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-   -   My cat keeps bringing me dead mice (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=122443)

Flexi-Girl 03-05-2018 04:50 PM

My cat keeps bringing me dead mice
 
I recently moved to a new townhouse. Since moving in, I have finally had a chance to let my cat (featured in my avatar) outside. She is truly ecstatic about getting to go outside and will take every opportunity to hunt. Unfortunately she's really good at it as in scary movie good. Every time I let her out, she returns with dead mice. Even if I let her out for a half an hour she brings home a kill. Well I am split on the matter. On the one hand, I don't like all this killing and death even if they are mice. On the other hand she is probably keeping the population of mice down for my neighbors and me. We've had mice get in the house before. Should I try to curve her hunting or just let her be the cat?

Little Creek77 03-05-2018 05:11 PM

Cats are natural predators. Let her be. She is just bring you a gift.

Tobi 04-05-2018 01:04 AM

I know. It's very sad for the little mice. Poor little Souls.

I am looking after someone's cat too, and she is a hunter. I am forever giving tiny mice decent burials and blessings for their journey into the afterlife.

My own feeling is, there is little you can do to control that except keep her constantly inside. And that is unfair to a cat who loves/needs to be outside. A cat has a wild streak and isn't actually meant to be kept bottled up in a living room for the rest of its life....well that's how I feel anyway. I am from UK where a totally "indoor cat" is almost unknown unless it is terminally ill.
I have seen the natural and happy life the cat I'm looking after has, and she craves being outside especially in decent weather. She has always lived like that. She would be extremely unhappy and neurotic locked up all day.

They are naturally hunters. That is their skill. We can't really project our values onto them.

The mice actually do have a chance. The ones that get killed haven't grasped their chance. I have heard mice noisily announcing their presence with squeaks.....
That is a dead giveaway.

Buzzards prey on them, as do Foxes and Sparrowhawks. It's not only cats.

But if she eats them, then do make sure she gets a multi-wormer as recommended. My dog used to get worms if she ate a mouse.

Lucky 1 04-05-2018 02:17 AM

Its totally normal behaviour. ......my big old orange Tom brings home some dead critter everyday. ....mouse...rat ...bird.....something!

Sometimes he'll drop them on the porch and make sure that I see it as if to say......See! I'm helping out here too!

Then after I go in he'll lay down and happily crunch there heads and nibble there toes....

If its just mice be glad because he's just doing his job! And seriously. ...rodents reproduce sooo fast all the preying cats in the neighborhood can't hardly keep them under control. ...

LillyBelle 04-05-2018 03:19 AM

I understand. It is sad to see another animal die. It's the circle of life, though. You can't stop her because it is her natural instinct. Cats still retain their wild instincts to hunt. They are not like dogs, who lost their wild instincts over years of domestication.

Rah nam 04-05-2018 03:23 AM

That's what cats do, better dead mice than dad birds.

Flexi-Girl 04-05-2018 11:27 AM

Thank you everyone for the extremely helpful responses. I am very surprised to see so many people who understand and respect cat's natural instinct rather then make them to be villains. I think I'll let her continue doing what she does, and since mice do breed in large numbers, maybe it's not so bad.

linen53 04-05-2018 04:21 PM

I have two huntresses. One has stopped hunting and bringing in presents, the other still brings in kills. For this little cat I've bought some homemade cloth collars (on Etsy) and sewn on tiny bells to alert her prey.

The bells are so very small they don't tinkle (rather, they thunk if I shake them next to my ear) but it's enough to alert most of the birds and mice and the bells don't irritate her with the constant tinkling. I have two such collars and change them occasionally to repair the bells and wash them.

I searched high and low for several months online for a cat collar with bells on them (mine have ten 10 bells surrounding the collar) and only found collars with one dangly bell which, in my opinion, can get caught on something and trap the cat.

LPC 05-05-2018 07:54 PM

Great idea, Deb! Yes, cats are natural hunters. My mother's cat used to bring her "gifts" of dead mice (and a live mole on one occasion), but he is now quite elderly and hasn't done it for many years. Of course, it is upsetting for animal lovers when so many birds and other creatures get killed, even when a cat is very well fed. But that is a cat's nature.

Deb's answer above seems to be the best that one can do to give birds, mice and other small animals a fair chance! I have a soft spot for field mice. They are sweet creatures. So anything which avoids them suffering a painful death has my vote.

dream jo 05-05-2018 08:05 PM

yrs go we had a rodentt pron we did my cat lucy i had it tim wud kill thm she did wud awayss leve thm wear i sat she did 1mousees veryy r prengentt it wz eyeess rid oenn but deed coz lucy brokee its nec she did morninn we got u saw her torshin a ooorr mosyess thwonin it in airr wish wz a bit hontinngg it wz still drott it lkft it wear i sit amont tims my o poooorr dad it tim had get rud of thm

dream jo 05-05-2018 08:06 PM

my 2 cats i hav now cortt wen thy wear 5 mthss lsy yr torshin lif frm it aner mosess it got in hosess
it can be veryy tramticc for us 2 sea i no

Flexi-Girl 07-05-2018 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linen53
I have two huntresses. One has stopped hunting and bringing in presents, the other still brings in kills. For this little cat I've bought some homemade cloth collars (on Etsy) and sewn on tiny bells to alert her prey.

The bells are so very small they don't tinkle (rather, they thunk if I shake them next to my ear) but it's enough to alert most of the birds and mice and the bells don't irritate her with the constant tinkling. I have two such collars and change them occasionally to repair the bells and wash them.

I searched high and low for several months online for a cat collar with bells on them (mine have ten 10 bells surrounding the collar) and only found collars with one dangly bell which, in my opinion, can get caught on something and trap the cat.


Over this weekend I have had to rescue 2 desperate mice brought into the house and kept alive as toys. One of them was so terrified it was screaming and shaking. Fortunately I put the poor things safely outside. I can accept my cat killing them quickly but I don't want them to suffer like that.

I am going to compromise and do what you suggested. I want my cat to be able to hunt but I also want to give the poor mice (who are not bothering me) a chance to escape.

Honza 07-05-2018 01:12 PM

Once I was deeply touched when my girlfriends cat brought me a gift....it was a beer can ring pull. lol. She looked really pleased with herself for her 'kill'.

LillyBelle 07-05-2018 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honza
Once I was deeply touched when my girlfriends cat brought me a gift....it was a beer can ring pull. lol. She looked really pleased with herself for her 'kill'.



LOL! I love cats!

dream jo 07-05-2018 06:49 PM

me 2 i luv cats i thng thy r so lovin i do thy g gif us giftss thy do i remr wen lucy giv me a shoee lasess as a gifttt
my 2 cats i hab now thy evn giv me ther cat toyss as a giftt

linen53 08-05-2018 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flexi-Girl
I am going to compromise and do what you suggested. I want my cat to be able to hunt but I also want to give the poor mice (who are not bothering me) a chance to escape.


My huntress cat like to play and torture. The collars were my compromise. It took planning, buying the supplies online, waiting for everything to arrive and sewing on the bells, but well worth the time and effort. She is not bothered by her collars and I don't have to watch her torture innocent wildlife (very often).

It would be a different story if she ate them, but she doesn't.

LillyBelle 08-05-2018 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linen53
My huntress cat like to play and torture. The collars were my compromise. It took planning, buying the supplies online, waiting for everything to arrive and sewing on the bells, but well worth the time and effort. She is not bothered by her collars and I don't have to watch her torture innocent wildlife (very often).

It would be a different story if she ate them, but she doesn't.



That's cats for you lol. I was surprised when my little Alice killed a mouse. She's a small cat and I didn't think she could kill anything. She did though and she didn't eat it either.

I'm surprised your cat doesn't mind her collar. Usually, cats don't like them. I had to knit Alice a collar because she wouldn't stop hurting herself by scratching her neck. The sores needed to heal and she just wouldn't let them. We ended up having to bring her to the Vet.

Flexi-Girl 09-05-2018 10:25 AM

It's been about three days since I put bells on Dazzles collar, and she hasn't returned with any gifts. That maybe helping. However it wouldn't surprise me if she's keeping them in her secret layer since I was getting upset when she brought them in the house. She's a very perceptive cat.

On a side note. She doesn't seem to mind the collar but I take it off when she's indoors. There's no reason it must be on 24x7.

linen53 09-05-2018 12:47 PM

My experience with Cami, my huntress, is the collar works most of the time. And she insists upon bringing them in the house, whether they have feathers or fur or scales. That way they can't get away. That's her logic.

Cami melts when I scratch under her collar but she doesn't dig at it herself. My other cat hated the collars so much she quit hunting.

Lucky 1 09-05-2018 01:01 PM

I just let'm hunt......its in their nature and I figure a hunting cat is a happy cat!

Flexi-Girl 09-05-2018 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucky 1
I just let'm hunt......its in their nature and I figure a hunting cat is a happy cat!


I can accept her hunting and killing but I won't let the little critters scream and shake in terror while my cat slowly plays with it.

dream jo 09-05-2018 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flexi-Girl
I can accept her hunting and killing but I won't let the little critters scream and shake in terror while my cat slowly plays with it.




i no it can be tramtziee for us as welll pooor preyss thy kill i no wen i had lucy way she tomrmet pooot mousesss thn brakin poooor thngs nec thn prengnett mouseess she lft eyess wid oeb openn

thn lst yr my 2 cats wen thy wear kittenss betren thy thy killedd a mouseess it got in my homee thy did suckd lifee frm it

Flexi-Girl 09-05-2018 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dream jo
i no it can be tramtziee for us as welll pooor preyss thy kill i no wen i had lucy way she tomrmet pooot mousesss thn brakin poooor thngs nec thn prengnett mouseess she lft eyess wid oeb openn

thn lst yr my 2 cats wen thy wear kittenss betren thy thy killedd a mouseess it got in my homee thy did suckd lifee frm it


Fortunately, I was able to pick some of the mice up and put them out.

SeekerOfKnowledge 26-06-2018 09:20 AM

While the poor mice and birds have my compassion, I can't stop "my" cat from hunting. It is in his nature and instinct, and whenever I see him with prey and come too close he begins to growl. He is so fast, I wouldn't have a chance to interfere anyway.
At least, he only tried to bring a mouse or bird into the house two or three times so far.


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