Extreme killer cat

[teaandakitkat]

Our last cat was a crazy killer. Almost every day she killed something and brought it in. Not just small birds or mice, but pigeons regularly, once a half-dead crow flapping pathetically on the floor, baby seagulls and once our neighbours budgie, but that's a whole other story.
I've grown up with cats my whole life and never had a cat like this.
I'd love to have another one but I couldn't cope with another extreme killer.
Is there any way of reducing your chances of getting a killer? Apart from keeping it indoors? Particular breeds or anything, or is it just luck?
Our last cat was a Bengal korat cross if that makes any difference.

I've only had male cats. One brought in a live bird through the patio doors. When he saw my oh he gasped and the bird flew off. He also caught a bird in the garden, I screamed at him and the bird flew off.

Another one caught and played killed a couple of birds but never brought them indoors and another caught a mouse and ran around the garden away from my clutches.

Is it mostly female cats that hunt and bring in prey and male cats opportunists?

No. Nothing to do with sex, but she's moly whether the cat is a good hunter, and/or whether it was taught to hunt effectively by it's mum.

Best way to reduce your chances is to find a rescue cat with a disability. I had one with a slight neurological condition which left it uncoodinated, and one with corneal scarring from a virus as a newborn. Neither could catch anything, and regularly fell off fences.

We had a real serial killer. He killed a pigeon as a kitten when he was a similar size! He was a normal moggie black and white fluffy - his dad was the neighbourhood wild cat. You can bell them but that is all.

Ours is the clumsiest cat I've ever had. She sees birds but just meows at them 'Come playyyyy with meeee' and honestly seeing her lollop around trying to catch them is quite embarrassing.

However. I got complacent and she decided to bring a bird into my bedroom through my open window at midnight. Proceeded to kill it in front of my bedroom door so I couldn't escape. She ate it whole. I can still hear the bones crunching

I have two - a boy and a girl. The girl looked so pleased once when she caught a tiny shrew. the boy cat has caught something almost daily for about six months... Our patio is strewn with trophies.

My only solution is no catflap. But we have to be on our toes with any open doors or windows and I am worried about the summer , must be honest!

Mine is a serial killer. He's the first cat I've had that has killed this prolifically. The others caught the odd thing ( or they just ate them and didn't bring them home, maybe).
He plays differently to other cats in that rather than batting toys around and chasing after them, he tends to pounce, pin them down and cart them off in his mouth. He's also obsessed with feathers and will chew and crunch them. Maybe if you could watch prospective cats play it might give you a heads up to likelihood of getting a homicidal maniac?!

He hasn't killed anything today though

Our cat is ridiculous too, he brought 6 (yes, six!) voles in the other day as well as a pigeon.

The pigeon he brought in (live) through two cat flaps and up the stairs to show us!

These threads make me really sad. Many birds and animals are rare or endangered - why do cat owners let their cats kill so many? Either keep them in at night or put a bell on their collar, Ffs.

What if you do both and the cat still kills? I don't like it either and the OP asked how to reduce the chances of having a hunting cat.

My cat was an indoor cat for the first 3 years of his life and I had no idea he'd become so good at hunting.

A bell seems to work well

kingfisher - I keep both my cats in at night : and they kill during the day.

To be fair, I don't think the shrews and mice he kills are endangered.

But I will not collar a cat ; I'd rather not have a dead cat on my hands either.

Boy cat used to be a prolific hunter, mainly mice, but as he's got older he seems to be less inclined and prefers snoozing on a bench in the garden to hunting.

We have 3 girls, one catches flies which is fab, they don't last long in the house. One barely moves out of the conservatory and the other shows good signs of being a hunter but is a stay at home cat who won't venture from the garden.

All four are kept in at night, we haven't had a kill brought home in 2 years now.

Maybe if you could watch prospective cats play it might give you a heads up to likelihood of getting a homicidal maniac?!

Wasn't that how Larry was chosen at Battersea? :)

Is Larry the one that's useless?

It's his owner that's useless, Weeds...

I'll get slaughtered if I post about my dogs killing anything.

Why do cats get away with it?

Have you tried a bell, OP?

I was about to post something a bit arsey to Chardonnay about dogs being people maimers (all in jest)...

but then my cat brought a half dead mouse in through the window...

I have had numerous cats over the years that have always worn collars, fitted with a bell and quick release mechanism, without issue. I have read some horror stories about them, but in all honesty if my cat was killing on the scale, I would either just put a bloody collar on it, or I would get creative and make something for it to wear to alert the local wildlife of its presence.
It's no wonder that cat owners get a bad rap when you read this kind of stuff, some of you sound almost proud of the needless killing of other animals.

Hang your head in shame Beans.

You are aiding, abetting and feeding Dreamies to a cold hearted killer.

Cats can get badly injured by collars. You don't find dogs climbing trees for example, so the risks are different.
I wouldn't be shocked to hear about a dog killing a rat or a rabbit to be honest, it's what some breeds are designed to do. I guess the issue is the publicity around attacks on other pets, children etc. (which I know are rare) but to hear of a dog killing anything makes people think it's vicious, due to the press stories they have read, rather than realising it's a working breed doing what it has been bred to do.
Bells might work for some cats but a serious mouser just learns to be even more stealthy when hunting.
Most cats aren't happy kept indoors all the time,but it's a rare cat that will walk on a lead for its exercise, some do of course.

Do bells work for mice? Our cats bring in a mouse/vole/shrew about once a week, more often in the Autumn. Sometimes they eat them but mostly they leave them dead for me to find. I hate it. We live semi-rurally.

Yes, Chardonnay - I am. I had to lure him away from the mouse with a mixture of screaming and Dreamies....

Bells don't work, the cat will learn how to move without it jingling. RSPB say there's "no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide".

tea the most playful cats I've had are the ones who seem to hunt more. One of mine is clumsy but brings more trophies than the other one. I'm wondering if it's just that the other one isn't bothered about trophies though.

I am actually very scared of birds and am terrified mine'll bring a live bird in (we have had a dead one once)

My old house had mice everywhere - a constant scourge. I wouldn't mind so much if Clyde the super mouser was in that house...