Cats and Hunting

[EasilyBored]

Does anyone know of a way to stop your cat from bring dead (and half dead) things into the house?

My cat is brilliant; loving and affectionate and wonderfully patient with DS. He's very much an outdoor cat though, and has an electronic cat flap that reads his chip, and he comes and goes as pleases him. I don't think keeping him indoors will work, and it seems massively unfair to trap him in the house with a rampaging nearly-toddler when he is used to having his freedom.

The problem is just that he's started bringing things in again. He has form for hunting - two live magpies in my living room, lots of dead/half dead/fully alive mice, little birds etc. But it seemed to have stopped over the past year. In the past week we have had - one dead mouse in the morning, the next day there was another one, the day after that there were two dead mice, and the day after that there was a dead rat. He is single handedly decimating the local wildlife and I am terrified that one day I am going to come downstairs and not see one and DS is going to pick it up.

Is there anything I can do to stop this? I've read up on why he might be doing it - from finding his own food (though he doesn't eat them), to leaving us gifts, to showing us how to hunt to trying to feed our baby etc. I don't know how much truth there is behind them, and it's probably just that he's a cat and they hunt stuff, it's their nature, right? We tried a collar with a bell, but he can get them off and we never see them again. We can't really keep him indoors, and please no one suggest getting rid of him, he's my first baby and I can't bear the thought of that.

What to do? Do I just have live with it?

[Fluffycloudland77]

Keep him in at night but you pretty much have to live with it.

I keep a pair of dhs socks in the hall way for putting over my hands while I try and pick live/dead animlas up.

Some cats dont hunt but if you get a hunter then you just have to ride it out.

[cozietoesie]

You got it right, I think. He's a cat and they hunt stuff. If he's going to be an outdoor cat and has a flap, you're just going to have to live with it, I fear.

One thing to remember - make sure he's up to date with all his shots (as I'm sure you would anyway) but be sure also to keep him wormed very regularly. He may be eating one, giving you one, eating one, giving your one etc..... and it's easy for a hunter to pick up intestinal parasites from 'on the hoof' titbits.

[EasilyBored]

Haha, yep, he's up to date with his boosters and his worming medicine. I do wish he wouldn't kill the baby mice though, it makes me so sad.

Sadly I can't keep him in at night, he would go insane and pretty much trash the place and howl all night. Some nights he does spend most of the time asleep on the sofa, but he never quite 'got' the litter box (used to poo next to it) and gets upset if he can't get to his cat flap (even if he doesn't want to go outside).

[cozietoesie]

If he likes outside and hunting, you're stuck with it I think. Just keep your bedroom door closed so that you don't get the 'presents' on your pillow for when you wake! (One of my Mum's boys did that. Really edifying at 06.30 when she woke. )

[Fluffycloudland77]

If you do a google search there may be a wildlife sanctuary you can take any injured-but not dying animals too. For a small donation they can fix em up or put them down depending on what they need.

I had a myxy rabbit put down a couple of years ago that I found in the road (as you do).

[SecretSantaSquirrels]

You could set cat flap to allow him out but not in. He would be able to go out when he wanted but would have to wait for you to let him in. Maybe leave a box or something outside if you have no porch so he can shelter while he eats the vermin waits?

We have a microchip cat flap and our murdering little cat hasn't managed to bring stuff - yet. He leaves it just outside the door. This morning I caught him with a dead mouse on the top of the cat flap but he couldn't get it in.

[sashh]

The first three things my cat brought in I saw and screamed at her (she doesn't have a flap so goes in and out the window) and took the offending bird/mouse off her.

Since then she has (touch wood) been good. Although there was a pile of magpie feathers and bones in the garden a few weeks ago. At leat it is out of the house.

Out of the cats I've had only one was definitly bringing presents.

I once came home from work, she said hello, went out and while I was making a cup of tea she started rubbing round me and doing the "come here" mew. She had brought me a blackbird. It was still warm. You couldn't see a mark on it.

Once I'd said "good girl" she was happy and went off to do her kitty business.

OP

DO you fancy pitching on dragon's den a flap that opens with a chip but also weighs the cat, so if it is cat + mouse it won't open?

Seriously, can you close doors so that your cat only has access to one room? Also keep him in at night.

[Grumpla]

If you can keep him in just at twilight and early mornings that might help?
Some of them are definitely worse than others for this, my current boss has never been a hunter but I lived with a cat who not only used to bring me regular gift but, if she felt I had not made an adequate fuss of them the first time, would dig them out of the bin and re-gift them to me a few days later...