Can cats catch hedgehogs?

[werdnal]

Yet another inflamatory "my cat kills everything that moves" post me thinks!

SandraN - Perhaps this is a little inadvised as your first post to a "Wildlife friendly" website.

Time to keep your head down folks, this could get nasty

[SandraNickerson]

Well I am sorry if you don't believe me! But its true and I am certainly not proud of my cats! The only reason why I posted this information was because I was trawling the internet to see if any body else had a similar problem with their cats. I would love to stop all this killing... and yes I do feed them well.

[solus]

Originally Posted by SandraNickerson

I would love to stop all this killing... and yes I do feed them well.

Keep them indoors then. Simples.

[faz]

Originally Posted by SandraNickerson

Well I am sorry if you don't believe me! But its true and I am certainly not proud of my cats! The only reason why I posted this information was because I was trawling the internet to see if any body else had a similar problem with their cats. I would love to stop all this killing... and yes I do feed them well.

welcome to wab

[mbaldw]

Originally Posted by SandraNickerson

I have three cats. One of my cats has never caught any animal. However the other two do. We live near a field and river, they kill rats, mice, voles, rabbits, squirrels, frogs, moles, hedgehogs, birds of many descriptions and the latest has been a fox! On a daily basis I have some animal brought back to our home by the cats.

Welcome to WAB Sandra. Out of curiosity, were the animals adult foxes and hedgehogs, or juveniles?

Cheers,
Marc.

[werdnal]

Originally Posted by SandraNickerson

Well I am sorry if you don't believe me! But its true and I am certainly not proud of my cats! The only reason why I posted this information was because I was trawling the internet to see if any body else had a similar problem with their cats. I would love to stop all this killing... and yes I do feed them well.

Sorry, didn't mean to sound unwelcoming in my earlier reply. Just a word to the wise that many members here hate cats with a vengence and posts of this kind can get out of hand to the point of being locked.

Cats by their very nature are adept hunters, and feeding them well does not stop their killing instinct. Its like foxes who every one is appalled will kill a whole shed full of chickens even if they don't eat them. Faced with an artificial "glut" of prey, they go on a killing spree and cannot help themselves. I don't think they get pleasure from it, neither do cats, but its just such a strong instinct, they cannot help themselves.

There is no easy answer to stop them killing, other than keeping them in, or atleast enclosed in a garden space where they cannot persecute the local wildlife.

Sorry if I sounded unwelcoming; this site is very friendly and full of wonderful advice, but cats can inflame even the most placid members here, and if you look back over some of the recent threads on the subject, you will see what I mean.

Welcome WAB and I hope I haven't put you off!

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by werdnal

Sorry, didn't mean to sound unwelcoming in my earlier reply. Just a word to the wise that many members here hate cats with a vengence and posts of this kind can get out of hand to the point of being locked.

There are also others that don't hate cats, but hate the hypocritical hand wringing of cat owners that don't control their cats, yet claim to 'love wildlife'.

Jim