Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Would this be cruel and/or is there another option?

41 replies

Itsfab · 16/10/2014 11:47

I have come home to find a rather large robin dead on my patio and a lovely brown bird dead in my utility room. GirlCat is definitely the culprit. She has a bell on her collar but clearly the birds didn't hear to get away. I have seen in the pet shop charms to hang on collars and extra bells. I wouldn't bother with the charms but wonder if more bells would make enough noise to give the birds more warning. They aren't heavy but wanted to see what people think about extra bells.

I know it is nature but it is still not nice and DS2 is going to be very upset. She had already had a mouse this morning and left it in her bed for us Hmm though that may be have been BoyCat.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 16/10/2014 12:46

I don't know about the efficacy of bells but I've always preferred to adopt garden-type measures for my outside-going cats eg keeping away from low shrubs near bird gathering places and watching where I put food out.

More importantly, I've always kept my boys in from dusk to after breakfast/after dawn, low light conditions being ideal for cats hunting.

It all seemed to keep The Lodger in check and he was a ferocious hunter.

Lonecatwithkitten · 16/10/2014 13:22

Cunning cats learn to move without causing their bells to ring no matter how many you put on their collars.
Cozie's tips are very good for helping.
But in short if you have a hunter there is very little you can do to stop them carrying out natural behaviour.

Original poster
Itsfab · 16/10/2014 13:30

They eat inside, would be cruel to lock them in at night as they currently have free rein to do what they want and tbh their main hunting seems to be in the day time. But I will consider buying something to warn the birds as it is horrible to see the bodies. Poor robin, especially as we have had a visiting one for many years, FABCat never bothered it, and we will all be upset if he was "our" robin.

So far --

a live frog
live mouse
many dead mice
worms
black bird
squirrel
shrews
and two birds today.

Pest cats!!

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 16/10/2014 14:26

I've always shut them in at night. When The Lodger decided he wanted to live with us, we made it clear that that was part of the deal and he accepted it right away. No bad grace at all. (I think that the fact that the weather was lousy helped a lot as did the inside tray and nice nosh - which he took to wholesale.)

Keep your fingers crossed that a blackbird moves in properly. For some reason, they like to act as Watchbirds for the entire garden/neighbourhood, chattering fiercely when they see a cat and warning all other birds. (Magpies do also - quite ferociously in fact - but as they sometimes predate on small bird eggs and nestlings, I'm a bit edgier about them despite RSPB assurances about their non-effect on songbird numbers.)

Do you have larger trees in your garden? They often help.

PS - worms are mainly a result of night hunting. Come full dark, the worms come out of the ground and wriggle/stretch at great length on the surface of the earth. Most tempting to a hunting cat.

Original poster
Itsfab · 16/10/2014 20:07

One of them killed a blackbird a few weeks ago in the afternoon Sad. Worms were when they first came to live with us but we haven't had any for a year or so now.

I told GC off. She didn't look in the least bit concerned Hmm.

Tomorrow I go to the pet shop.

We have lots and lots of trees as we have a big garden so plenty of places for the birds. I have fed them for years, FABCat never bothered any animals, and now I am worried I encourage them by leaving out food and treats and then the bloody cats will kill them.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 16/10/2014 20:23

I'd recommend going out into the garden and have a look round but thinking like a cat. (They prefer to lurk in shrubbery and pounce when something comes in range. Domestic cats ain't cheetahs.) Then place your food accordingly and out of genuine range of a pouncing cat.

This may be of interest. It might be possible to involve DS2 in any project?

Original poster
Itsfab · 16/10/2014 20:52

I didn't tell DS2 about the robin so tears averted. I will have a look at the link properly tomorrow when I can make a list. I have sent off for the make them a home and they will come info but I am wondering if I am being cruel with welcoming and encouraging birds when I have killer cats. We have fed the birds for years and I am certain we had the same brown bird and robin visiting for years. Within a year of getting BC and GC we seem to have lost both Sad. I love my cats but hate this side of cat ownership.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 16/10/2014 21:14

It's certainly a tussle for me. I don't worry about catching mice (just as well given the bravura performances The Lodger used to mount on the back lawn) but birds.........

Original poster
Itsfab · 17/10/2014 07:28

£56 for a cat deterrent!

Not exactly what I was after given that I have cats! We already have most of the recommendations in place and it made me laugh when it said "where cats can't jump". Given I saw my cat on top of a neighbours shed yesterday, and both are jumpers, I am not sure how high anything would have to go. They climb trees, stalk and pounce, run around like Usain Bolt and are generally very very fast and active.

No corpses today so all good.

OP posts:
Original poster
Itsfab · 17/10/2014 07:34

Birds really upset me too.

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 17/10/2014 07:58

The winter weather should calm things down. Less cover in the garden, no young birds flobbling about and a bunch of cats inside the house in the nearest hot spot most of the time. Here's hoping for you, anyway.

whattheseithakasmean · 17/10/2014 08:12

We keep our kitty in at night, I do think it helps.

Previous cat was a Mighty Huntress & we had her so long, & loved her so much, I could never bring myself to impose any restrictions on her.

When she died & we got a kitten, I decided to start as I mean to go on & she is used to being kept in from dusk through to dawn.

I didn't want a repeat of a child coming in sobbing 'MH has killed the christmas robin' & finding the bird we had been lovingly feeding croaked at the back door with MH prowling around it mewling her triumph.

tabulahrasa · 17/10/2014 08:43

I've always kept mine in at night, but one if them still used to bring something back must days.

I used a bird scarer collar - it had a battery operated thing on it that lit up and beeped when she moved suddenly...that did make a difference, but they seem to be hard to get now. (She's old and lazy now)

TSSDNCOP · 17/10/2014 09:04

My neighbours who will quite happily squirt TSScat1 & 2 if they catch them in their garden (no problem with that BTW), have recently erected several ornamental bird feeders. These they have placed right next to our fence.

Honestly, it's like shooting fish in a barrel for TSSCat1, who moves at warp speed when she wants to.

cozietoesie · 17/10/2014 09:12

Daft. You have to assume that a cat will likely find out someday if you have an easy target even if it's not necessarily your own cat.

They'll doubtless complain as well if they see a cat hunting next to them when - come winter - they're really setting up the birds and not helping them.

Original poster
Itsfab · 17/10/2014 10:59

tabulahrasa that collar sounds like what I would like to try. BoyCat just came home with a mouse. All day hunting here Hmm.

My neighbour complained that he had had two birds. I told her I would have a word with him but I really felt like she was blaming me for it and I should stop him!

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 17/10/2014 11:22

....... I told her I would have a word with him........

Grin
Original poster
Itsfab · 17/10/2014 13:02

I did as well! Grin

And have had several words since...

BoyCat currently asleep on DS1's bed and GirlCat asleep on DS2's bed. Activities that aren't allowed.

OP posts:
Original poster
Itsfab · 18/10/2014 21:08

BoyCat is now rocking an extra bright blue bell and has quite showed off with it Grin.

GirlCat also has a lovely new blue bell and thinks she is a Christmas tree Grin.

So far, no catches..

OP posts:
SuperFlyHigh · 18/10/2014 21:48

Cozie I salute you being able to keep your cats in and they don't hunt!

My 2 (boy and girl brother and sister) and their brother who lived next door were locked in at night and let out after breakfast and they were veracious hunters. Anything that moved. I think they once tackled a rat didn't like it thank heavens so that was that.

My new kitten is very pouncy and I think he may well be a hunter. He swipes at flies on the window and upstairs he watches the birds.

Original poster
Itsfab · 18/10/2014 21:58

BoyCat's biggest prize was a squirrel!

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 18/10/2014 22:16

Oh The Lodger was a ferocious hunter but we had a long talk (in the style of Itsfab Grin) when he decided he wanted to live with us and I made it clear that staying in at night and losing his pom poms were on the cards. It was still a pretty good deal for him and he accepted it happily.

He continued to go for mice outside in the long grass but I never saw him with a bird. And we never had a present of any birds or small mammals. (The only presents he seemed to think fitting for us were delicacies from the bin of the local Chinese - sucked spare ribs on the back stoop and all!)

SuperFlyHigh · 19/10/2014 20:15

Cozie you seem to be good with cats and their psyches... (is it that word?!).

when I had my cats (and lived with my partner) I'd yell blue murder at them whenever they brought things in, one of my cats backed out through the cat flap when he'd caught a mouse with me yelling at him (it wasn't the best start at 7am!) whereas my partner at the time praised them, not too much but just grabbed their prey off them.

FFW a few years no partner just me. So do I praise/scold or be indifferent? thanks!

there are tons of birds, frogs, fish (but netted pond) for him to gorge himself on in my garden if he so pleases... JOKE Grin

Original poster
Itsfab · 19/10/2014 20:35

DH just got rid of a mouse head.

The body was cleared away this morning.

I yell TAKE IT OUT!!! To the point that GirlCat will come running to see what BoyCat has Hmm. The other day he did take it out and I said good boy, now put it in the bushes, I don't want it inside as I was confused as to the right thing to say.

A few months back they thought we were ready to learn to hunt as one of them brought in a live mouse but now it is just dead ones again.

OP posts:
SuperFlyHigh · 19/10/2014 20:47

ItsFab - you won't want to hear this but apparently siblings or more than one cat in a household tend to hunt in pairs.

My old 2 had an even better ally in their brother who lived next door. Grin

single cats hunt too though next door neighbour's tabby is veracious - but then again he was trying to move in with me for a while.

Yelling does not a lot of good I tended to find.