Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

I wish my cat would stop bringing me gifts

21 replies

TheHillIsMine · 02/10/2025 22:19

I have had half a dozen shrews and a bird so far. All dead except for two. I don't want them, I'm not ready to train. I can't fit any more bells on her collar but I will try. The vet said the hunting season will finish soon as it's getting colder. I ask her nicely not to bring me anything. Argh.

OP posts:
Beamur · 02/10/2025 22:22

Cat loves you but apparently thinks you are an incompetent hunter...
Practical tips - get her in at dusk, play with her more or enrich her indoor environment, feed more protein, keep in at night. Hunting usually reduces in winter and I have found reduces a bit with age.

Wincher · 02/10/2025 22:27

Me too Sad today alone we have had a mouse and a GIANT rat. It’s honestly most days and I am so over it.

Dreamerinme · 02/10/2025 22:32

My cat’s hunting has slowed down a lot with age but I still hate it.

A friend has a cat flap which has a camera on it which uses AI to detect if the cat has prey in its mouth, and if it does it automatically locks the flap. It connects to their mobiles so they can see the cat at the flap; she says it works great but cost around £600!

Original poster
TheHillIsMine · 02/10/2025 22:41

Dreamerinme · 02/10/2025 22:32

My cat’s hunting has slowed down a lot with age but I still hate it.

A friend has a cat flap which has a camera on it which uses AI to detect if the cat has prey in its mouth, and if it does it automatically locks the flap. It connects to their mobiles so they can see the cat at the flap; she says it works great but cost around £600!

I want this!

The other night I shouted at boy cat and he took the prey out.

it's normally girl cat bringing stuff. It's currently windy and raining heavily and she's outside 😢. I have made them a den with a double layer of carpet and a roof, plus she can come in, but I am hoping the weather means no hunting success.

OP posts:
ohreallyIsee · 03/10/2025 00:22

Dcat used to give gifts to nextdoors dcat, he was a total coward and useless hunter😂 Neighbour used to admit that his cat was the most cowardly cat he knew(although he was very good at hunting pegs off the washing line🙄)

Pascha · 03/10/2025 00:35

We don't have a £600 catflap, we just set ours to Out only. Went down from 3-4 presents a day five years ago to maybe 3 or 4 a week now and at least they are all left outside now. Sometimes just the beak and feet if they've been hungry. We've had the occasional live bird in the kitchen and more than a few live mice, and two rabbits, but very few living things this year compared to previous ones. We have the catch-and-release system down pat now. We have a dedicated 'present' dustpan and even the kids have perfected the carcass fling into the hedgerow.

It gets better, you just have to have your system of dealing down to an art and then it becomes background to daily life.

See exhibit A pain in the arse.

Sensitive content
I wish my cat would stop bringing me gifts
MousseMousse · 03/10/2025 00:36

ohreallyIsee · 03/10/2025 00:22

Dcat used to give gifts to nextdoors dcat, he was a total coward and useless hunter😂 Neighbour used to admit that his cat was the most cowardly cat he knew(although he was very good at hunting pegs off the washing line🙄)

That's so funny 😄

I've never minded the gifts - with the exception of live rats, those still give me nightmares

Zofloramummy · 03/10/2025 00:42

I have one cat who brings me feathers and live moths, another who hauls in live mice, shrews, birds and on one occasion a bat and a third who helps me catch the bloody things!

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 03/10/2025 00:56

See exhibit A pain in the arse

Ahh see that is Black Cat "Well I went to all this effort , you are SO bloody ungrateful. I don;t see why I should bother . But you'd LIKE that wouldn;t you

Our boy (mini panther) ran in and deposited a dead sparrow in the floor but I couldn't swear he killed it .

HedgeWitchOfTheWest · 03/10/2025 02:28

We’ve got the ZeroMouse unit on our cat flap (cost £200).

It seems expensive except it’s less than we spent on repairing the house after the cat brought live mice into the house. One in particular (mouse) got into the walls, would chew on the walls all night, chewed through multiple kitchen appliance cables, went through all the kitchen cupboards- we had to wash everything we could, replace loads of basics (flour etc). We spent a fortune on traps & poison. In the end the zeromouse was the better option than risk having this happen again.

Original poster
TheHillIsMine · 03/10/2025 07:28

£200 is a better option.

I could set the cat flap to out only but I would feel mean if I wasn't here to let them back in. I could get another deluxe den though.

Happy to report I haven't received any gifts throughout the night. Will need to check the kitchen but so far they've brought them all to my bedroom door.

OP posts:
Favouritefruits · 04/10/2025 19:28

I couldn’t be done with my littlest cat gifts I’ve found not letting her out till 9 in the morning and getting her in at 4 in the afternoon has sorted the problem out.

stripedt · 05/10/2025 10:24

We have an Onlycat cat flap. Was £450ish. Totally worth it - it’s amazing. Life changing. Not a single present or mouse to chase since. It stopped its first one within 48hours of being installed. Also great to track when our cat which roams a bit was last in the house.

user2848502016 · 05/10/2025 10:46

My old cat at least had the decency to bring me dead gifts, current cat has a habit of bringing in live things and letting them go in the house which is…..fun
Had two live bats to get rid of this summer, and a live mouse that climbed in to the laundry basket!

TheeNotoriousPIG · 05/10/2025 10:49

It's either because you are considered to be a useless hunter, OP, or your cat is kindly supplementing your food stock, which some might consider useful, given the current COL 😂

We had two cats growing up. The tiny one would come home religiously with something, usually dead, except for the baby rabbit (I'm still convinced that she wanted to swap it for our grumpy pet one!) and a pigeon that was bigger than her. The dopey giant one only managed with injured animals that were possibly someone else's cast-offs. Unfortunately, he'd bring them indoors and let them go, which led to things like trying to get live birds out of the dining room, and me trying to have a very serious phone call about a job interview when a dead field mouse shot out from under the sofa, followed by a paw dragging it back under...

The only thing that worked was moving away and then keeping them as elderly house cats.

Iloveeverycat · 05/10/2025 10:51

Mine just used to bring in wet news papers, magazines and palm leaves now he is older he can't be bothered any more.

3flyingducksarrive · 05/10/2025 10:51

Mine brought me a baby snake. And it was still alive so I had to catch it and get it outside.

Iloveeverycat · 05/10/2025 10:54

One came in with a live bird and it flew into the Christmas tree and I had to try and get it out.

Original poster
TheHillIsMine · 05/10/2025 19:49

I'm fine with being a crap hunter. 😆 I just don't understand why I'm squeamish when I see something in their mouths or it laid on the floor.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheHillIsMine · 07/10/2025 22:32

She's given me a couple of nights off but she brought a tiny one in at ten. She's gone out again and she'd better not bring anything else.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page