If you have a cat you have to stop it scaring and eating birds

[lasagnelle]

Get a bell collar or something. Give the wildlife a chance. Can you train cats to leave birds alone?

I think it's fair enough to have an indoor cat if that particular cat doesn't mind or can't go out for medical reasons, but I do find it questionable if you seek out a pet that you known has these instincts and to then be upset by them.

If it bothered me, I would just not own a cat.

As sad as it is

its the natural world. Animals have always killed other animals. You can’t stop it. Crocodiles hunt smaller prey. Sharks eat seals. Whales eat sharks

its actually what they’re meant to do and stopping those processes stop nature.

killing bees for example because we see them a threat would kill us all

sometimes these things however badly you think it is is life and it’s meant to be that way.

I am shocked at replies here. Cats are invasive species, not wild animals, and it's not the same as lion killing a zebra, ffs! Collar with bells is the minimum what responsible cat owners should do. And comparing birds to rodents is just another extreme.

“Fuck off 😾

I’m a predator and no matter what Whiskas I get fed, I still need to hunt- it’s in our natures”

In Australia, men have a bounty on feral cats ( non native species) and shoot them.

Cats carry a parasite that spoils lamb 🐑 meat.
Cysts from a worm.

They get some monsters- clearly doing very well in the Outback.

What is creepy, some hunters make stuff out of the pelts.

Crunchymum yep mine are indoor cats too not upsetting wildlife no pooing in other peoples gardens inside and safe in a house where free to roam not outside with the worry of getting run over etc I also don’t give a flying f who dosent agree! They don’t own my cats

My cats remove their collars. The longest one lasted is about 4 days I think.

I have a video of one of mine hunting what I think was a bee. His stomach is about an inch from the ground and he is edging forward so slowly it's almost imperceptible. A bell would be pointless. Their prey of choice used to be pigeons but not in any quantity to negatively affect the pigeon population.

They come inside to use their litter tray though.

Could you ask badgers to stop eating hedgehogs, @lasagnelle ?

My neighbours cat killed every single blue tit that fledged from a nest in her garden one year. We kept finding them injured and there was nothing we could do for them.

“comparing birds to rodents is just another extreme.” Why, exactly? What’s the difference between one innocent species and another?

@TerryKirby so its a Mumsnet size sparrow??? Where you can feed ten with a tiny bird 🤣🤣

So untrue.

Cats need to be kept inside. They are an invasive species.

In the grand scheme of things, most cats might kill less than a dozen in their life time. I had a cat which never brought any wildlife home, and I never saw evidence that he did go hunting wildlife. Yet my brother’s cat brought home the odd mouse or bird, but usually on average one every couple of months. I never hear of a cat bringing homeseveral a week tbh. And it’s in their genes. They’re hunters, and hundreds of years ago, prior tog them being kept as pets, they used to get their food solely by killing small animals/birds to survive.

Haha yeah. Based on the replies here I think I’ll just let my greyhound have at any cats that are stupid enough to come in the garden and not worry about it. He’s bred to chase small fluffy things!

OK so can we keep dogs inside too? It would prevent a lot of bites and maiming and dog shit everywhere.

I mean, dogs are not a natural species either. They are a result of artifical evolution .

This is so refreshing to read. Absolutely keep cats inside. Particularly with the revolting people around who are cruel to animals.

loving this 😂😂

Can you please explain why it's okay to have a bird feeder if you have cats as I don't understand what you mean about providing food, etc. I'll be moving soon and would love to have a bird feeder again.

My cats now live indoors, but one of them, and previous cats, used to go out and I took the bird protection charities' advice and didn't let them out until at least 2 hours after sunrise and fed them (so they came in) mid-afternoon, which meant the birds had a chance to feed safely morning and evening.

I have never let cats out overnight, for their own safety.

🤣🤣🤣

Mine take collars off. The longest one lasted was two days.

And in practice they only really kill mice, rats and the odd rabbit. I'm not putting a bell on them as we'd be overrun.

You do know if you tell them off they do it even more because they think we’re the idiots? My older cat once brought 3 whole mice. One for each of us. I told her off. Next day she brought 6. 2 each. I know it’s horrible but it’s what they do. She also brought in a whole bird and I couldn’t get it off her. She doesn’t really do it much anymore but she did get her revenge on a flock of magpies that were teasing her a few months ago. She’s scared of squirrels though.

I'm surprised at the vote. I was at an event with a wildlife guy and the stats on deaths for birds from cats is not good

He said use a bell to give them a chance

Well you can pick up the shit and not leave them roaming alone in the streets. Cats are left alone. That’s a different situation.

If any bird is killed by my cat, they deserve to die

for God sake he’s basically walking around with a white stick