Help me stop the carnival of death....

[Eggybreadleg]

Without losing my mind. We moved out of London last autumn and our city cats have discovered baby bunnies....we've had a parade of over 2 dozen bunnies through the cat flap over the last week. I've stopped counting. Some are dead but most are not and they shriek. It's soooo upsetting for everyone especially DH who has the job of dispatching them. I bought bells. Really huge annoying bells and have put them on the cats' collars. But holy fuck are they annoying. It's like Santa running through the place all day long. Today I had to pause a work call because no one could hear me over the fucking jingle bells in the background. Options. I need options. Please tell me someone has an idea here.

Try keeping them in at night.

Block the cat flap.
Poor baby bunnies. 😔

We have had similar so I sympathise although it's been more voles and just a couple of bunnies. Its been at various times of the day too. Phoebe turned up with a wriggler while we were eating lunch on Saturday .

I have no idea how to stop them bringing the damn things inside short of locking the catflap.

So the bells have stopped the bunny killing? They are just annoying you?

There is no solution. Our cat is a dreadful bunny murderer, as was his sister before him. Watch out if you get a trampoline as they particularly like storing the corpses under there

We’ve managed to stop the cat flap so he can’t come in, if he has anything in his mouth. This stops rabbits & pigeons & bats (!) getting in to be killed. We shout at him a lot but he’s undeterred.

I had a cat for a while (owner was abroad for a few months) she had all the bells and a reflective patterned collar and she was still a master mouser. We had to make the cat flap (that we had spent weeks teaching her to use) out-only so she couldn't catch and release in the living room.

So far the bells have meant no more bunnies but mice and voles appear to be deaf. The cats are trying everything possible to get the damn bells off but so far collars still on.

Lock the cat flap

That's why I hate, absolutely hate cats.

You need to keep them in at night if you don’t want them to eat baby rabbits. Rabbits start breeding at 6 months and can have up to 14 litters a year in some conditions. The reason they breed so prolifically is that most of the babies are eaten by predators - like your cats. The only way to stop it is keep them in, predators will hunt - it’s their instinct.

We started keeping them in at night but they were getting them at all hours. I thought they were nocturnal? The cats aren't eating them. This is sport which makes it even worse.

Have a time cat flap and only let them out between 8-8 or something. I don’t let mine out I’ve night at this time of year because I don’t want them killing all the baby birds etc, they moan for a week but they soon adjust. Dawn is the worst time for them to be out.

Rabbits aren't nocturnal. IME they're most active in the early morning and late afternoon/ evening. I hardly ever see them out and about between 9 and 6.

Today I learned rabbits are crepuscular. In which case maybe a timed cat flap that's only open from 9-6 makes sense? Does anyone have one that has a timer and microchip reader?

My cat is a hunter too. I keep her in overnight, which helps quite a lot. She doesn't generally injure her prey, but brings them straight home, very much alive. I can usually distract her with Dreamies, rescue her prey and release it back into the garden (keeping the cat in for an hour so the animal has a chance to recover and escape). Is this a possibility for you?

I was going to suggest only allowing them out 9 - 5 ish.

We do have one of those cat flaps.. activated by microchip (pretty sure you can program them for more than one cat, also). Tbh though I've never used the timer.

Yes rabbits are crepuscular, but so are cats. Plus if they’re bringing baby ones it suggests they’ve found a nest.🙁

The bells don’t work with mice and voles with my cats because the cats seem to sit on a fence and watch from above then pounce and grab. The bell barely goes off.

I love cats. But this is why I could never have one. I'd rather pick up one metric ton of dog poo than a headless thrush.

They are injuring these bunnies. The first one came in at 10 at night. It was very much alive and didn't seem to badly injured. DH drove 2 hours round trip to bring it to the wildlife vet but it died en route. Most of the country folk thought we were completely mad. Lately they are either dead or obviously injured so poor DH has to dispatch them. The bells are working for now but driving the cats and us mad. They are so LOUD. I might take the bells off once the cat flap is locked. The kids run in and out of the garden until bedtime which makes keeping the cats in from 5 not possible. Bells when out might be a workable plan. Unless you're a vole. The baby bunnies are far more upsetting. I know they shouldn't be but they elicit a very different emotional reaction. The neighbors dog beheads the rabbits.... Dogs don't seem to mean no dead bunnies.

Sorry for the weird question but how do you deal with injured bunnies, rats, birds, etc? The ones that are obviously beyond help but are clearly suffering? I'm thinking of getting a cat at some point but would have no idea how to deal with the poor creatures it brings home.

That's why I hate, absolutely hate cats.

You do realise they don't all do this? My cat couldn't catch anything if he tried, and none of the cats we've had in the past have hunted.

I've reported my own post, I tried to strike through the bit some people wouldn't want to see but I failed. Sorry.

@DarylDixonsHair DH shoots them with an air rifle. I really don't know what I'd do if he wasn't here. Drown them maybe? I just don't think I could bring myself to kill them even if it's kinder. Our cats caught bugger all in 9 years living in London. Living in the countryside had been a very different experience. So I think it depends on where you live? Evening #2 of the bells and no bunnies so far.

@DarylDixonsHair

With birds, mice and small rats it's fairly easy to break their neck, you have to know what you're doing to do it quickly first time. I won't describe how because I fail at strike through and people might be upset by the details.

Basically you just want it over quickly so they don't suffer, some of the most humane methods will also be the ones people are really squeamish about.

I worried about frogs, but lucky they all seemed to be almost untouched so I never had to figure it out, just popped them back in the pond.