Advice for dealing with a VERY prolific hunter

[welcometohell]

DH and I adopted a lovely little rescue cat a couple of months ago. We adore her, but it turns out she is a serial killer, to say she is prolific would be an understatement! Every morning without fail we wake up to find at least one body but often it's two or three. To make matters worse, she frequently fails to finish the job so one of us then has to start the day by putting a severely injured bird/small animal out of its misery . We then come home from work in the evening to find more! She has brought 4 bats and a bird into the house over the last 48 hours alone!

Has anyone else had a cat like this? We've had cats before so fully expected to deal with the odd bird or mouse here and there, but we've never known a cat hunt this much, or so successfully! Dealing with the aftermath is starting to feel like a full time job, on top of the full time jobs we already have. The other evening, unbeknownst to us, she brought in a little bird only to lose it and despite being maimed it managed to escape behind a large and very heavy piece of furniture we'd fixed to the wall for childproofing reasons. By the time we'd figured out where the cheeping was coming from, unfixed and moved the furniture, retrieved the poor thing and put the room back together again it was gone midnight.

I know it's probably a long shot but is there any way to discourage a cat from killing off all the local wildlife? I thought about a collar with a bell but she likes to climb trees and I worry she might end up hanging herself. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ours was like that so we ended up getting a collar with a bell that snaps off with a bit on tension. We have replaced it a couple of times, but since using them her kills have reduced dramatically. Now it just tends to be young rats on the odd occasion. We also have upped playing with her (fluffy snakes etc)
She is a tricky one, we got her as a house cat initially and now she is hardly ever in. She would make a wonderful farm cat!

Absolutely kept in overnight preferably before dusk and not let out until after dawn. They get used to it so don't get disheartened if she runs around and stays awake the first week.

Lots of playtime before bed and in the morning.

Safety collar with 3 fuck off bells on.

I have to say squirrels were the worst gift ever - huge tree rats with huge teeth!

@TwoPlugs
All cats should have access to a litter tray. I have owned cats for many many years. They have always come in at night. As did the cats we had growing up. The risks of accident etc are much bigger at night. I wouldn’t leave mine out overnight. Never.

If she used a litter tray before she was jabbed she’ll know how to use it again if she can’t go outside. Our cat refused to use her litter tray for ten years because she preferred to go out and had a cat flap. After the layer of dust on it became thicker than the layer of litter we put it away, but when we had to keep her in the house for a couple of weeks due to building work she remembered how to use it immediately.

Two of my cats have worked out that they can pee down plugholes...they seem to prefer this to the litter tray.
I wouldn't be surprised if my cleverest cat started to use the toilet. She's very curious when we use it!

Keep it in and night - an hour before dark and and hour after it gets light, and out and couple of bells on it’s collar.

At least give the wildlife a chance.

Mine pee down the plug hole too, one of them even uses the toilet.

I feel your pain. I got up on Friday and discovered feathery carnage in the upstairs bathroom. Cleaned that up, then followed the feathers down the stairs, through the dining room, into the kitchen (much blood on the newly mopped floor), around the conservatory and finally found a dead pigeon behind the table. I have 3 cats but 1 of them won’t climb in/out via my upstairs bedroom window, so I have narrowed the culprit down somewhat. I think all three of them joined in the feather-denuding, though! The younger cats seem to have suddenly discovered hunting, because they had never brought in a single thing until about a month ago but we’ve had 3 birds of varying sizes since. Intrigued to hear about safety collars - I didn’t know that was a thing!

Your cat is behaving perfectly normally. This is what cats do. Mine brought home a massive fish once, never did find out where she got it from.
It’s a bit annoying when the prey is half dead. But a cat is a hunter. 🤷‍♀️

Bats are a protected species. Is isn’t okay for cats to be out at night decimating entire populations.

All cat collars should have the safe release fastenings now. The old fashioned buckle kind resulted in many cats getting horribly injured or killed.
The catch now should open under pressure. It does make them easy to remove though if you have a cat that doesn't like wearing them. My older cat can remove a collar in seconds with a deft back paw.

Those snap on ones don’t always snap off, the vets on here have reported hanging injuries off them.

They talked about cat predation on R4 and even the rspb spokesman admitted if it wasn’t for cats/raptors we’d be knee deep in songbirds. It’s not nice but keeping her in will reduce it a lot.

The quick release collars seem to work well for my killing bugger. She used to lose 1 a month, I swear she was deliberately hanging her self from a tree to get it off! Now she loses a couple a year. I buy them in bulk so a new one goes straight on before she gets used to it.
But it's only really birds that the bell seems to help. She still catches loads of mice. Today I found one under the sofa cushion... I have no frickin idea how she got it in there!

We solved this by revoking cat flap privileges

Cat flap is now set to only open from the inside, so he can always get out but he can't get in with his headless bunnies and half rats and dead frogs etc etc.

However we do live rurally with lots of outbuildings so it's fine for him to be out all night. If we lived in a city I guess I'd keep him in at night instead, albeit reluctantly because cats are born hunters and IMO it's an actual need they should be able to fulfil.

Now when he mews to be let in I send one of the kids to check through the window if he is alone before letting him in! If he is with mouse, he can stay out.

Thank you all for your advice.

We will try keeping her in at night. It's not going to completely solve the problem as she regularly manages to hunt during the day but hopefully it will help to reduce the body count at least! Keeping her in until an hour after it gets light and getting her back inside an hour before it gets dark isn't something we can do consistently due to our work commitments though.

She is already played with a lot when we're home and has a variety of interesting toys but we will try to increase this as well.

I'm not sure about a collar. When I was looking for quick release collars online yesterday evening I saw quite a few horror stories about them not working correctly and still being a risk to cats. I have ordered one so will see how safe/reliable it looks when it arrives and then decide.

Bells were the only thing for our girl hunter.

Little boy is a mid range hunter and looks ever so proud of himself when he brings home little birds. Ours would go mad being kept in at night, so we just accept it's all part and parcel of vat ownership!

Just make sure she's wormed frequently.

Also, we need a picture. It's the law.

@Wolfiefan my cats in at night and I don’t have a litter tray.
Op your cat should be fine over night with no tray, you could always get one just in case. Also get a bell with a collar but don’t do it up too tight so they can easily squirm out of it. Also consider cat proofing your garden so they can’t get out. I know people will say ‘oh nothing will stop a cat getting out’. You can though and it’s really not that hard

We whistle trained ours, literally whistle every time you feed them and then give them a treat if they come when you whistle. They pretty soon would come running in day or night when whistled

Last feed of the day was always a treat- for ours it was a bit of wet food rather than biscuits but a few dreamies would work.

We have used those snap collars and also have it loose, only lost a handful over 10 years.

As you have bats locally and they are protected you need to do everything you can to stop it.

They do need a litter tray. Even if they very rarely use it. If they have an upset stomach or the start of cystitis then they really will need one. And if they make a mess in the house they wouldn’t be happy. (Or you!)
And I would never put a collar on. Even the quick release ones can fail to release.
We used to buy Beastie Bands. A US product I think. Velcro. So really would release if needed. But haven’t been able to get one for years.

I’d also recommend keeping in at night. Mine is not as bad as yours but she hunts frogs.
She brings them in alive.

Cats do hunt and it’s in their nature but I do think we have a responsibility as cat owners to at least try to not add to the list of fatalities.

@Wolfiefan you can insist all you like, that doesn’t mean you’re right. I don’t want a box of piss and shit in my house. If the cat has the shits then I’ll deal with it the same as when the dogs do. As for the collar it’s down to opinion. Cats are agile and squirmy and can worm their way out of practically anything. I’d consider it a complete freak accident for a cat to catch it’s collar on something and then not be able to get out of it. Especially when it’s a safety collar that’s been put on loose.

You’d think they could escape but there’s vets on mumsnet who know they’ve hanged so it’s a risk I wouldn’t take.

Same as I wouldn’t plant lilies in the garden or leave anti freeze out.

@Itsjustabitofbanter my girl cat occasionally uses the litter box, boy cat refuses and must cross his legs all night!!

Ours are shut in on the ground level that has all hard flooring. One night when he was recovering from a cat bite I found the most huge poo in the shower room by the hole- was obviously desperate, but not desperate enough to use the tray 😂

@Itsjustabitofbanter
Not having a tray is cruel. If you don’t want a litter tray then don’t get a cat. It’s not a box of “piss and shit” if you keep it clean.
Cats get awful injuries from collars. Many years ago my mum had to free a cat that had got a front leg through its collar. Cats can lose legs from collar injuries. Or worse.
I wouldn’t risk it.