Pierre the British Shorthair has turned in to a right little serial killer, bringing home a regular supply of mice and small birds, I’m not so concerned about the mice although they do appear to have met a gruesome slow death but yesterday he brought home a beautiful Bullfinch which are not that common so that really p***ed me off. Bar keeping him inside are there any remedies for this? We had bell collars on him before but they’re gone within a day or two and apparently are not that effective anyway. I accept he’s only acting on instinct but it seems a high price to pay for cat ownership.
Unfortunately that’s what cats do and the reason why I won’t own one.
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Well you can shoot the birds so he doesn’t have anything to catch. Or the cat. Same end result: no dead birds on the carpet.
On a serious note though, we had a cat who did this and had him declawed. Worst thing we ever did and my mum was wracked with guilt over seeing the effect on him. I don’t advise it.
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Cats instinctively like to hunt at dawn and dusk, i have discovered that keeping my threesome indoors until later in the morning has drastically lowered the bird kill rate, almost down to none, …this coupled with no cat flap. Birds like to ground feed early in the mornings so it gives them a safer experience. I also give my cats a generous bowl of food before the sun goes down, which would seem to blunt the edge off their need to hunt.
Nearly all the kills they bring home are field mice, which is probably a good thing, this area was overrun with them 20 years ago. Had to replace some nibbled electric cables back then, plus could see mice droppings in the loft where they’d hibernate, don’t see this sort of thing anymore.
Another good thing about keeping them in mornings is they have got used to pooping in the cat litter trays… instead of a neighbours garden.
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Sakli catches the occasional insect.
Latika get birds and mice now and again. At first he didn’t realise you could eat them, Sakli who does not have a clue about how to catch birds or mice soon showed him they were edible and now Latika growls at Sakli if he comes close before the catch has been eaten. Being woken up by a growling Latika and hearing crunching from under the bed is not my favourite alarm.
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But it’s in nature and.She’s a perfect hunter on the chain.We have to accept it.Yet they are so kind and nice🙂!
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You can except that but as owners you have responsibilities.
Finches are an easy catch for cats. So are chickens caged up for us humans. So beautiful too, but then that’s through our rose tinted glasses.
I find feeding birds attracts them to our cat’s delight. It makes finches particularly vulnerable. My cat isn’t allowed out all day/night and is checked on every half hour. I work from home. It’s not often he catches them, as I put him off stalking/waiting around the feeding area. He’s a sweet little cat and genuinely does’t mean harm towards anything, but rarely he makes a mistake.
When we’re all vegans, we can discuss this properly.
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Sadly it’s in their nature to hunt. To put it in perspective, the local sparrowhawk catches far more birds in our garden than our cat manages.
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Either keep the cat indoors permanently OR only let them out during the middle of the day. Absolutely not early morning or evening. Do not have a cat flap.
If you own a cat you are responsible for it and please do NOT allow it to decimate the local wildlife.
Its not ‘natural’ as you have introduced and look after the cat.
as a cat owner…
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It is possible to keep a house cat that does not go outside. Best results occur with pedigree breeds which have been house cats for generations. You need to play and interact with your kitten as soon as you collect it from the breeder. Cats have an instinct to climb and sit up high. Buy or make a cat tower. Also a cave, like a cardboard box, on the floor.
If you do ever keep a house cat then you need to allow that it needs company. Mine insists that I watch him eat, even when there’s food readily available. We previously had two house cats who would play and play hunt each other.
I’m afraid that an adult cat used to roaming would be unhappy if confined. You might see if your cat would take to a harness and leash?
Regard the dead prey brought to you as a love offering! I’m assuming your cat is neutered or spayed? Intact males have a 12 mile range and will fight other males.
Some cat owners think that keeping a house cat is cruel, but you can find plenty of advice on line. Something to think about if you are ever about to purchase a kitten.
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Mine too! I thought my Mo was the only one to do that. He sits behind me and asks and asks until I get up, then he runs to his dish (which is always there) where I have to massage and kiss his head whilst he eats.
Regarding keeping a cat permanently indoors, I disagree. I don’t think that’s fair. Cats love the outdoors, sunbathing, noises, fresh air, etc… How would you like it?
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There’s some thinking that adult cats retain kitten behaviour when they live with humans. Adult cats in the wild don’t mew or call for food.
My cat enjoys sunbathing in the conservatory. But I accept that keeping a house cat is controversial. My cat won’t get run over or get a contagious disease. There are four humans to amuse him and he is seldom alone in the house.
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They may like the outdoors but they’re an introduced species, the wildlife in your yard and your neighbours yard has no choice.
I like cats but I dislike irresponsible cat owners that think their cat has the right to room the suburban killing everything in sight. If you own a dog it’s your responsibility to keep it in your yard, why is it any different for a cat.
Of course I can only talk about the damage cats do here but I’m sure it’s the same everywhere.
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Better to keep them indoor in the evening, since they can in turn be prey for owls or foxes
If you feed a cat chicken how is that different to the cat-catching birds themself?
Chicken isn’t increasingly rare wildlife. When I was a child we had 4x more songbirds in domestic gardens than we do now. Whether its causal or not cat predation doesn’t help…
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Has Pierre had his little balls removed ?
His hunting habits might be controlled by instinct more so if he has more faculties controlling them.
Over the past few year i’ve been thinking about a ‘catio’.
It would be easy to do a small one on the patio in front of the french doors, but this would be very compromised with its diminutive size. Plus my three 13 year old sister cats originated from feral life on a farm and freedom of roam so the sudden appearance of a ‘cage’ confinement would seriously depress their quality of life.
However it would be possible to develop a catio as a part-time restriction. My three are becoming more relaxed about hunting, which is more of an energetic young cat urge, but there is a concern over poop control, and where they deposit it. So in the interest of good neighbourly relations my cats are encouraged to poop at home in the litter trays.
The plan in the back of my mind is to install a cat-flap in a back bedroom upstairs - which leads out into a small mezzanine high up in the loft part of the garage, from here an enclosed stepped corridor down to two more cat-flaps, one which would lead outside high just under the patio-canopy but high up over the patio to further mezzanines and high up walkways, and other cat-flap lower down to ground level outside patio; both of these exiting within the confines of a new catio barrier. So at least they have the ability to step outside for fresh air at least.
Also within the garage at floor level the addition of a couple of litter trays which is a good placement as the pong wouldn’t add to the household fragrance.
An ambitious and strange structure but one which would delight the cats for access.
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We have friends who have enclosed their veranda and built a cat friendly haven. They have fresh air a grassed area climbing poles and best of all no risk of killing the wonderful native wildlife. They bring them in of a night.
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