Cats

[Reptilian]

Relating to my post about the injured bank vole I’m getting annoyed with my cat. He's a male and nearly 3 years old and living in rural Wales i expect him to hunt. He hunts for fun not for food unfortunately. Daily he leaves mice, voles, bluetits, sparrows, great tits by the back door for us to find. Yesterday i found the remains of a rabbit, just the snout the rest of the skull and body was missing. I wouldn't have thought a domestic cat would be able to manage such a thing! Maybe he had help.

I love my cats hunting ability but I’m really starting to feel sorry for the wildlife! The "it's only natural" excuse is running thin on my girlfriend and i don't blame her but i don't know what to do. I always play with the cat if he's around and he always has food and drink, he come and goes as he pleases, he's spoilt really.

Is there any way of discouraging cats from mindless hunting without neglect?

[Za]

A collar with a couple of bells might give a bit of warning to his toys, then at least the smart ones will escape.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

It might be a natural instinct to the cat, but it's not a natural thing for the wildlife of britain to contend with

Like has been said, try putting a bell on the collar

[Gill Catton]

yes I had a cat like that, thankfully my 3 cats are now either too fat and lazy, three legged and a bit slow because of that or too young and apprehensive about everything..

The formerly owned cat known as 'trouble' and the only solution was three bells.... This seemed to work... You can also get collars I think that emit a regular beep that the stealthiest mover won't be able to silence......

[Owl-Light]

Try to keep him in during peak times of bird activity - usually just after sun up to mid day and mid afternoon to dusk. Small mammals tend to be most active at dusk and dawn so if they're what he normally goes after those are the times to restrict his prowling.

After the breeding season when the youngsters have been out on their own for a little while and learnt to be wary (they're not at first) then you could let him out a bit more.

It works for us and touch wood our head prowler hasn't caught anything (to my knowledge) few years now. The others only go out when we go with them and frankly don't seem that interested. We encourage wildlife to come to our garden so it wouldn't be fair to set them up to be pounced on. You just have to get a balance that's all.

[overgrownbramble]

Also try to give the wildlife in your garden as much chance as possible by planting shrubs etc for cover, preferably prickly thorn, at least in strategic places.

I've heard of people building huge 3d pens for their cats to keep them to a limited space in the garden, which seems extremely sensible to me. Keeps them away from roads, and wildlife

[llamorna]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

Relating to my post about the injured bank vole I’m getting annoyed with my cat. He's a male and nearly 3 years old and living in rural Wales i expect him to hunt. He hunts for fun not for food unfortunately. Daily he leaves mice, voles, bluetits, sparrows, great tits by the back door for us to find. Yesterday i found the remains of a rabbit, just the snout the rest of the skull and body was missing. I wouldn't have thought a domestic cat would be able to manage such a thing! Maybe he had help.

I love my cats hunting ability but I’m really starting to feel sorry for the wildlife! The "it's only natural" excuse is running thin on my girlfriend and i don't blame her but i don't know what to do. I always play with the cat if he's around and he always has food and drink, he come and goes as he pleases, he's spoilt really.

Is there any way of discouraging cats from mindless hunting without neglect?

Unfortunately this is normal behaviour of cats but usually the bringing home of prey is a routine of female cats thought to be connected to female cats feeding there litter and showing concern of there owners well being or the cat is seeking attention from its owner. Is your male cat neutered? If not this may help. Otherwise collar and bells is about it.

[Reptilian]

The cat's collar has 2 bells on it already and he is neutered. I can't really restrict his movement much either. These beeping collars sound interesting though, i'll have to have a look round for one and see if that helps.

The rain is keeping him at bay at the moment.

[beckiscott]

We have a similar problem... mice, moles, shrews, rats, birds, nests, squirrels, pork chops - all deposited neatly under the dining table from one of our 2 kitties.

When googling the issue we came across a suggestion of trimming the tips of the cats whiskers. We couldn't bring ourselves to do it so we just put up with the supply of gifts! It seemed a bit harse and without real understand of what damage it can do to our little kitty!

We have found having a play with the cats in the garden with feathers on string etc in the evening keeps them amused and reduces their need to hunt real live prey. Not that much fun for us to do in the rain though, which funnily is when we get most of our gifts!

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Reptilian

Relating to my post about the injured bank vole I’m getting annoyed with my cat. He's a male and nearly 3 years old and living in rural Wales i expect him to hunt. He hunts for fun not for food unfortunately. Daily he leaves mice, voles, bluetits, sparrows, great tits by the back door for us to find. Yesterday i found the remains of a rabbit, just the snout the rest of the skull and body was missing. I wouldn't have thought a domestic cat would be able to manage such a thing! Maybe he had help.

I love my cats hunting ability but I’m really starting to feel sorry for the wildlife! The "it's only natural" excuse is running thin on my girlfriend and i don't blame her but i don't know what to do. I always play with the cat if he's around and he always has food and drink, he come and goes as he pleases, he's spoilt really.

Is there any way of discouraging cats from mindless hunting without neglect?

castration

[Reptilian]

Originally Posted by eeyore

castration

All ready done a long time ago.

He's still killing but not as frequently at the moment, the weather is probably something to do with that. We're still getting the odd rabbit head under the car and mice at the back door but it's not daily, maybe once a week at the moment.

I'm still looking into these sonic collars but they're quite pricey considering how many collars he goes though, god knows how he keeps loosing his collars.

[Madelinew]

The only thing you can do is to keep him in at night which means you will also avoid the early morning 'rush hour' and the evening one too. Best of luck. Fortunately, my cat is now to decrepit and senile to get up to this sort of thing. I don't have much faith in bells on collars. Cats move very slowly and deliberately when stalking their prey which would stop the bell ringing anyway.

[APC]

My cat has brought in a rubber monkey and 2 neon rubber spikey balls with flashing lights inside that kids wear to hard house nightclubs. We have no idea where he got them from, I'm assuming he stole them

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by APC

My cat has brought in a rubber monkey and 2 neon rubber spikey balls with flashing lights inside that kids wear to hard house nightclubs. We have no idea where he got them from, I'm assuming he stole them

presumably he's that cat from the bicardi breezer advert and has been out 'avin it big stylee, i take it he also has white gloves and one of those glowstick collars