice are generally killed unless I hear her come in with them, she makes a distinctive squeaking when she has some live prey.
Last year she took down a few magpies which upset the other magpies a lot, so far this year no birds but we have lots nesting nearby.
The best was a few weeks, I saw her playing with something on the lawn. I then saw an orange flash from the grass, she's got hold of a small koi. After it stopped flipping about and died she just left it outside. We then went out for the evening, when we got back the koi and been moved inside and presented to us in her food bowl. I'm sure there is an upset neighbour nearby missing their fish.
i had a cat that also got a koi in the garden, alive, it died despite me getting it into water. problem was i asked around the street and no-one had a pond, so god only knows where she got it from and how she got it so far back still alive.Mice are generally killed unless I hear her come in with them, she makes a distinctive squeaking when she has some live prey.
Last year she took down a few magpies which upset the other magpies a lot, so far this year no birds but we have lots nesting nearby.
The best was a few weeks, I saw her playing with something on the lawn. I then saw an orange flash from the grass, she's got hold of a small koi. After it stopped flipping about and died she just left it outside. We then went out for the evening, when we got back the koi and been moved inside and presented to us in her food bowl. I'm sure there is an upset neighbour nearby missing their fish.
she also brought another fish home with her, except this was dead already as it had been fried, i think it was a large bit of cod, she loved eating it, but i suspect some poor pensioner was somewhere trying to report being mugged by a small tabby cat for their lunch
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff