How to reduce hunting

[High5InALowRide]

Hi. I have an outdoor/indoor cat who is a persistent hunter. I'm so fed up of discovering mice alive and dead that I'm thinking of keeping her outdoors permanently or turning her into a very unhappy indoor cat. I've been through 12 collars this year but they don't last long and only have limited effect. She lived in a barn before I got her so I knew she may hunt but the mouse problem is incessant and I can't cope with finding any more mouse nests from when she brings them in and lets them free. All advice welcome, even if they were always dead it would be better than what we have now!

Our cats are mousers. We get round the problem by not having a cat flap.

So when you open the door to let a cat in, but realise it has a rodent in its mouth you shout,
'You're not coming in with that, you little sod'. And then you shut the door again.
Works 19 tines out of 20 😁

Use a cat flap and lock her out so she can only come inside when you're there to stop her bringing in her kills.

You can't keep her indoors if she used to be a barn cat and keeping her outdoors with no shelter is wrong too - unless you can build a cat flap in the door of a shed or garage and let her shelter there?

Keep her in overnight.
Up the protein in her diet.
Play with her more to relieve the hunting impulse.
Changing food helped reduce my cats hunting. She still enjoys the occasional mouse but it's no longer daily.

Do you have a cat flap?

Ours are mousers. They are allowed to roam freely during the day but when it gets dark, which is peak hunting time, we lock the catflap. They can't come unless they are checked. They are locked in at night so no surprises in the morning.

Seems to work.

Agree with keeping them in overnight and until at least 30 minutes after we he sun come up to reduce hunting times.

Dont have a cat flap.

I saw an advert for a smart cat flap that wouldn't let cats in if it detected a present! No idea of it's any good

😆 brilliant. What do do at night though are they locked out?

We do have a couple of outbuildings we could create a shelter in, or a basement and she currently sits in the covered porch. I feel mean leaving her out all night but you're right she would hate to be kept inside.

We can have the cat flap lock automatically from dawn til dusk. Slightly concerned she might get stir crazy though! I might get hold of a litter tray and give it a try next week. She does occasionally bring them in during the day but it's mostly night.

My neighbour has 5 cats, one of them a brilliant hunter and asked me to get rid of my pond as it kept bringing frogs in!

My Dcat used to hunt but seems to have grown out of it, I stopped her bring her victims home (always alive) by not having a cat flap and making her ask to be let in. Annoying in the middle of the night (she jumps on the porch and knocks at my bedroom window) but better than chasing her victims round the room at 2am. In this type of weather as it gets colder mine prefer to be in at night anyway.

One of my four cats is very much an outdoor cat, l got him a cat kennell and he uses it all the time, he is nice and cosy in it throughout the year, l do have a catflap so he does come in sometimes but mostly prefers his kennell and peace away from my younger cats. l have insulated it well, maybe try that.

They tend to be in at night, but if they decide not to come in at (our) bedtime then they stay out.
Previous cats we had used to come in through the bedroom window at night, the current lot don't seem to have worked out how to do that.