Feel sick- cat has just caught a bird

[EnjoyTheSimpleThingsInLife]

I don't know if the bird has fell or if one of my cats has killed it. It was only a baby

It was near the back door, cat was meowing and rubbing her face on it. I have removed it, but now she is moping around the garden looking for it

I know most cats do this but it's really made me feel ill, is there actually anything we can do to stop them getting birds??

No. Nothing you can do other than keep cat indoors.
Ours brings shrews. They're usually alive do we set them free. its probably the same shrew every time

Not really short of keeping them indoors. My cat is a prolific hunter and nothing can stop her. She has three bells on her collar and we've tried shutting her in at night but she just waits until she can go out. I don't like keeping her indoors all the time as she goes stir crazy!

I thought that would be the only thing, but they love being out and would go mad if kept inside. She's only 11 months, first time she has done this.

Maybe keep her in from dusk to dawn - and check the garden layout so that you can restrict her 'lurking' opportunities? (Not too many profuse, low lying shrubs and bushes/long grass.) Not a lot you can do otherwise, I'm afraid.

Strange you have said that cozie we only mowered the garden yesterday, now it's just flat grass/paths rather than a jungle but it's just today she has decided to catch a bird!

They are kept in overnight, they go out about 9am until about 7pm

Not a lot else you can do then, I fear. This is a bad time of year for it - lots of young, inexperienced birds flobbling around on the ground and presenting too tempting a target for them - odds are that the bird she caught was a young blackie or starling type? (They seem to ground-hog a lot)

PS- new cut grass/weeded paths and beds expose lots of grubs and things right after. You did right to cut it and things should hopefully calm down in a few days.

you will need to get used to it unfortunately. also expect things like half eaten mice left for you and various other half eaten small creatures. as someone else said try and minimise places where birds become an easy catch for them.

I was hoping these cats wouldn't be interested in catching birds/mice..another cat that we had used to catch massive birds, mice, rats everything..he was so proud of himself bringing them home!

Bells seem to cut down on how well mine get birds (not perfect, though).
I'm just grateful if the prey arrives either completely dead or shocked but physically unharmed and catchable. It's the half-dead ones that are horrible to deal with, or the ones that loose in house. Argh.

It could be worse - MiffleCat brought a live bird into the house on Christmas Day, just as we were all sitting down to the meal.

Seriously though, it's what they do, but I agree it can be upsetting. My cat has a collar with bells and is kept in a night but still manages to get birds and tiny little mice. She is incredibly dim, so I think that if anything manages to get caught by her, it was probably ill or dying anyway so I should think of it as euthanasia.

Probably doesn't help does it. Sorry

Oh my god I would be hysterical if they brought one into the house!!

She has gone back to chasing hair bobbles around now, hopefully she has learned not to catch birds hopeful

Sorry but I don't really understand the issue. It's natural and most cats will do it. If they bring them in, just take them and throw them away in the outside bin.

You wouldn't be hysterical - you'd cope. You have to.

PS - I'm afraid that chasing hair bobbles around is called 'keeping your skill honed'.

You chose to live with a predator!

A massive percent of a cat's brain is designed to chase and catch small fast moving creatures.

One night MCat brought a live mouse through the cat-flap. I managed to catch it, and take it to safety. Next night he brings in a dead mouse, and flung it at my feet, like a big "Hah, fuck you!"

He seems to have grown out of it, but my littlest one brought me a live frog, and I once found him patting the still warm corpse of a dead mouse, which must've died of shock, not a mark on it.

Grow out of it??

You could get it a pretty collar like this

This is what comes of all this. "Fur baby" nonsense. We are horrified when animals behave like animals.

I think he'd reached his pinnacle of satisfaction when he brought home 4 young stoats over a 2 day period, Cozie.

The next step up was foxes, and even a thug like MCat knows they'd be a tough adversary.

We have to keep our mozzie screen closed at the mo so we can monitor 'Killer' -not his real name- before he comes back in the house to make sure his mouth's empty.

He's only out for a couple of hours a day as it's only when we're home, but he's averaging a vole a day at the mo, and not always dead.

The other cat just watches...

I quite like the Elizabethan ruff look, Boots.

Poor cat probably just never ventures outside, because of all the birds pointing and laffing at him.

Cats are meant to catch birds and mice and shrews etc

They should be allowed out at night, i think its cruel to keep them in.

link Cats are nocturnal, which means they are more active during nighttime hours than during the day. Living peacefully with them entails shifting their schedule slightly and managing their environment so that you, their owners, can sleep.

There are some hints/tips here if you want to stop your cat hunting (although it says to keep your cat in at night - which i dont agree with

I believe cats should be kept in at night, Stapler

Mainly because that's when fights with local feral toms, altercations with foxes, idiots walking home from the pub happen. And this is when most RTAs happen.

My 2 boys are free range from morning til night. If I occasionally forget to lock their cat-flap , they still choose to stay in.

They adjust, just like us humans adjust to disposing of their little murders.

Cats actually aren't nocturnal, they're crepuscular - meaning they're most active at dawn and dusk.