Please help - cat gone hunting mad

[Jinglebellsarenearlyhere]

I am reaching the end of my tether. It's 2am and DCat1 is running around my bedroom playing catch the mouse.

I am terrified and this is happening more and more. The backstory is that he is a rescue, has constant access to the outside, doesnot wear a collar as rescue place says not to, is a big Tom, a bit thick. We used to live in London and he never brought in anything. We weren't sure he knew how. Then we moved to the country and still nothing for ages, Dcat2 brought in the occasional thing. But this summer every day and night Dcat1 is bringing in birds, mice, rats, rabbits and I can't take it anymore.

Why has he turned into this killing machine?

What can I do to stop him?

What can I do to stop him bringing his kills upstairs? dcat2 always leaves them in the kitchen or outside so not to freak me out.

Well, as regards taking it into your room I think he could be trying to share his food with you. Would it help to realise he is trying to look after you?

No! I know he is being lovely and cat like. I'm not cross and appreciate his gesture but I would rather he did not!

Keep him in at night, they hunt most then.

Maybe you should get cross? You need to get the message through that this is absolutely not appreciated - my cats have certainly learnt that I don't want them to bring a mouse in, alive or dead, and now it's very seldom that they do.
And in the short term - can you not shut the cats in somewhere downstairs at night? Ours stay in the kitchen (with access to food and the catflap) as they'd be unbearable if they had free access to the rest of the house overnight.

You say "tom". Is he neutered? Has it been done properly?

Keep him in after dark. Mines in all night, never catches anything now.

Our rescue used to touch wood bring us treats for the first two summers we had him.
Just like yours. The selection was astounding! In our case he had always been a country boy.
I think , that with time - he realised he didn't need to impress us anymore.
I also used to get very cross when he delivered his delights!

Mine used to hunt all day.
His favourite used to be early morning rabbits.
He used to like bringing them in ,then skinning them behind the sofa.

I'd keep him in at night, we lock ours in the utility/cat room overnight.

I have been having this problem. I now lock the cat flap from around 7pm until I get up in the morning. She no longer brings me gifts lol.

You can't stop him hunting really. But I would lock the cat flap so he can't bring his gifts inside. We don't have a cat flap and the worst I have to do is remove the odd mouse head from the back door step.

We have an outdoor cat kennel so our cat always has shelter.

Have shut them in the kitchen tonight so I'm not freaking out about mice but I like having them sleep on the bed at night and don't like to keep them locked in the house at night as I like to give them free will!

So for those of you who get cross - what do you do? Bear in mind Dcat is very stupid. Dcat2 is very clever and knows I don't like presents and so never brings me them. She may leave the downstairs but never to me directly.

NOooo! Don't get cross with him as a pp suggested. A huge percentage of a cat's brain is dedicated to chasing fast moving little thingss. Rodents don't have bladders, so just leak wee, and it sort of fluoresces , and cats can see it same as birds of prey.

If you tell him off, he'll just be utterly confused. Best thing is to be very business-like, ignore the cat and dispose of the little corpse.

Remember, us humans originally prized cats for their ability to kill, not as pets. These would have been the most prized cats, so would have been bred for their ability to hunt. These genes will have continued through the generations. Apparently, Maine Coons were called "ship cats", because they didn't mind living on a ship, and they kept the rat population under control.

Cats have only been properly domesticated for about 200 years. Before that they lived alongside us because of the "vermin" humans attracted.

*oh yes, forgot to agree with all the PPs who advise you keep your cat in from dusk til dawn.

I don't bother getting cross because I don't think my cats open to feedback.

He has more of a "fuck you mommy" attitude.

*Sorry to keep going on, but your cat is much safer kept indoors at night. That's when most RTAs happen, dickheads who think it's"funny" to capture and abuse a cat to death, attacks by other animals, such as degloving, or worse.

Much safer to keep your cat in at night. They get used to the routine, and sleep through the night and are active through the day-time.

There is an active person(s) active from Manchester to the South Coast, mutilating and killing cats, been going on for some time now.

Do you think a collar with bell would warn mice? Currently they have no collars as rescue place strongly advised against. Also are cats more likley to hunt if hungry? Mine are fed 1st thing, but if I change that to pm maybe dcat would be less likely to go for a mouse snack?

One of my females (aged 1.5) does this. Every day a rat bird mouse squirrel!!!!!!
I'm squeamish too.

Ok bells on collar, get rid of bird feeders etc
You can lock flap but mine hunts in day too- morning. I don't lock it at night as worried about cat weeing in house and dont want to bring litter tray in.
If it's coming into your room with gifts then dont let the cat upstairs. We cant now

A previous cat was as bad and he eventually grew out of it around age 8!

However that said
Bells (we put 3 on a collar) dont stop her
Big night feed doesnt stop her

Think locking cat flap is best option to lessen the tally.

Ps I did try getting cross with my previous cat and he took to keeping his prey outside - under trampoline but it was just as bad!

To those of you who keep your cats in at night, do you have to use a litter tray?
I'm like OP, want to gove them free will etc but sick of dead and live animals being brought in.

Yes, we've always had a tray for the curfewed boys. In fact, we have a tray or two full time for the outside-going ones because they preferred them.

It helps enormously, not just if they're caught short but if they're unwell or ageing etc. They're used to them then.

A cats hunting instinct is not related to hunger so feeding times won't make any difference.

All the time we spend playing with them perfects their hunting skills though.

Ours have bell collars, but they don't seem to make much difference.
Do you take their catches away from them?
We do and that seems to stop them bringing them inside as often as they think we're "spoilsports".
They also have a curfew overnight - when we used to let them have overnight access to outside they'd bring all sorts in.

As an aside - our childhood cats one day started bringing in lots more animals, both dead and alive and we couldn't figure out why. Found out shortly after that DM was pregnant.

Do you know the rescues reasoning behind the no collar rule? Otherwise a collar with two bells on it will put a stop to the hunting

Can you lock the cat flap so that cat can get out but not in - I did this as a last straw when my darling hunter brought home a live rat via the cat flap in the middle of the day - never allowed free access to the house again after that experience. My Cats tap on the cat flap to be let in.