My almost two year old female cat is… to put it bluntly… a cold blooded killer. We live in a semi-rural area, and she routinely is catching mice, lizards, large insects and now full grown birds. Last night there were feathers all over the house. Sometimes the victim is still alive when we get home… usually there are only pieces I can use for identification. It’s become a real problem.
I don’t know how she does it, she’s pretty small for a cat, but she is the most efficient hunter I have ever seen.
Now I have had lots of cats before, and sometimes they would bring something into the house, but it wasn’t very often and after a while they got the idea that they weren’t “pleasing me” by doing this. My current cat is relentless.
I’ve tried the bell on the collar trick but that hasn’t even slowed her down. I could lock her up in the house all day, but when I’ve done that in the past she eats a lot more and sleeps all the time. I don’t want to turn her into one of those unhealthly overweight cats I see at other people’s houses. Getting another cat for her to play with isn’t an option… we tried that and she drove the other cat away. We have a cat door so she can come and go as she pleases.
Help! I’m afraid to come home at night now since invariable I have walk around the house and play “what did the cat kill today”!. Any ideas?
Its going to be tough unless you either keep her locked up in the house 24/7 or at the very least on a harness in the yard.
We let Spud (our cat) out for walks on his harness. He sucessfully killed a bird while on a leash… with my on the other end.
One of the cats at my barn can catch a full-grown, uninjured bird on the wing. I call her “the mighty huntress.” Since cats are predators and designed to hunt, I doubt if there is an effective way to curb this behavior. Can she become an outdoor-only cat? (A box in a shed, garage, or other place out of the wind might ease your conscience.)
Honestly, I had a cat that after being an indoor/outdoor cat all his life, had to spend a few years (winter included, and this was in NYC, it does snow) as an outdoor cat exclusively. He got along fine, never looked healthier in his life, and didn’t hold it against us. We did feed him during this time, just outdoors in “his” shed.
That’s what cats do, I’m afraid. Despite being one of the Biggest Cat Freaks Ever, I will be the first to admit that cats are some of the most viscious, cruelest, blood thirsty animals on Earth.
Yep - cats are hunters, that’s what they do. I had a cat that brough a live, unhurt baby rabbit indoors and let it go.
Some cats are better hunters than others (bells on collars don’t really work well, IMHO), and the reason she is bringing her catch inside is to make you happy with her. She wants you to see what a good cat she is - killing all this vermin and providing food for you.
I know how disgusting animal body parts are - my former cat would leave a buffet of body parts all over our deck - once he even dragged a gopher - still in the gopher trap - over our pool fence (6’ privacy fence) and up the stairs to our upper level deck.
I have trained outdoor cats to be indoor cats, you need to be firm about not letting them out. Otherwise, grin and bear it - and don’t forget to praise your cat for being such a good provider!
I would hate to lock her up in the house all day too. In my experience indoor/outdoor cats don’t become indoor only cats easily.
Maybe a better bell?? That seems to be the most effective way to keep cats from catching birds. Let it catch all the mice and bugs it wants but we really do need to protect the song birds.
There’s no way to stop it. OR rather, it’s too late now. Your cat is an excellent hunter, and is apparently used to showing you the catch, rather than dragging it off to a corner.
If you don’t scold it the first time it brings you a dead mouse, it will continue doing it. Even if you don’t congratulate it, cats like to show off. It’s a social animal thing. We’re not terribly different.
Dogs are “predators” as well, but you don’t see them doing this kind of shit.
Plus, cats are the only species that I know of where a male will kill all of the babies/kittens if he is not the father of said kittens, in order to improve the gene pool and ensure that his genes will be passed on.
Dogs have been domesticated longer than cats and are not as feral.
That said, my puppy loves to go after squirrles and birds. Who knows, if he wasn’t on a leash he might get himself a squirrel. Plus you should see the way he tracks and targets leaves that are blowing around.
No. Dogs are not nearly predators of the same class that a cat is. Wolves (of which domestic dogs are reputed to have descended from) hunt almost exclusively in packs.
And let me get this straight - Your giving a couple of :rolleyes: to the instincts of a cat? Wow. Someone has some issues.
Cats do indeed do this. Here’s a link of lions doing this (with video…not pretty). Your house tabby isn’t so very different from its larger cousins and I have seen video of them doing this as well. (To support the notion of house cats doing this you might look up the following: MacDonald DW, Apps PJ, Carr GM, Kerby G. Social dynamics, nursing coalitions and infanticide among farm cats, Felis catus. Berlin Paul Parey Scientific Publishers, 1987.)
However, the male lion does not do this to ‘improve’ the gene pool (except insofar as being the new dominant male might suggest he has the better genes). The answer is much more basic. While a female is caring for kittens/cubs she won’t go into heat and will not tolerate the attention of males. When a new male takes over he simply wants to start getting some so he kills the kittens/cubs. With nothing left to take care of the female will go back into heat and the male can get his rocks off.
I don’t know; I’ve seen far too many instances of human males doing much the same thing. I take it you don’t like cats?
As for how to deal with the little killer in question, I’d suggest that you keep her inside if it’s at all possible. I know how hard this can be, and I’ve only succeeded in making indoor cats out of a couple of my own. If you can convert her to an indoor-only pet, you’ll not only be doing the wild bird population a favor (and with the West Nile virus hitting them so hard, birds can use all the favors they can get), you’ll be improving her chances for living a long, healthy life free of injury. Do switch her to a good-quality light food, though. Your vet can recommend one that’s balanced.
I’ve seen wild horse stallions kill foals that are sired by another stallion.
Dogs kill too, my dog kills moles, he even killed one while I held his leash (I thought he was digging, it happened really fast. I was shocked.) I don’t let my dogs roam, I’m sure you will find that roaming dogs can do their fair share of killing too.
We’re not terribly different.