[SallyintNorth]

I think with moles it's just they can't get the wrappers off!

[pikilily]

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  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

[in the hills]

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.

[doganjo]

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!

[in the hills]

Yeah, my dear old boy, no longer with us, regularly brought things back alive. He too was always a boy!! 

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!!

[funkyfish]

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.

[in the hills]

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.

[SallyintNorth]

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...

[Smalltime]

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. 
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!

[ellisr]

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.

[NormandyMary]

Ive had presents of mice entrails every morning for the past week. Thanks Freddie!!

[Buffy the eggs layer]

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

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

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.
 
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

[Goat-Lady]

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

[FiB]

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!