Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[yannovitch]

Hello everyone,

 

my lovely girlfriend and i got ourselves a lovely cat a few months ago.

The cat is called "Miette", which in French means "crumb", like a crumb of bread.

 

Miette is lovely and beautiful and we got very attached to her.

 

but here we are: she seems to like to bring dead birds home!!!

we understand she may be doing this to impress us, but the presents she brings are quite unsightly!!!

 

we did fit her collar with a bell after the first incident, but that doesn't seem to save any bird!

 

i don't want to frustrate Miette's hunting instincts, but i would like to save the birds!!

 

has any one got any suggestion?

 

cheers

[Chucky Mama]

You are doing the right thing using a bell. Perhaps you could add another one to the collar. You can also try something called a Liberator Collar which sends out an audio visual alarm to birds but not mice apparently. These and other ultra sonic collars do get mixed reviews and come at a range of prices depending where you buy them so look around. To be honest, I think a couple of bells will probably do just as well.

[squiffs]

I would also be cautious about spending too much on a flashy collar - as my cat regularly slips his when the mood takes him. I say "oh, you didn't like that collar then, Jelly?" when he walks in without one on. I buy them cheaply from ebay and have a stock of them under the sink. I also buy the Ancol collars with the safety catch on them, so he doesn't strangle himself if he gets caught somewhere.

 

I think chucky mama's suggestion of an extra bell is your best bet, it's miles cheaper.

 

That being said, Jelly is 12 years old now (apparently that's an OAP for a cat, and he should have grown out of catching animals and just sleep all day ) he still brings home mice on occasions, even with a fluorescent reflective blue collar. If they want to catch something, they will

[Ziggy]

My cats have bells, and still bring back regular gifts (mostly the rodent kind, occasionally the aviary kind)... Bells do help, they're just not a guarantee that all birds will escape, depending on the skill of the hunter and the health of the bird...

While I'm happy to put bells on my cats, it's important to realise that cats are natural predators, and hunting birds and mice is just something they do... it might not be pretty, and I do like birds and mice, and have rescued many from my cats in the many years I've had them, but it's all part of having a cat.

[squiffs]

My cats have bells, and still bring back regular gifts (mostly the rodent kind, occasionally the aviary kind)... Bells do help, they're just not a guarantee that all birds will escape, depending on the skill of the hunter and the health of the bird...

While I'm happy to put bells on my cats, it's important to realise that cats are natural predators, and hunting birds and mice is just something they do... it might not be pretty, and I do like birds and mice, and have rescued many from my cats in the many years I've had them, but it's all part of having a cat.

 

 

True.

 

 

If I catch Jelly 'playing with his food' (not killing or injuring it), I will save it, but I'm not about to take extreme measures to deter him from being the excellent mouser that he is. I think he's keeping them away from my chooks as well!

[Minnie&Moose]

We had a female cat who learnt to stalk silently with 3 bells on her collar but would sound like a team of morris dancers approaching when she wasn't hunting! In the end I put one of the sonic devices on her collar which seemed to put an end to her catching birds but she still regularly killed rodents, including rats. I used one recommended by the RSPB (called Cat Alert - see http://www.willana-lifesciences.co.uk/catalert/index.html) and found the battery lasted for nearly 2 years but we did set them to turn off in the dark so that we and the cats got some respite from the noise. Both our cats wore them and neither seemed bothered by them. The male cat frequently lost his collar fighting but we were able to detect the lost collar on several occasions by following the beep

[The Dogmother]

My cats have bells, and still bring back regular gifts (mostly the rodent kind, occasionally the aviary kind)... Bells do help, they're just not a guarantee that all birds will escape, depending on the skill of the hunter and the health of the bird...

While I'm happy to put bells on my cats, it's important to realise that cats are natural predators, and hunting birds and mice is just something they do... it might not be pretty, and I do like birds and mice, and have rescued many from my cats in the many years I've had them, but it's all part of having a cat.

 

 

Ditto

 

Mine are both effective hunters and have enough bling on their collars to make them look like yardie hoodsters but they still manage to bring in birds, mice and newts on a regular basis. I don't worry about it; there's enough of the small animals out there to keep the numbers up.

 

Count yourself lucky; the inlaws' cat regularly brings in small rabbits

[Chucky Mama]

I know of a cat that plundered someone's pond and bought home about 4 koi carp on different occasions

[The Dogmother]

I was rather annoyed when mine started fishing newts out of the neighbour's pond I was scooping them up into damp bowls and taking them back. Rosie was small at the time and convinced that they were dinosaurs

[yannovitch]

well, i see we all find it very endearing that our cats are natural hunters and killers!! (lol)

 

thank you all very much for your advice.

 

i think i will try a second bell, and if that is not enough, i will learn to live with cleaning out dead prey every now and again!

 

 

when i was little i wanted to be a lot of things: ranging from professional piano player, to jet pilot!!!

 

now, i'd really want to be a cat!!! sleeping any time of the day and night, partying and playing at all other time, and being all so loved by humans who feed me with food i trained them to serve me!!!

 

that's it!!! when i grow up, i want to be a cat!!

Edited August 25, 2011 by Guest

[Ziggy]

I'd quite happily spend some time as a cat too... mind you, not one of the skinny, unwell, out-in-all-weathers feral cats, but a well looked after spoiled lazy feline, oh yes, I could enjoy that for a while...

[Alis girls]

Wait till they are deep frozen (like last winter) - I trod on a frozen mouse and it crunched underfoot ThanK goodness for wellies

[Chucky Mama]

I have a friend whose cat brought a mole home while they were away for a weekend I think it was. When they got home the mole had trashed their carpet by burrowing underneath it

[Minnie&Moose]

Our elderly cat has been known to bring home cooked sausages - off the local pub's barbeque I suspect

[The Dogmother]

excellent!

 

I once had a cat who would steal and hoard anything shiny... jewellery etc, I knew where her stash was so could easily retrieve it... couldn't get her to bring in £50 notes though

[Alis girls]

Probably a magpie in a former life

[surfer_chicken]

I saw a cat on the news a while ago that had been caught stealing laundry off of the neighbours washing lines!

 

And I was very impressed when I heard my friend's cat had caught a squirrel!

[The Dogmother]

Probably a magpie in a former life

 

Probably, she was black and white too!

[welovemarmite]

Wait till they are deep frozen (like last winter) - I trod on a frozen mouse and it crunched underfoot ThanK goodness for wellies

 

 

i have trodden bare foot on a mouses head... thats lovely.

[Tiggy]

I know of a cat that plundered someone's pond and bought home about 4 koi carp on different occasions

 

 

Tiggy cat did that in her younger days, ate the neighbours hampster too

[NouveauChick]

I saw a cat on the news a while ago that had been caught stealing laundry off of the neighbours washing lines!

 

And I was very impressed when I heard my friend's cat had caught a squirrel!

 

Our cat Evie has a bit of a thing for laundry- but luckily it's our own! (Not to sure how happy I'd be finding the neighbours undies in our house! )

I find numerous socks underneath the dining table... most of what she takes is black, I am probably looking into it way too much, but I thought she may think these small black things were her kittens? (She's black too)

[Alis girls]

Our ginger tom killed a pigeon today - feathers everywhere no sign of body prob in his tummy. I refused to let him in the house in case he puked over my clean floors. Little devil shot in as I opened door to go out - OH picked him up and said "say hello to mummy " and thrust him at me - i screamed abuse at both of them - honestly - OH was hoping cat might vomit on me - men they have a strange sense of humour Needless to say said cat is snoozing on bed - hope he doesnt chuck up on it

[Beaky]

Hi Yannovitch,

 

I have exactly the same problem, great cat but an unfortunate muderous streak. There is a fairly sympathetic article written for cat owners on the RSPB website.

 

Unfortunately, however, I think that this is part of having a cat and that is just something you have to accept. Obviously don't go throwing food down on the floor for birds, making them an easy target. The brutal fact is that it is in a cat's nature to catch them. Although I have found with previous cats that the 'offerings' on the doorstep get less frequent with age.

 

I read an article on the Guardian that talked about how keeping a pet such as a cat or a dog immediately changes the micro-environment around your home. There's a lot of sense in that, you are introducing an animal or near the top of the food chain and you have to take responsiblity for its impact.

 

As a little addendum: I went recently went on holiday and came across a solution to this problem that I'd never seen before. The owners of the place where we stayed, a really nice little cottage, had a tabby that she said was an absolute terror for catching birds. Quite distressed at this, she did her research and unearthed "the cat bib".

 

Now I'm not too sure about this, I have no idea what the science behind it is and it seems like it could be quite dangerous to put on a cat that likes to climb, but this lady swore by it...

 

Any body seen this before? Opinions?

Edited July 24, 2012 by Guest

[jasperaliceuk]

I've three cats - fortunately only one is a hunter and fairly prolific at that - at least two mice or birds a week and frogs too. Last week I had to clear up a dead squirrel from behind the chicken run. I feel a bit bad as there was a dead blackbird there too last week - I think if the cat traps something there it has a hard time escaping.

 

It is only natural instinct, and even his bell, doesn't stop him. Perhaps a cowbell might help - it would weigh him down!

 

A previous cat once brought in a woodpecker, alive - it must have got a headache being dragged in through the catflap. We rescued it and took it to the local wildlife rescue place.

 

Then last year I came down to a kitchen covered with feathers, nearly enough to stuff a pillow, and I think all three of them had joined in plucking a pigeon.

 

Oh and the rat two week's ago which my husband didn't even spot on the floor in front of the kitchen sink.

 

I could cry sometimes as I hate seeing the animals mauled.

 

Sue