Can I stop cat bringing mice in?

[catmice]

I really don't like mice and a rat would be even worse.
I've NCed as I've talked to a few people IRL about this.

I have a collar with a bell ready to put on her. Is this likely to work?
Any other ideas?

She's just started bringing mice in and I really want it to stop.

You wont be able to stop her.
You are offically family with an open invite to dinner and she wants to make sure you are well fed before you learn to hunt your own.

You can try keep her in during the times her prey will be most active and to redirect her hunting using toys
But you should make sure she can not get in the house with live prey

I think the only answer is to keep her in at night?

I'm going to sound nuts now but our car used to bring mice in. Once she brought 3 dead ones (one for each of us!) and I told her off lol. Next day she bought 6 and I read you have to thank them as they are trying to teach you. So I said thank you cat. Well done. No more after that for a while

A bell does reduce the kill
Rate .

You might not be able to stop it completely, but try the following - a bell (make sure collar is quick release) keep them in overnight from dusk and feed a very high protein diet, plus lots of play might curb it a bit.

There is a cat flap being developed but not ready for general sale yet. Hopefully it will be ready soon and will stop them bringing mice in. It’s called Onlycat.

1. A bell won't help. Cats shouldn't wear collars, even quick-release ones. A cat of ours almost had his leg severed when it got caught in his collar.
2. Keep the cat in at night.
3. Feed a high protein diet (fresh chicken etc, no tinned Whiskas and the like)
4. Ensure your cat has toys and that you play with him regularly.

A bell won't stop her hunting and collars on cats have the potential to be very dangerous - even the quick release ones can fail and injure or even kill a cat.

If you really don't want her bringing stuff inside then the only answer is to lock her out and only give her access if you're there to vet her before she comes in

Or, only allow her free access to a tiny part of the house so any kills are contained there instead.

Dead intact mice I can deal with. Parts of mice are bad but worst are live mice that I then have to try and catch before they take up residence. Poor things are sometimes injured too. For some reason mice aren’t that attractive to chase once they are inside the house 😡.

We got an extra large bell for the collar. Bird killings have fallen from almost daily to once in 8 weeks. Very pleased 😁

He does sound like a Christmas reindeer though! Jingling away

We also keep ours in at night

Hiss and take the mouse away. Ideally with something like "mine".

They tend to figure out its better to eat them themselves not to present them to you

We kept our cat in at night. Put 2 bells on a quick release collar. She regularly got the collars off and they didnt stop her catching various types of prey. The only way to stop live mice running around our home was to check her mouth before she came in.

We have started locking the cats in the kitchen, they still bring in the mice but at least they are kept in one place with easy to clean floor - the robovac got the mouse bits once - not pretty. Dead mice are much better than when they bring in live ones and lose them!

We don't have a cat flap for exactly this reason. We have a glass patio door so we can check he's not bringing anything else in before we open the door.

I’ve always thought it must drive cats a bit nuts to have a bell jangling the whole time.

I have wondered about some sort of pen/enclosure around the cat flap, so they can still have their freedom at night, but any prey is neatly contained? Otherwise I guess a litter tray would be needed if they stay in at night?

Thank you everyone.
We don't have a cat flap but I have been leaving the back doors open in the summer. I love doing this but guess I'm just going to have to be a lot more careful.
I will try the bell but do feel it's a bit mean.

@MeetMyCat we have a litter tray in case they need it overnight but they only use it once in a blue moon - maybe once every 6 months. They seem to be very good at holding!

Our cats had a couple of hunting years (probably from 1-3 years of age) but don't seem to have brought anything in this summer, so maybe they grow out of it?

My cat was quite lazy and didn't catch a lot. But when he brought a live mouse in I came close to him and pointed to the back door and said 'Take it outside'. And to my surprise he did! And after that he left any catches on the patio or stepping stones in the garden which was easier to deal with than inside.

Daylight knobbery

Just shut the back door OP! Even if your cat doesn't bring the mice in, they do like kitchens - they'll come in themselves!

Your cat is doing you a good turn, though it's cruel and brutal - you really don't want a large population of mice in the garden. Mice becoming established in the house is a horrible thing and can happen alarmingly quickly. Don't stop her killing mice. Are any of your neighbours ground-feeding birds by any chance?

We've got a double entry system. Cat flap to outside is a microchip one and allows cats to come into conservatory. From there is a door into the kitchen with a cat flap that they can only go out of so if they come in with a mouse it stays in the conservatory until it gets eaten, though funnily enough the novelty seems to have worn off once they get to that stage.

Get a catio?