Help - Advice Needed!

[purrfik]

Hi,
I have a problem with my cat - he's a very loving 3 year old tom. And at the moment he thinks he's died and gone to heaven - we've just moved from a house in the middle of a built up estate (with a postage stamp of a garden!) to a lovely rural area in an 'estate' (road actually) of 30 odd houses surrounded by fields and trees (heaven for me as well!)..............but................he keeps bringing me 'presents' - so far, 2 mice, 2 shrews and today I found 2 chicks (very young) on my back doorstep
I know he's only doing what comes naturally to him but I don't want him to decimate the local wildlife population and would appreciate any advice you could give on how to stop his slaughter?
He's got a loud bell on which the birds hear - but how do I stop him raiding the nests?
I feel absolutely gutted, esp with the chicks this morning. I've been watching a wren make her nest in the tree by my back door and it's been such a pleasure - I only hope that it's not her chicks that my cat has killed
HELP!

[Two_Sheds]

Brace yourself Purrfik for the flack you're going to get!
But good on you for trying to do something about it. He is bringing you presents to please you - so show him that you are NOT pleased.
You may even have to keep your cat indoors during the nesting season.

[purrfik]

Hi Two_Sheds,
Thanks for your post. I'm not worried about flack if I can get some useful advice. Nothing could make me feel any worse than I do at the moment
One of the things I've enjoyed most in the short time I've been here has been the birds. I know my cat is trying to please me and this morning he knew I was not at all pleased with his 'present' ........I'm going to get some more bells for him although the one he's got now is loud.......I'm also going to keep him in at least during the night and early morning/dusk, just letting him out while I'm out there so that I can keep an eye on him.........

[vicky]

I don't know if this is true, but, a friend of mine said if you show you're NOT pleased with the 'presents' they keep trying with more and more...

Practically I think you could keep him in during prime hunting hours (night, dawn).

[peanut]

Hi Purrfik,

Well done for doing all you can.

I'm not sure there is much more you can do, your idea of keeping him in at night/dusk and dawn is a really good one and will make a big difference to the local wildlife as they are the times they are most active or at risk. Bells galore is also good!

Goodness only knows how you'll manage when the young start to fledge though....could be and tough an upsetting time.
Just do your best, that's all you can do and don't feel too bad about it, it's not your fault!

Good luck.

[smallblueplanet]

RSPB advice

Cats Protection : Cat Care : FAQs : Environment

[Polly Fouracre]

As a last resort you could try tying the dead bird to his collar,at the back of his neck where he can't reach it and leaving it there for as long as you can stand it.
I did this with a chicken one of my dogs had killed(many years ago) on someone's advice.She never looked at the hens again!!
Alternatively you could keep him indoors,taking him for long walks on a harness and lead as one would a dog.
The damage that cats do is,by and large,hidden as one doesn't usually see the corpses.
I had Siamese and Oriental cats for years,they only ever went out on leads and were most contented cats.A large cage in the garden might be a good idea as well?

[Becca]

I can't see a grown cat taking to a lead or for that matter a cage, i know my 2 would raise living hell if i tried it.. I'm quite lucky that my 2 are by and large pretty unsuccessful hunters but fledgling time is always their 'lucky' time as it's the only time they seem to catch anything at all most years.. with mine the dawn and dusk thing would be no use as he (my girl has only ever caught 1 bird in 9 years and that pecked her so badly she had a hole in her cheek and I think broke a tooth in the process too so I don't worry about her catching things, only the damage they inflict on her.. ) seems to only catch birds in the middle of the day! he has however caught 2 bats in his time which is sad but strangely impressive (he's like zebedee, he doesn't stalk anything as far as I know, just sits there till they fly past then springs about 4ft up) as I would have thought they would be very hard to get with the ecolocation..?

[Polly Fouracre]

I adopted a seven year old blue-point Siamese who had lived all his life as an outside cat.He settled happily to an indoor life.hunting
You say your cats are not great hunters.I repeat,we don't see the damage done by cats,just the odd body they bring in. That may be the 10th they killed that morning and with fledglings about they may kill dozens in a day. What is wrong with keeping cats under control as dogs are?
I'm sure my dogs would love to roam freely,chasing and scrapping,mating and hunting,just coming home for food and warmth but what would I be called for allowing this?!
Cats will adapt as dogs do to a stricter regime.Anyone who owns an animal must be responsible for it and whether it likes it or not must be kept under control!
(I sound more like my mother every day!!!!)

[Becca]

I've been pondering this.. and I wonder if the answer lies in how we treat cats when they are young.. both of mine didn't really get access to the outside till they were relatively old compared to usual. My girl was from a rescue centre and was scared of everything so never wanted to jump the 2 foot out of the window of the flat I lived in till she was ~5yrs old as this would have been a leap into the unknown so even tho the windows were frequently open and there was a catflap in the window (from my previous cat a much more adventurous type) she never went out. My boy, who I got 6 months after i got her as a tiny kitten, could also never get the hang of the window catflap, and as a result didn't go out till he was fairly old either and then initially only for a few hours a day when i was in and could leave the window open. They are both, frankly, useless hunters, I get a bird or 2 in fledgling season and that's all and i really doubt they're on a killing spree the rest of the year and not bringing the kills in (for a start, the killing part seems to mostly elude them, I've released most of their catches), and I wonder if the reason for this is because they weren't out an about at a critical time for training for this?

[purrfik]

Thankyou for all your replies.......I've looked at the links provided and found them helpful as well........have had no other offerings yet........
Have added extra bells to his collar so I can hear him if he turns over in his sleep
I'm also going to get one of those ultra sonic cat deterrants and put it by the tree area to try to protect the nests.
I'm not going to harness my cat. But I will do all that I can otherwise to protect the local wildlife. He's taken quite well to being allowed outside just during the day........although he still cries to go out at dusk.........he can see the birds feeding from his position on the windowsill.........
A friend suggested bramble clipping put round the base of the trees to make his path more difficult, which I will do as I've just hacked my way through 18' of them.........the previous occupants didn't like gardening

[Geo]

Before your cat goes out...

Put on his/hers new collar on



Geo..

[purrfik]

Brilliant idea Geo