Catching mice & birds

[Podsy]

I know that it is normal behaviour for cats, but is there anything I can/should do to stop my cats doing this? My 2 cats, (male & female) both coming up to 2 years old , have both just discovered the joys of the garden. Previously they just caught flies, but the past few weeks they have started bringing in mice, and then today a poor small bird. The problem is that they are not killing them, and then are letting them get loose in the house! The other day I had to rescue a small mouse from behind a pile of books, and this morning we had a frog hopping round the kitchen. My male cat has just come in with a bird in his mouth, so I picked him up and put him outside to continue 'playing'. Anything I should be doing? I'm guessing there is nothing I can do to stop them, I don't want to keep them inside all the time.

[greenkitty]

A safety collar with two bells on can help.

[lilynmitz]

I sympathise, my Mo was a prolific hunter. A few things that will help:

1. Bells on safety collars. The RSPB says this brings down the kill rate by about 30%.

2. Keep them in as long as you can in the morning, and bring them in at night. Birds are very vulnerable in the early morning, as this is when they do most feeding (particularly this time of year), but you'd be surprised how many are out at night as well - Mo often brought garden birds in after dark. Cats have better night time eyesight and hearing than most prey animals, which is why they like to go hunting at night.

3. Dusk is a good hunting time as well, when the nocturnal animals first come out to feed, so try to bring them in at dusk and keep them in overnight.

4. Please remember every adult bird killed this time of year can mean an entire brood starves to death. And the fledglings have as much common sense as the average two year old human, so are also extremely vulnerable when first out of the nest.

[sarie]

Yeah as has already been stated really..

Mine have bells on their collars and I don't let them out until the sun is fully up and I try to get them in before dusk. They stay in at night.
I also make sure they're well fed and have access to food all day so if they're hunting it's purely out of the instinct to chase rather than necessity due to hunger. This doesn't stop them hunting but it does cut back on their kills.

Up until now I haven't had a cat flap so I've monitored their comings and goings which has the added side effect that they can't bring their catches into the house and release them. This doesn't mean they're not catching and killing but it does mean that I don't have them releasing live mice/birds in the house or leaving 'presents' for me. However, I'm about to get a house with a catflap so I'm sure I'll start to experience that joy.. but if it becomes a problem then they'll be confined to the kitchen/utility when they're accessing the outdoors to prevent them from releasing into more awkward areas of the house.

The best you can hope is to cut back on how many creatures they catch, especially at this time of year. Some cats are just really good at hunting unfortunately

[Podsy]

Thank you for your suggestions. I don't know why I didn't think of a bell! One of the cats wont wear a collar, but I'll try and give it another go. 2 new bells ordered too!

[sarie]

The key is to persist with collars - I use the Ancol Safety Collars as they come off if they're caught on anything but are sturdy enough that my boys can't just claw them off unless they're really cheesed off.

Clive wouldn't wear a collar in the early days but I kept a stock of them and everytime I realised he didn't have it on anymore I'd just calmly put another one on him. Eventually he got sick of fighting it and now he's totally accepting of his collar.

It's handy to have him wear one as the bell also tells me when he's coming as well as the birds. He used to stealth into rooms without me noticing and get shut in places but now I'm always aware of his movements

Good luck

[Cat Addictions]

I never thought of bells either. Good thinking, thank you!

[claire_lee]

We started keeping ours in at night because for road safety (not that our road is busy) but then discovered that we no longer came downstairs to find small body parts/feathers in the lounge.

However we still had one cat in particular that was a very prolific hunter and one bell on the collar didn't stop him catching birds. Read somewhere that a cat can disable one bell but not two so we tried him with two and his prey count reduced dramatically....

[mr_frisky]

I've rescued about 4 birds recently. The cats seem to get them then bring them back unharmed to play with on the lawn. They let me have first access to them and I put them somewhere safe with bird seed and water if possible, while the cats continue to look for the bird, not believing that they could have gotten away from me.

[Lyn from Australia]

For the most part my cats, when they are "lucky" enough to catch something in their small courtyard, bring it inside to present to me and to play with. They kill occasionally but for the most part I can save the poor lizzies ....I mean lizards or whatever and release them, while at the same time giving the cat in question praise for his or her skill. After all, they are only doing what nature intends - but without the need to eat their prey. I actually wouldn't discourage the catching and killing of rodents - after all, the last time this happened (due to belief in witchcraft and the annihilation of cats) we had the black plague!! If there is any creatures even more prolific than cats can be, it's rodents.