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I love our cat ...BUT!....

(12 Posts)
Craftycat Tue 16-Apr-19 12:53:50

she is a real hunter!
I posted a few weeks ago about collars on cats & I did get her a collar with a bell in the hope that it would stop her bringing in 'presents' for us. She usually gets the birds from my stupid neighbour's patio where she will insist on feeding the birds on the ground.
It is now getting worse as she has discovered mice as well as birds.
She never kills or even seems to hurt anything- she just brings them in & lets them loose in the house. Yesterday we had a wood pigeon in the sitting room in the middle of the afternoon! A few nights ago it was a little mouse in the bedroom.
The mouse was the 3rd that week but first one to make it upstairs & they were all caught & returned to the garden with no apparent injury but probably a bit traumatised.
We had a blue tit last week- not a mark on it & it flew away when I put it on bird table.
The pigeon flew madly round the sitting room until I managed to open front door & he flew into hall & out of the door having ignored the open windows.
She has no interest in them as food or even playthings- it seems they are just presents for us.
Now I like mice - had a pet one when I was young -but I am terrified of flying birds - luckily DH was at home yesterday & took control.
Anyone had a cat that grew out of this habit-? She is not yet 2 so still young. The others never bring anything in or show any interest in wildlife at all. She idolises me & follows me around all day- I can't even go to the loo in peace- & DH firmly believes these are just her gifts for me.
I'd rather have chocolate!!

ninathenana Tue 16-Apr-19 13:06:34

smile No sorry, I think they have to be quiet old and infirm before they give up. Our previous cat was still catching things at 10y.o. before she developed a tumour.
This was the scene that greeted me on Monday thanks to our current cat

Septimia Tue 16-Apr-19 13:08:52

Our neighbour's cat moved in with us (an amicable arrangement as the cat doesn't like the new dog in her house). She's always been a hunter and delights in bringing us mice and voles (we've got pretty slick at catching them) and rabbits past rescue. She does catch birds, but less often. I found a mouse living happily under the telephone table the other day. We caught it with a humane trap and I let it go. I wondered why it looked at me in such a bewildered fashion when it was outside - then discovered, while clearing away the nest it had made, that it must have been indoors for some time. Our own, older, cat hunts very little but previous cats have been keen hunters. We once came home to find a woodcock in the conservatory - goodness knows how the cat got it through the catflap. Generally, our cats have reduced their hunting as they've got older - so I wish you luck!!

Septimia Tue 16-Apr-19 13:10:00

Yes, ninathenana, that looks familiar!

Nannytopsy Tue 16-Apr-19 13:10:14

My cat is 16. Last summer we had lots of baby mice brought in. Sorry!

Charleygirl5 Tue 16-Apr-19 13:24:18

Tara is 14 and still very fit but thankfully has stopped hunting.

Craftycat Tue 16-Apr-19 22:52:32

Oh well! Just removed another very lively mouse from hall. Cat is locked in dining room howling with disapproval at being parted from latest offering.
At least I have no bodies to dispose of & the other 3 don't hunt.

Gossamerbeynon1945 Wed 17-Apr-19 18:35:20

Falconery bell. It works

Urmstongran Wed 17-Apr-19 21:01:57

I suppose we like to bring animals into our homes as ‘pets’.
Irritatingly, they have inbuilt animal characteristics.
?

Willow500 Thu 18-Apr-19 09:05:21

My feline girlie has never killed anything or brought anything in since we adopted her 8 years - I don't think she'd be agile or quick enough grin but the old boy who is now 11 has brought all sorts in. Usually mice which he has eaten and left gruesome evidence on the floor but sometimes he lets them go and we have to try to catch them. I've also had frogs, baby rabbits, once a baby hare and even a lizard over the years.. He doesn't kill birds any more - I've seen him just sitting outside watching them obviously can't be bothered but all of my previous cats would if they got the chance. It always amazed me that the blackbirds would come back year on year to nest in the hedge!

grandtanteJE65 Thu 18-Apr-19 11:30:44

Mine brings mice in dead, usually, but if it is cold outside, alive and chases them all round the sitting-room before devouring them on the front doormat in the hall.

I had to put my foot down very firmly about birds, dead or alive, being brought in to be eaten in the kitchen. Finally, they got the point when I had spent an entire summer carting cats with birds out into the garden again.

Close the cat-flap and don't let her in if there is a tail sticking out of the corner of her mouth!

Craftycat Sun 05-May-19 12:00:22

I'm dreading our holiday in July as I expect a charnal house when we get back. My lovely neighbour is feeding them-(I do hers when they go away) but she won't find all the bodies (she doesn't eat them) unless she searches the whole house every day. I'll have to shut all the upstairs doors although they are very good at door opening!
Not as adept as I am getting at catching lively mice though! I've got it down to a fine art now & I have bought some humane traps for the ones who get away.
Yesterday we have another large wood pigeon but I caught her on the door step & set it free although it had lost quite a few feathers- I hope it was alright.
I've found a louder bell too - not that it seems to make much difference.