we have a tom cat - lovely 90% of the time and very lazy but about once a month he goes on a killing spree that lasts around a week. mice brought in to be played with, then abandoned when dead.

he knows the consequences (nose rubbed in it, a cuff and booted out) but still doesn't stop. last night i caught him with a live one which he helpfully dropped in his haste to evade me. I then had a very entertaining hour with a screaming growler in the background (she's not happy with mice!) and me catching the bloody thing in the buff.

all helpful advice gratefully received (and no, we shan't be torturing, killing, selling, reversing the car over him or any other cheerful anti-cat chat). should we get a horse to keep him in check?

Gordo

 

It's what cats do. They're still essentially wild animals, domesticated only because it suits them to be so. You should be pleased that your cat brings you presents, which is what he thinks he's doing. Your reaction of "nose rubbed in it, a cuff and booted out" will be deeply confusing to him - imagine your own feelings if that were the reaction of your boss (metaphorically speaking, of course ) to a job you'd done well . If you're going to have a cat as a pet, and you want this to be a mutually agreeable arrangement, you're going to have learn to understand it. You don't have to put up with him playing with whatever he brings in - take it off him as soon as you can and dispose of it - but I think you should be praising him instead of smacking him

 

I'm not going to praise the little sod for bringing mice in! I thought all that 'bringing you a present' stuff was nonsense? Is there any empirical proof or is it just a subjective theory?

I suspect it's more likely that he's bringing it back to base to stop anyone else getting it (i.e. like many wild animals) rather than feeling generous towards us. Unfortunately taking it off him is difficult as a) he does it when we're asleep and b) he's faster than me.

Perhaps I should warn all the local mice to move on?

G

 

Try our cats, it brings ducks(!) in all the time, because we live near a brook.

Or water rats.

 

You won't stop it. It's what they do.

Our 3 cats have taken two rabbits this week - seems the unfortunate bunnies got into the garden too late to realise their mistake. Strange thing is, I'm fairly sure that the cat which killed 'em is actually smaller than the rabbits themselves! Luckily though, the bodies were left in the garden, rather than dragged into the house.

The only thing that can make it slightly less gooey is if you cut down the food you give them. Contented cats will play with their prey and eventually kill it and leave it somewhere as a trophy. Hungry cats will kill prey quicker, and will actually eat it - far less messy.

 

shoot the cat

That'll stop it

 

At least it's only mice, they're easy to clean up. Birds are much worse, the damn feathers get everywhere

Favourite prey for my beloved pets is slow-worms!

Andy.

 

A decapitated squirrel is the best that Comet and Hoover have managed, though wildly flapping birds are not uncommon.

And in springtime, we get a whole load of frogs, which are usually discovered a) in your shoes the next morning or b) all dried out behind a cupboard three months later.

I don't even worry about mice anymore - just expect them. My little girl usually wanders up and says resignedly "Daddy, Hoover has left ANOTHER present for me" then leaves me to sort out the eviscerated carcass.

It's the price you pay for having a catflap.

Problem we have is that the cats cause my little boy to suffer from athsma (well, they exacerbate the condition) so looks as though we have to find them a new home. Going to be heartbreaking, but it's a no-brainer decision.

bros

 

We mainly get treated to special deliveries of frogs.

Strange how they make that screaming noise as the cat chases them around the living room. We've also been treated to slow worms, birds, mice etc. Not much you can do about it. Cats will be cats

 

Two solutions:

1. Shoot the cats.

2. Shoot your son.

 

They bring them back in case they run out of food so they can eat them later - sadly they're not thought of as presents!

Cat psychology's actually quite interesting although I havn't figured out why ours is so vain he'll come running back to the house if you rub his (pink to suit his personality!) brush on the ground!

Worse we've had is a live bird, although badly injured...couldn't bring myself to hit it with a spade, so ended up putting it behind the car wheel and reversing! ...well, at least in it's final moments it could enjoy the scoobysport

...sorry, appart from not using hte cat flap I can't think of any useful suggestions...

Jen

 

Our 2 cats kill lists is as follows

Worms
Flys
Mice
Birds
Squirrels
Rabbits
Moles (Why do moles always die with a hard-on?)

Good job we live in the countryside!

 

Errrrrrrrrrrr bit worried that you notice moles even have a hard on !!!

 

We have 3 cats and we have had :

Mice (dead, alive and in pieces)
Birds (alive, dead and shreaded)
Whole bird nest with eggs!
Rats (dead)
Frogs (alive and dead)
Huge green caterpilars (alive)
Worms (alive)
Beetles (alive)
Snails (alive)

For 5 days in a row last week I came home to a dead bird in the spare room (where the cats prefer to do most of their torturing)

After this we got collars with bells for all 3 of them but within an hour 2 of the cats had managed to get their jaws stuck between the collar so we had to take them off.

Sickest thing I have found is just the end of a mouses head bitten off just behind the eyes...

 

We got bells for our cats, but it made no odds. They still killed stuff. Guess the birds around our way must be deaf.

 

haha - glad it's not just us then! he has sporadically tortured things in the past (my favourite was a slaughtered magpie on the top floor of the previous house - how he got it through the catflap was a complete mystery)

funny how they have a favourite slaughtering place - we thought our preferred the hall so he can play with the mouse as it runs up and down, but he's now moved to a bedroom.

in a similar vein, anyone know how to get blood out of the carpet?

G

 

If you overfeed your cat he'll get too fat to hunt.

 

Ours like the hall. I think they know that my wife's quite squeamish, and so by dismembering stuff in the central part of the house they cause her maximum inconvenience (she has to avoid the room until I get home and clear up!).
We've just had our carpet replaced with laminate - it means you can just wipe the brains/offal up, instead of having to get on your hands and knees and scrub.