The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Cats => Topic started by: FiB on March 20, 2012, 09:39:34 am
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Hi we have just taken on Stretchy, a 9 month old lovely tabby (although the owner told us she was a fancy burmese cross - she just looks like a tabby to me!). Shes settled in like a dream and just started letting her out at the weekend. The trouble is she is mostly bring IN live things - shrews ecpecially. The big hope was that she would help us with our rat and mouse cohabiters. Shes also brought in a couple of dead mice (much praise!!), but I cant be housing live shrews which wriggle out of her reach until I spot them and chuck them out. What shoudl I do. Today I have shut her out of the house - just leaving the conservatory open for her (this has her bed litter tray food etc in it) is this the way forward - only letting her in the living room when we are there, or are there other tricks? Never had a cat before - 9 year old son is beside himself with joy!!!
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she is bringing them to you as offerings and thanks
if you get cross with her she will think you are disappointed and bring you more of them!!!
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Thanks bloomer. I have been giving her lots of love strokes and kind words (cause I do want to encourage and reward her hunting) - its just where she is depositing them and the fact that she doesnt always kill them, just plays! Is there a way I can encourage outside depositing? Thanks, Fi
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not that i discovered
mine are older now so less prone to bring us gifts
we live in town and we had various mice shrews and frogs as gifts
dead is almost worse our smallest cat liked in her prime to kill pigeons and squirrels and would leave bits of them on the back step for us!!!
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They do bring them to you as a present. No you cannot stop cats bringing them in alive, getting bored and leaving them running around the sitting room. Only way is to check their mouths before you open the door ;) My old cat would line them up, neatly slayed with a slash underneath the neck. One morning there were five mice lined up in perfect symmetry on the front doorstep. Somebody was VERY pleased with their efforts that day. Its not a bad habit, your cat is very happy with its lot and is showing you some appreciation. Who would not want five dead mice for breakfast? :cat:
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I agree with the others. She is bringing them to you as presents. In the old house my cat often brought in live prey. When she got bored chasing them around it left me to catch them.
My cat (Cleo) is only just starting to venture out now that we have moved but when she gets to know her surroundings a bit more I will expect more of the same.
I am not aware of anything you can do to stop it.
Sally
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Aww well thats a nice thought that she's happy with her lot (as she is a rescue cat it was a bit of a worry) ;D. Just have to keep her out of house when I'm not there then - I guess. She's still got a nice conservatory to lounge in (why do I feel guilty??!!!). Tried that this morning and there is a big fat mouse presented on conservatory step!! Good girl!! Thanks all, Very new to the ways of cats (well most animals really!! Had a budgie and a tortoise but not very useful experience in new life!)
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And for goodness sake DON'T put in a cat flap - at least you have some control by her using the door. I deliberately didn't put mine back in when I renewed my doors as Rio is a brilliant hinter. I'm sure you'll have read my tale of him bringing in a young rat when I was on the phone and thereby handicapped, playing with it, then eventually killing and devouring it in front of my (hand shielded) eyes! ::)
Cats have their uses when you are gundog training though - ready made fur covers for dummies, and food for the dogs (I can't eat fluffy bunnies) :-[ :-[
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Yes, just natural cat behaviour Im afraid.
Our girl brings us the occasional young rabbit as well!!
Shrews, I have heard, dont taste good. Think this is probably true because puss cat eats everything else but leaves the shrews for me to collect up. Bless her.
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You're so lucky - she must REALLY love you! ;D
If it's any use, our multi-fuel range has recently been re-named the "Vole Fired Power Station", our cats are bringing home so many!
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You're so lucky - she must REALLY love you! ;D
If it's any use, our multi-fuel range has recently been re-named the "Vole Fired Power Station", our cats are bringing home so many!
;D. Have to try that - we run on wood usually, but willing to give most things a go!!!!!!! That was the other thing - wasnt sure what to do with them - if I chuck em back in the field will a passing buzzard or weasel have them (fine), or will the cat bring them back in(not fine) ?? She is a good little cat, but the owner is going to take some educating!!
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yup, a proper cat, happy with her lot!
Our boys are ratters through & through - live ones, dead ones, organs, whatever get left here, there and everywhere (on the bed once - bleugh!)
Del, the tabby girl is VERY proud when she finds a shrew down by the railway line - she carries it back miowing to tell us, she looks like she's grown a Groucho Marx moustache as it hangs out her mouth!
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She is trying to teach you how to hunt... Females bring live mamed prey to youngsters to practice on... Nothing you can do I'm afraid! At least she thinks of you as part of her family, you'd have no idea how many chronically stressed cats are stressed cos they don't like thier owners, who insist on interacting with them.
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She is trying to teach you how to hunt... Females bring live mamed prey to youngsters to practice on...
Ahh.. I'd always wondered why it was female cats that bring most of the live prey back, the boys are more likely to bring dead things back and/or eat them up promptly. (Except shrews and moles, which evidently don't taste good.)
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I think with moles it's just they can't get the wrappers off!
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I think with moles it's just they can't get the wrappers off!
;D ;D
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Can any of you Cat Whisperers psychoanalise my cats bad habits???
we have one female who is now several years old who has recently been caught peeing in the frying pan!! Uuuuurgggghhhh !!! ......and then a few days later peeing in the dogs water bowl :o :o :o :o :o and then again !!! It was really quite funny to see her squatting with all four feet on the rim of the bowl. :-\ :-\
This cat lives, for the greater part, outside. She come in for feeding and cuddles, but i do put her out whenever i find her in the house (always have done)
i think.. she thinks this is funny!
ET x
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Ahhhhhhhhh ........... just put daughter on the school bus, walked back to the house ........a not small amount of blood splatted up the wall ......took me a minute to spot it ......camouflaged on the gravel ....... a good sized young rabbit !!!!!!
Thanks Scare cat ..... just what I wanted!!!!!!
Thought she seemed pleased with herself this morning. Hubbie says we had better not let Leaf the house rabbit spot that. Cor, she sniffed noses with him so sweetly too.
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Ahh.. I'd always wondered why it was female cats that bring most of the live prey back, the boys are more likely to bring dead things back and/or eat them up promptly.
er, um, nooo
My Rio regularly brings back his finds - dumps them at my feet and meaows loudly. As far as I am aware he has always been a boy! ;)
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Yeah, my dear old boy, no longer with us, regularly brought things back alive. He too was always a boy!! ;D
My girl cat kills and eats them on the door step but doesnt seem to play with them for long, as my boy cat did. No maternal instincts, maybe!!
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Re cat peeing in funny places- most likley cystitis. Cats are funny inthat if it hurt to pee on soil they will try another surface, if that hurt than they keep trying random different things untill they find somewhere it doesn't hurt.
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Yes, it could be. I remember that years ago my old cat suddenly started to do it in the kitchen sink! A while later we could see there was a tiny bit of blood in it. The vet diagnosed that and after treatment he stopped.Id forgotten all about it! Think he did it in a couple of other odd places before we realised it was an actual problem.
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Ahh.. I'd always wondered why it was female cats that bring most of the live prey back, the boys are more likely to bring dead things back and/or eat them up promptly.
er, um, nooo
My Rio regularly brings back his finds - dumps them at my feet and meaows loudly. As far as I am aware he has always been a boy! ;)
Okay, so your boys are different to my boys then Annie! ;) My boys have always been gutsy boys, eating up everything they catch - although one did used to call the dogs to him to share excess rabbits!
They say that pets are like their owners - and the boy cats were always mine... ho, hummmm...
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Thought she seemed pleased with herself this morning. Hubbie says we had better not let Leaf the house rabbit spot that. Cor, she sniffed noses with him so sweetly too.
I wouldn't worry about the rabbit. Rabbits usually chase cats out the house, our cat is terrified of our female rabbit and the rabbit will go for her, teeth and all. Its funny really because if the cat got cornered i think she would rip her to shreds but the rabbit clearly thinks otherwise. One stamp of the foot and the cat is off with its tail between its legs. :D
BTW, our cat started peeing in the house by the doorstep when we got the rabbits. As the front door was also at the foot of the stairs, which the rabbits do not go up, I think there was a bit of territiory marking going on as the cat never fouls the house normally and is litter trained with a tray for emergencies at all times!
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My 3 girls are all different.
Odette will catch small prey then play with it for a bit get bored and eat it.
Octavia is very calculated and hunts to eat only
Ophelia is just the neighbour hood terrorist and will kill anything that moves and bring it back behind the planter out front and eat what she wants and leaves the rest for her sisters.
I was cleaning out the tackroom where they live last weekend (it is done every 2 weeks) and found 7 rabbit spines under the shelving unit. On a weekly basis I will find numerous 'bits' of animals around the gardens and paddocks. I have only once had Ophelia bring me a rat which was very dead and she put it on the doorstep and called very loudly until I got out of bed to come and see what she had done, she then picked it up once I had seen it and wandered off down the garden.
This bunch of hooligans sisters are only 10 months old and have done a good job of clearing vermin in the last 4 months and even though they are feral they come for cuddles and loves.
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Ive had presents of mice entrails every morning for the past week. Thanks Freddie!!
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Funky fish is right,
mums bring home dead food for babies, then maimed food to get them used to a moving lunch ( or a running buffet) and then un maimed food ( well, almost) to help them practice hunting. They usually call the babies out of their hiding places by mewing to announce that dinner is served.
So when your cat comes home calling and carrying a cadaver its time to wash your hands and sit at the table :D
When they bring the dead prey back to the kittens they re enact the kill to give the babies an understanding of how to respond to prey. This includes eating the prey in front of the babies. Kittens learn so much from watching mum so watching her eat it and groom herself afterwards is all just as important as learing to kill.
So when your cat toys with its prey and eats it in front of you take notes...next time its your turn :P
When the babies are older mum brings back maimed pray, calls them and then sits back and leaves them to it. Sometimes the babies loose the pray or kill it but don't eat it. But once she brings the prey back for the babies (or places it on the step for you) Mum will ignore it. They eat fresh kill not carrion so once its stiff none of them will eat it.
So once she brings it back and sits back while it runs round the room.....she's handing over full responsibility to you :-[
As this is a basic instinct its imprinted in her and other cats. Though some cats, both male and female do it more than others. Both nature and nurture will contribute to this as will the supply of mice ( the move plentiful the supply of mice the more live ones are brought in)
In some cases interupting her when she is toying with her prey can make her more likely to do it somewhere else in future. But this would only work if you interupted her while she was still thinking of eating it. You see cats don't hunt as a group or share a kill like say lions or dogs. Despite everything that I have just typed about hunting food for others, food that they hunt for themselves is eaten by them and not shared ( babies or no babies!)
Perhaps setting up a pasport control check point at the door is the best way. :cat:
It must be hard being a cat, going out each day to hunt and bringing back the spoils to us bald, two legged idiots who respond with revulsion and a serious lack of appreciation ::)
Poor Puss,
Buffy
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Hi, I have always a cat or 2 since shall we say the year dot HA HA!! In my experience they generally grow out of the habit of bringing you gifts. This seem to be a kitten thing.
Good Luck :cat:
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Cat has been practicing her killing (although she did think she could take on a visiting collie and is constantly trying for the chickens :-\ ) and no longer brings in live stuff - Hoorah. Much praise and treats given for all dead offerings (as long as they are not chickens!)! All round fab cat and happy family.. Thanks for all insights into all things cat for us newbies! :cat: