My cat ate a whole bird

[FoxSticks]

He literally swallowed it down whole he must have opened his throat like a snake does

We know this because I heard him vomiting, very loudly. I sent DH to check (as you do) and he found cat sick with an entire intact bird in it. DH admits he is no Chris Packham so couldn't identify the bird but it was bigger than a Robin but smaller than a blackbird. He thought about 5 inches long which is bloody big to swallow whole.

I have always had cats and have never ever heard of a cat doing this. Apart from being seriously grossed out by it I'm worried that he might choke if he does this again. Or damage himself internally? And I thought he didn't catch birds! Has anyone else come across this?

No! Crazy cat!!!

hurray for your cat

Silly cat. He have been almost caught, had a guilty conscience and gulped down his snack.

My bad cat just leaves a weeny little liver behind.

He is pretty stupid to be honest. I always says he is very handsome but very dim I just can't stop thinking about it and I didn't even see it!

I did wonder if maybe he felt threatened so gulped it down badkitten. There is a fox that has been coming into our garden, maybe it startled him when he had the bird. Having been very smug for over a year that the multiple bells I had on him meant he wasn't a hunter we found two organs and a bird claw last week which didn't seem the behaviour of a novice hunter. He's obviously been hunting and eating them somewhere else.

Whatever the reason, he's a dope. (Sorry!) With any luck, he'll remember that it made him sick and not try it again.

Don't apologise cozie I agree with you! Fingers crossed he has learnt his lesson.

My cats ate a pheasant between them once. All they left was a little green bile sack. I presume they chewed it though. Your cat is hardcore!

We lived on a farm and used to joke that we'd find them trying to drag a sheep through the cat flap one day

A pheasant is pretty impressive! When you think of the prey to stomach ratio that's probably the same as you and I sharing a large pig!

Is he hardcore or is he just weird?

One of my cats ate a mouse whole a couple of years ago, sat in the middle of the garden looking at us and just gulped the mouse down, in one go... and wasn't sick. :o

Mine brings back rabbits. She eats them in 2 sittings. Sitting 1 head shoulder and generally 1 leg, Sitting 2 (2 or so hours later) everything else except the stomach, intestine, 1 ear, the tail and palm shaped piece of fur. I have no idea how she fits it all in.

Like this?

What a beautiful pic of your handsome hunter kitten!

Well done to brave pussycat on eating whole bird - the bird probably deserved it in cat terms.

My cat ate a mouse whole as well. I saw him playing with something as I was hanging out washing. Thought I had a minute to finish pegging and then free mouse. The scoundrel then did a quick bite getting both sides of neck area and downed in one. Our other cats used to proudly bring a kill home to us. Now I know why Toffee didn't. He downed the mousies. He had been a country cat with lots of fields to roam over. Maybe he fed himself a little before he came to us (and after obviously). Still wanted his darn catfood though. They are total skunks. No offence to skunks.

I have to say, he doesn't look the least bit repentant. It was probably quick for the birdie.

Hunter cats seem to feel put upon by our sometime squeamishness about prey after they've clearly (in their eyes) done their best thing in bringing it for us to see. (A bit like dogs being told to shake when they come in wet through from the rain or are dried with a towel. You can see the looks on their faces: a sort of 'Oh Gawd, there she goes again')

He's not at all repentant. The little git bought another bird in about 3 this morning and proceeded to try and eat it under our bed. I can't believe we have gone from nothing to 3 birds in 2 weeks!

I don't think I could cope with Rabbits or part of rabbits Emerald. Maybe I should be grateful for birds!

This is the worst time of the year - good weather and young, stupid birds and small mammals around. It should improve as Autumn comes in so hopefully he'll start becoming a homeboy in a month or two.

(Always a good idea to keep them in at night though and let them out, say, after breakfast. Night is more dangerous for them and dusk and dawn are more dangerous for their prey. (Low light conditions are better for stalking.) They adjust pretty well to being kept in overnight also - none of mine have minded in the least once they realized they were being allowed out after breakfast.)

I would like to keep him inside, the one and only time we tried he destroyed his posh £100 microchip cat flap by shredding and ripping the wiring in his desperation to get out. The next day we had to stick sellotape over the catch as it wouldn't work so our expensive cat flap became a bog standard one! At the cattery he used to go to they had an indoor shed part with a cat flap to an outside run which would be locked at night. On his first night there he ripped the wood panelling off the inside of his pen trying to get out . They decided to let him out at nights after that, someone forgot once and sure enough he destroyed another pen. What with that and pooing in his bed as a dirty protest EVERY night it was pretty embarrassing picking him up. He doesn't go to catteries any more

Maybe we could try again though? He's 18 months older now so might be slightly more sensible. Either that or I think he might end up being confined to the kitchen at night.

Hmmm! Now that would be a challenge, I admit.

The problem here is the impact that cats can have on the bird population. One cat is only a few birds, but there is a high density of cats in populated areas.

I wonder if it would work to distract him and put some flavour he doesn't like (pepper?) on the birds he catches, so he is discouraged from eating them? Still, he may have a strong hunting instinct and not be discouraged from catching the birds.

Do you play much with it using his hunting instinct?