Is there anyway I can get two kittens and not have them kill the birds in my garden?

[blueby7]

I am looking at getting a pair of kittens but I have some lovely birds in our garden and I worry about the impact.

I had cats growing up in the countryside and they did kill lots of little animals/birds but I don't remember seeing a huge amount (probably due to my father dealing with it before we saw).

I have read that some breeds are less likely than others to hunt but really I just wanted a couple of regular kittens and nothing fancy.

Am I kidding myself that the impact won't be too bad? Is it just luck of the draw as to what kind of cat you get?

I’m not a big cat person but I got one a couple of years ago who I now unexpectedly love immensely. I keep him in during the day (dawn to dusk) in bird nesting and fledging seasons and have had no innocent bird deaths on my hands as a result. He’s taken two adults out of season as far as I know and he caught a teal (but did not injure it) one day last summer. I think keeping them in when they’re most likely to do harm is the bast way. Get the cats. They’re going to be cats wherever they live.

That was me. Was never a cat person but cats somehow thought I was and I got adopted by a neighbours Birman cat
They moved and well, I got my own

Keep them indoors like millions of people do around the globe.

I have an "indoor breed". Nobody told her, though, and she's an enthusiastic hunter. She would hate to be kept indoors but we stack the odds against her hunting success by:

• keeping her in overnight
• feeding high-quality, protein rich food
• playing with her

I have also been told that a high-contrast cat (such as one with black and white patches) is easier for birds to see and therefore less likely to be a successful hunter.

Even non hunting cats scare off the small birds. If you want somewhere that’s only full of pigeons and magpies great. Once the small birds have gone they ain’t coming back are they.

Also cats will be cats is a stupid argument. Humans have introduced them into the environment in huge numbers. Poor natural wildlife doesn’t stand a chance.

My two have bells and never catch anything except leaves and the odd fly. They are both so lazy and rubbish at hunting that even the ground feeding birds still come into the garden. I played with them loads when they were kittens but they're just not interested. Its luck I guess.

I have two - the oldest has no hunting instinct whatsoever. The younger one has caught three birds in two and a half years, two were dead 😞and one was alive, escaped his clutches and flew around the house in a panic shitting everywhere before I could catch it and release it outside. The older cat sat there watching all this kerfuffle with a 'WTAF is going on?!' face on. Not all cats are hunters.

I think it's just luck of the draw to be honest
My cat is a big rough tough feral cat who was born on and survived on the streets for years until we rescued him.
In 7 years he has never brought a thing into the house.....I suppose he could be killing and eating them, but I've never seen any evidence at all that he does.
My old cat was a hunter and we found dead bodies all over the house, and she always had blood on her face and paws That was awful

I read somewhere that some breeds have a higher prey drive than others so Rag Dolls had a lower prey drive than Bengals for example.

Our last cat was useless, a bird would have to land on his nose for him to take notice although he did stalk out the mouse nest for days, again still useless and barely caught anything. He slept in the same room as our budgie for years without incident.

However our new kitten I can see is going to be a rascal with the wildlife.

Even non hunting cats scare off the small birds. If you want somewhere that’s only full of pigeons and magpies great. Once the small birds have gone they ain’t coming back are they.

We have 2 cats. We get 40 sparrows, a family of dunnocks, 4 robins, 40 starlings, numerous blue/great tits and gold finches as well as the collared doves, feral pigeons, stock doves, wood pigeons and ring necked parakeets every day. In the winter, we’ve had up to 25 blackbirds on the lawn, as well as redwings and wax wings.

Occasionally, we get coal tits, green finches, bull finches, greater spotted woodpeckers, green woodpeckers, nuthatches, pied wagtails, blackcaps, siskins, sparrow hawks and peregrine falcons. Overhead, we get red kites and buzzards.

We garden for wildlife - a native British hedge, a log pile, two hedgehog houses, two bird feeders and fresh water.

One of my cats is a tuxedo (black and white) - he hasn’t a clue. He’s never caught a bird. DSisCat has given up. I keep them in between dusk and dawn all the year round.

Mine have a large caged area at our back door that they can run around in so the only time they have killed a bird was when a tiny wren got in through the holes in the wire! They get exercise - maybe not as much exploration as they would do if they were totally free - but they also don't get run over and are never late home with me worrying.

I'm in the US and we are urged to keep our cats indoors. My 15 years old cat has not been outside without me. She has developed a window friendship with a squirrel family.

Our Siamese only go out in their catio , they have lots of climbing opportunities indoors - floor to ceiling poles , walkways etc and are perfectly happy . They are very dog like though .

My ragdoll can’t even catch a fly unless they are particularly dozy! She doesn’t even try for birds or mice, a moth is a source of excitement for her!

She is a rescue and does go out although they are often kept as indoor cats and wonderfully fluffy and generally adorable.

I would say if you do want a pedigree kitten, research carefully and find a really good breeder who treats their queens really well. Dcat was an ex breeding queen and had a crappy life prior to coming to us. She was handed to a rescue when she was no longer able to keep providing kittens so although I love the breed, I would be reluctant to get a kitten myself.

Our two previous cats were a proper pair of serial killers. Frogs, birds, lizards… once this horrific thing I don’t even know what it was. A few years after they passed away we got 2 kittens and decided to keep them in. We have a small enclosed garden with a fence around it that they could definitely bolt if the fancy took them, but they’ve always been trained not to. It is possible! They only go outside with me, but can happily chase bees or whatever and run around for hours in the summer when we are in the garden. One of them would prefer to roam, she’s a bit of a live wire, but we manage with plenty of toys and she’s content. And the local birds are safe. And we have zero spiders!

Our cat liked mice when younger and then moved on to squirrels.
not interested in birds/frogs/butterflies (only vermin).
she did bring a rat in once through the cat flap. Then decided it was too much hassle and left DH and I to catch it!

I have shit cats too. In 10 years one has caught maybe 5 birds, and the other one really didn’t know what to do when he found a fledgling in the garden. Just sat right up close to it sniffing it while it cowered in a corner. He’s never caught anything 😂

We have jangly collars on our two which limits their sneaking up skills.

They're all so different you just don't know what you're going to get! My current cat catches only mice. My previous cat didn't catch anything at all. My childhood cat caught only birds.

I adopted 2 12 week old kittens (littermates) and they were indoor cats all of their lives. They seemed happy and didn't try to get outside.