Cat hunting mice

[MumofSpud]

Please no judging at me having a 2 year old cat, who loves going outside.
She would jump up and down at the patio door trying to get out when she was little.
So I have a tracker on her and she stays quite near - and all has been ok for the last 18 months.
But.....
In the last 3 days she has brought home 1 live mouse and 3 dead ones.
How can I stop this?
I know that this might be a completely stupid question and that cats hunt but....
She wears a bell too so they have warning!

I have three cats
twohappily indoor the youngest one is a determined Houdini and hunter
we have had terrified live and dead fledglings the last few days in our house and dropped at our feet as gifts as well as shredded mice
she loves chomping on spiders too.
my mother tells me i should be grateful
and that there will never be any unwanted furry friends or other in the house but she doesn’t have to hand feed recovering baby bird in a relocated hanging basket up a ladder with mushed up cat food at 5.30 am in the garden. Thankfully it paid off. Cat was livid.

have tried collars with bells on, window screens to no avail
we currently have a wild rabbit in our garden hedge. She’s clocked it .

Awwww, she loves you and is bringing you presents.

You can’t stop her doing this. Try not to think ‘poor little mouse’ and instead reflect on the fact that there are mice near your home, who will definitely be covered in fleas and mites and are trying to get inside your property to steal and spoil your food, and they breed very fast and can cause significant damage to property, and your excellent cat is solving the problem for you.

I used to find mice cute but once you’ve seen one covered in red squirming lice / found a half nibbled bag of food in your cupboard / found mice droppings behind your furniture, you get less fond of them pretty quick.

It won’t last forever, she’ll run out of mice eventually.

I think it gets worse if they find a nest. Dcat has brought in, in 5 months, countless normal shrews, 2 water shrews (looked them up in a nature book!), voles, mice, a dead bird, a live bird, and a very alive baby bunny extraordinarily well timed on Easter Sunday. She also dropped a half dead mouse on me whilst I slept and got blood all over my sheet. I try to get her in at night now partly so I know she isn't going to be bringing me anything. It does seem to go in peaks and troughs though, nothing for a few days then several in a row. I started off burying them but quickly ran out of room!

I had a period of baby frogs being brought in, completely unharmed, I'd come back from work and find 4 or 5 bouncing around my house. Easier to catch than mice though.

Our DCat used to leave the mouse stomach by the back step for us - we would find one almost every morning.

There is no point in us trying to keep him in at night, and we live semi-rurally so he spends most of his time outside in fields.

I have found we have had no 'presents' left since I started leaving his biscuits and a sachet out for him in the garage overnight. It is always gone by morning and no more bits to pick up. Not saying it has stopped him hunting, but it's stopped him from leaving it for me to pick up!

This is normal behaviour.

Congratulations on your excellent mouser! No rodent worries for you.

If you want to try and curb it - keep your cat in over night and increase the protein in their diet. I have one cat who enjoys the odd mouse, but the 2 that get shut in at night rarely hunt.

I'm still not used to it....
Keep the cat in at night, that's when they generally hunt
Also - if you're able to, have the cat flap in a room where the cat then can't get into the rest of the house unless you let it - then the prey (alive or dead) is confined to just one room

You need a smart cat-flap. Doesn't let the cat in if it's carrying contraband!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48825761

My cat also does the same. It got better when we moved house but she has started up again. It's worse in summer. I find it's better to say thank you than tell her off as she is trying to show you how to catch food. I know it sounds nuts. We managed to save one the other week by making her drop it but earlier in the day she killed one which upset dd aged 9 and normally even she knows Emmy can't help it.