How to stop a cat bringing in livestock???

[didsnbump]

My 2 year old female cat loves to catch mice,shrews and birds. We have a cat flap so unfortunatly we get them all brought in the house.
Dead or half eaten i can handle but she brings them in alive and plays with them, which unfortunatly with mice and shrews she has a habit of not being able to catch them when she lets go of them.

I now have a mouse loose somewhere in my kitchen!!!!

Any suggestions other then closeing the flap for good and go back to how it was before we had a flap??

Does she tend to do it at certain times of the day or is it random? Some cats tend to hunt at dawn or dusk so if this is the case with yours, you could keep her in at these times? I sympathise, it's a complete pain. (I have 3 cats, 2 of which hunt)

livestock are a little big for the catflap

but if your cat really is bringing in livestock I would trade your panther in for a tabby cat

that was me btw
being annoying and picky

if your cat is bringing in livestock i would say... put the oven on and roast em. saves going to asda...

Well the size of the dead magpie one day it def was livestock!!

No she does it all times of the day!

Try putting a bell on her collar, it can help, though our cats got very good at creeping along without ringing the bell. Other option is close the catflap, you'll have to let her in and out but at least you can control 'who' comes in!

I'm afraid if she's a hunter, you'll have to live with it, you can't really discourage their instinct. She will slow down as she gets older (not much comfort emoticon)

Our cat flap opens into the utility room so if we aren't about we close the door between the utility room & the kitchen - then anything brought in can only get so far. Our cat has a bell - makes no difference - she's a prowler!

The bell makes no difference what so ever, shes really good at losing collars!!

We live abroad so our cat flap is in one of our cellar windows so i can shut the cellar door to keep what ever she brings in down there (which ive been doing since i discovered the mouse), but our cellar has 3 rooms, all with doors with gaps under, and we use one of them as a guest room.

I feel bad for those that have to stay in there as we have no chance of being able to check if there is anything alive down there. I have already had a bag of clothes i was storing in one of the rooms chewed to bits!

Are you praising her or telling her off?
If it's the latter then she will be doing it all the more to please you.

She will see you as 'the head cat' and wants to make you happy. You need to praise her, stroke her and tell her thank you.

It might not stop the problem but it may lesson it.

I had never thought of it like that peachygirl. We do tell her off in a way i suppose, will try praising her how ever odd it will feel!!

btw, my dog brings me little animals. shes a cavalier spaniel, and is always catching mice. I always need to get the neighbour to get them off her hah! But i dont have a catflap, thankfully! Sorry i dont have any advice, i just feel your pain.

X

You need cats like mine. One's blind, the other one's stupid.