Author Topic: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in  (Read 7828 times)

ian

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #25 on: 26 April, 2019, 01:19:03 pm »
Would a slow-worm interest a cat?


I had high hopes our cats would rid our garden of slugs when we first got them.  But if it doesn't move like lightning they don't appear to be interested.  If it does move like that - KILL!

They went through a phase of bringing them in (despite the name they do seem to move fast when a cat is after them). I'd find them everywhere. Mostly just a bit chewed or minus their tail, but occasionally it was a blood bath (they're really quite bloody). Scared the hell out of the cleaner who is scared of snakes. I know, I explained they're lizards, but it didn't really help.

Kim

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #26 on: 26 April, 2019, 01:20:43 pm »
One of our cats first catches was an earthworm

I had a cat who would regularly bring home earthworms as presents for my mum.  I saw her hunting them once, which was hilarious.  (Jump up and down in the vegetable patch until worms come to the surface, then grab one, bring it in and deposit it at mum's feet.)

There was the occasional bird and small rodent, but those were for her own entertainment, rather than presents.


(I knew a particularly rubbish cat who hunted slugs, presumably because they were the only thing slow enough for her to catch.  I know this because I found a whole one (she had no teeth) in a pile of cat vomit I was cleaning up...)

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #27 on: 26 April, 2019, 01:23:29 pm »
Our cat is 16 now and doesn't hunt as voraciously as she did when she was young. Unfortunately one of the other village cats has started to leave us gifts on the doorstep. Shows all the signs of wanting to come in the house as well, no idea what's wrong with its current gaff as it looks well cared for.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Kim

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #28 on: 26 April, 2019, 01:34:42 pm »
Our cat is 16 now and doesn't hunt as voraciously as she did when she was young. Unfortunately one of the other village cats has started to leave us gifts on the doorstep. Shows all the signs of wanting to come in the house as well, no idea what's wrong with its current gaff as it looks well cared for.

Maybe they're friends?  The cat I mentioned above was playmates with one from a couple of houses down the road, and - as we eventually discovered when talking with his humans - they had negotiated a reciprocal visiting/dining arrangement.

Mrs Pingu

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #29 on: 26 April, 2019, 02:27:07 pm »
Mojo used to bring wasps in.
Live.
In his mouth. Humming.

And then he would come home and release them into our flat.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

ian

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #30 on: 26 April, 2019, 05:40:48 pm »
They do eat spiders which is especially gross, watching the legs frantically squiggling out the side of their mouths. Moths too, which go down with a troubling amount of crunching.

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #31 on: 26 April, 2019, 09:30:20 pm »
Our cat is 16 now and doesn't hunt as voraciously as she did when she was young. Unfortunately one of the other village cats has started to leave us gifts on the doorstep. Shows all the signs of wanting to come in the house as well, no idea what's wrong with its current gaff as it looks well cared for.

Maybe they're friends?  The cat I mentioned above was playmates with one from a couple of houses down the road, and - as we eventually discovered when talking with his humans - they had negotiated a reciprocal visiting/dining arrangement.

Well it has seen of evil rescue cat (it was a Greek street cat) from next door but one who was terrorising our cat. So maybe it is her friend. She used to be friends with one of the neighbours cats before they moved away. Its complicated in cat world here as we have seven neighbours (long garden and complicated interlocking village plots).
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Tail End Charlie

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #32 on: 26 April, 2019, 09:45:55 pm »
My cat, aged 16, eats all her prey, usually leaving the spleen and in the case of rabbits, the back legs and tail. She doesn't go after birds now, but there's a constant stream of catches throughout the year. In the last week she's caught two moles and two bunnies.

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #33 on: 27 April, 2019, 09:02:27 am »
Cats should not be allowed outside on their own. They can decimate local wildlife populations. Even if not bringing anything in, they are probably still killing and leaving it outside.
I understand your concern.
The biggest change in negative terms in the amount of wildlife in my suburban garden was when the 1930s school close by was replaced by a super-duper modern academy.
The security fence seals us off from the foxes; there are manicured lawns instead of rich feeding grounds full of wild stuff for the birds where the sports field used to be. The developer said there were no bats in the building or grounds, but we see a twentieth of the numbers we used to see on a summer evening. They decimated the trees so we no longer hear woodpeckers, or have the variety of birds we used to get. The wet area at the bottom of the sports field where I think our frogs came from (which we are slowly trying to get back into our pond) has been drained - were there any newts there? Dunno, the report said not, but I doubted it then, and now I know who paid for it.......
So cats = killers, but humans WTF.

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caerau

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #34 on: 27 April, 2019, 12:17:14 pm »
Yup, reminds me of my neighbours who in great horror, ostentatiously signed the anti-tree netting petition that went around last week....whilst having their lawn replaced with artificial grass  ::-)
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

ian

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #35 on: 29 April, 2019, 10:50:54 am »
There's that strange British obsession with chopping down any tree within sight of their house so they get the 'light' and then having to keep their blinds or curtain closed.

I'm really not sure why every school these days must be surrounded by a prison grade security fence...

Jaded

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #36 on: 29 April, 2019, 12:14:03 pm »
That's to stop the pupils getting out to buy pizzas.
It is simpler than it looks.

Kim

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #37 on: 29 April, 2019, 12:20:09 pm »
I thought it was Pedobear.

ian

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #38 on: 29 April, 2019, 12:42:24 pm »
We used to live next to a school, the actual height of the fence (on top of the existing outbuilding) was about the same height as our two storey house. The pedobear would have to have either trampolined over or been fired into the school by trebuchet. Someone must have a good, lucrative contract to supply these fences, every school now seems to be surrounded by one.

caerau

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #39 on: 29 April, 2019, 12:48:10 pm »
They should give Trump a call
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

Jaded

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Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #40 on: 29 April, 2019, 12:51:34 pm »
I’d imagine that Thomas Hamilton’s actions had some bearing on school fences.
It is simpler than it looks.

ian

Re: My cat is a prolific hunter aka how do I stop her bringing live mice in
« Reply #41 on: 29 April, 2019, 02:31:55 pm »
Possibly, but fences have gates. Our local school is surrounded by a small mountain of litter anyway. They should fear the trash yeti.


Can I borrow your cat please?

I had a nice bed of carrots overwintered and developing well in the polytunnel on the allotment. Then a couple of weeks ago a mouse got in and had them all- nibbled through the top of the carrot.  :( Left a few half-done so could see what it was.

I seriously need a proper mousing cat over at the allotment......

GC

gibbo

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Can I borrow your cat please?

 :D  I'll ask her what the going rate is. In the meantime I spent another hour of my life (and Mrs Gibbo), that I won't get back, extricating another mouse yesterday. Field mouse this time.