Killer cat

[DuchesseNemours]

Not strictly gardening and I know I am being unreasonable but I am so upset this morning.

We'd had blackbirds and robins nesting in the garden - in spaces we'd created for them. They both were raising healthy broods of chicks and we'd been watching them go about their parental business for the last few weeks - nest building, egg laying, hatching and then feeding young.

At 4.20am this morning, next door's bloody cat came through and killed the lot! All baby robins (x3) and blackbirds (x4) gone. Just corpses or bits of them remain this morning that I'd had to clear up.

I don't wish cats ill but it doesn't half upset me that I have to put up with them in the garden killing off the wildlife that was giving my so much joy to see. Particularly because it happened at night when they should be kept in for their own safety and to reduce their impact on wildlife like this.

I'm just venting, I guess. But it's so sad to lose so many baby birds in one night like this

Aww this is so sad - sorry this has happened OP. Sadly some cat owners don't think about (or don't like to think about) the reality of the hunting nature of cats and don't give it a second thought.
Poor chicks wouldn't stand a chance ☹️

Our Burmese cats were confined to our very small garden with special fencing. Two of them hadn't got a clue about hunting, they'd just hide and jump out in each other. But the third was a demon. You'd think the birds would have had the sense not to nest in our garden, but they did, and sadly a few of them did pay the price.

Poor chicks wouldn't stand a chance ☹️

They didn't. I haven't got it in me to watch all the footage (we had cameras on the nests) but the babies are nothing against the hunting determination/ability of a cat.

I think we're going to dismantle the nests and stop providing for the birds. It seems wrong to help them to try and raise a family where they are so easily predated. It's just such a shame to have to do that.

It's not just cats . Other birds destroy
Eggs , nests and chicks too .

So sad 😢 This is one reason why our cat is shut in overnight.
We had a robin make a nest in our disused chimera which our cat noticed. In our attempt to try and stop the cat getting her paw in, we scared it off and I found a beautiful cosy nest with 7 eggs inside. I wish we had discouraged it sooner so it could have made a nest elsewhere.
Sadly, though, it's not just cats. We had some jackdaws going for a blackbirds nest a week or so ago, and we have a sparrow hawk who has caught several sparrows. I console myself with they will be eating them so it's not for fun, but it still hard to see.

If you are going to encourage birds to nest you have to make the sites somewhere cats cannot get to. Either in an inaccessible tree or in a bird box or some kind.

If it hadn't been your neighbours cat, another one would have found the nest. Cats are predators and birds are their food.

This, foxes, rats, other birds, all after vulnerable animals

I think its worth checking the footage to see if it is actually the cat. Grey squirrels and corvids will actively hunt and raid nests. Cats can be a menace in residential areas, but the good hunting ferals on our farm do a fabulous job and get rid of rats and mice in the most eco friendly way possible. I'm not a lover of cats when they are owned by irresponsible owners who really don't care about their hunting habits.

Yip, same problem here. We are 1 of two houses in a rural area and for years we have had pheasants who come into our garden to eat the seeds we put out. Every year around this time they bring their broods of 9 or so chicks into the garden. We always loved watching them grow and out of the 9, usually 4 or so would make it to adults. Last year the Next door neighbour decided to get 2 huge feral acts who kill everything in sight. It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch them pick off all the baby pheasants who live on the ground. Last year, there were no survi ors! Told myself I wasn't going to put any seed out for them this year but it's just so unfair, I hate them!

I think its worth checking the footage to see if it is actually the cat.

Oh, it was the cat. I checked the footage and saw it - I just couldn't watch it take all 7 birds. I saw it fish out the first 2 blackbirds and go back for the 3rd. On the other camera I saw it rake out the robin nest and jump off with a baby in its mouth.

In all honesty, both were in locations I believed the cat couldn't get to easily (or at all). The blackbirds were in a specific box. The robins chose their location. But it has figured out a way to get to both.

We have wildlife cameras up and they have never caught rats, foxes or squirrels in the garden - squirrels especially is an odd one because I've always had them in previous gardens but, for some reason, I just don't ever see them here. And, of course, if they'd got them I'd just have to chalk it up to them needing to eat. Which isn't the same with the cat - which mostly seems to have just left them whole/dead or dissected them but left the constituant parts.

We keep watch during the day and the dog is often lose in the garden so that's works to keep the cat away then. This happened at 4.20am when there was no one around.

Not sure what else we can do except actively discourage the birds from nesting here now - which is such a shame because they were part of the joy I get from my garden.

Cats do an amazing job of keeping down rodents etc in farms,stables etc but since the advent of two parent working families they have now become a cheap, easy low-effort family pet for time-poor parents and lonely singles.
The numbers have sky-rocketed with a knock-on impact on bird life. Very sad.

This is why I hate cats. We have nesting blackbirds in our hedge and I regularly see the neighbour's cat climbing up to get to them. I chase it whenever I see it.

And don't get me started on the shit I have to clean up from my flower beds or my lawn if I have the audacity not to mow it for a couple of weeks.

Bloody hate the little shit spreaders. Wish the owners would take some responsibility but you'll get the usual excuse of "cats need to be outside" and "other predators exist" blah blah blah. In other countries cats are very much indoor pets. It's just an excuse by owners who don't want to clean up after their own pets.

Can you cat proof your garden? It’s not an expense you should have to pay for, but it would be worth it in the long run

I don't think we can. The cost is about £2000 just to 'tag' the cat proofing overhanging wire to the top of the existing fences and I think those have to face the cat's side - ie they would have to curve out from my garden into the neighbours on each side of me. Meaning, I would have to ask them to encroach on their garden with something that is, let's face it, pretty ugly.

I don't know if the any climb spikes work on top of the fences? I want something effective but that will not harm the cats (or any other wildlife).

@DuchesseNemours I had cat fencing around my garden before I got lurchers 🤐and the neighbourhood cats couldn't get into my garden, they can't put their weight on the netting and they won't leap down so it could fix your problem, but there's still the price issue. Nothing else worked, I tried spikes and jeyes fluid and chilli powder and they didn't care. There are also cat rollers if your neighbour would be more open to having those on the fence, though they'd have to face your neighbour's side or the cat would end up stuck in your garden.

Do you know who owns the cat? Can you give them the footage? Do they know what their cat has done?

YANBU op. We had the same. Always loads of nesting birds. In lockdown when we were confined to the house and garden I counted 6 nests (we have a big garden). Since our dog died, 5 regular cats and no nests. We also catch them on camera, so I know exactly who comes and goes. Cats may do what comes naturally to them, but the fact that the cat is even there is an extension of the human hand.

I think I know whose cat it was.

The neighbours over the back have a black cat and this looked just like it - but it's always a bit tricky judging colours by nightime camera recordings and there may be other black cats around. In the winter when there is less growing and the dog is not in the garden so much, that cat does come in to toilet in my borders so it seems most likely.

I might try talking to them. I might also be doing them a disservice but I don't hold out a lot of hope they will think this is an issue they need to address. They just don't seem very bothered about nature, wildlife etc.

Do you hate all carnivores?

Is there anything you can do to keep the cat out of your garden? Put up trellis along the wall or something on top of the wall that it can't walk on? I had fake vine leaves strung along our garden fence and the neighbour's cat wasn't able to walk along it so took another route. As soon as we took it down he was back.

Do you hate all carnivores?

It's in the nature of cats, so I don't 'hate' them, but it's hard not to feel a difference with well-fed cats killing versus wild animals hunting for food they're going to eat or feed to their young. I don't think people should leave their pet cats out at night, for sure.

I make any cat I see in my garden unwelcome - a good supersoaker can have a useful deterrent effect

@GR8GAL - that sounds interesting, do you mean like this?

Yes, exactly, anything that prevents them from getting over the garden wall.

We had that last year with the blue tits. DCs had watched them build their nest for weeks and a bastard cat killed the babies for fun.

The adult birds were clearly really distressed, I hope they don't nest again this year as we can't keep them safe.

I don't wish cats I'll! I do! Non native murdering bastards