Cats and unwanted gifts!

[Mel_C]

Hi,

I'm just wondering if anyone else is having the same problem at this time of year?

My 2 lovely cats who i adore to pieces have been awful murderers! Everyday now I am finding dead voles and shrews in my garden (they brought a live field mouse home aswell but I managed to catch it in the garden and release it safely). It seems to be getting more worse by the day - just this evening i got home from work and found 4 shrews. It's awful coz I have to rmove them from the garden everyday - poor little things

The cats are quite new to the area (we've lived here since Jan this year) but i've never experienced anything like it before - they've never been this bad. Is anyone else having this problem?

Cat are supposed to have good senses so you would think they would sense I'm not happy with them, but then i suppose the urge to hunt is to hard for them to resist...

[tiggerblue10]

Tigger brings live mice in all the time. Sometimes I manage to get the mouse alive and put it in the garden but most of the time they are either dead or having a coronary. I do get angry with her but she still does it.

Blue on the other hand is quite happy to play with her toy mouse.

[Dassie]

They think they are being good and bringing you presents!

[andy-hughes]

It's a pack animal response.

Because they feel unselttled in a new area, they look to the pack leader for security, and as a 'thank you' they bring gifts to show their appreciation. Sadly, that 'leader' is you!

Don't worry, they will settle, and the 'presents' will stop - but in the mean time, it's nature, and there is little you can do.

[Psychick]

Hmmmm I cant agree with it being because the cat is new to the area and unsettled. It is a common thing amongst cats who have been settled in the same home for years. I grew up with cats and it was a regular thing in our household. Luckily mostly mice though...........a friend of ours once had a cat bring home a live wild rabbit which ended up running around their bedroom!

[Mel_C]

Oh my god legend007!!! I hope you don't mean that, my 2 kitty's are my babies!!

Luckily my cats have never actually brought their 'gifts' into the house - they leave them in the garden for us to find or sometime in a neat little line at the back door!

My boy cat 'Dylan' was straight out the door this morning and disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with another shrew this morning (already dead) - He looked really pleased with himself and even when i told him off he still continued to rub himself around me...

My little girl cat 'Meg' has so far no brought any back today so far as she's far to busy getting as much fuss as possible!

I don't think my cats would kill a rabbit or even catch one as w have a netherland dwarf bunny called 'Charlie' and they have known him since they were kittens and play with him in the garden - if anything Charlie dominate them sometimes as he runs rings round them hahaha...

[sue11]

Bringing pressies to the owners eh? I think in my case it is me who is bringing the presents to my two, who coolly sit in their cat baskets, while I lovingly feed them with bits of fish and so on.....hmm, something is not quite correct here somehow!!
My two little darlings are now getting older and don't see the fun in hunting anymore thank goodness. But I do remember one summer watching my cat Ozzie walk out the bushes in my garden followed by a hamster!. I watched in horror, just waiting for my cat to see it and pounce

[sue11]

Sorry posted it in error before I finished!
But then she turned round and they both were nose to nose just sniffing each other.
The hamster turned out to be a neighbours pet and I managed to catch it safely and return it, before Ozzie decided it may be good to eat after all!!
Cheers Sue

[nellypope]

My old Tom is a house cat, and he has just started hunting spiders, he caught, tortured and ate (or crunched) a HUGE house spider last night.....Bless him! but he's never shown any interest is sports before!

[bensmum]

My younger cat Daisy regularly brings me presents and she is so pleased with herself! Trouble is she does bring in live mice and I have to chase them around the house to catch them or use the humane trap (I have certainly had my money's worth out of that!). She also catches rabbits but for some reason she kills them and leaves them outside as she can't get through the cat flap with them. She has always been a keen hunter and I have to accept that she won't change.
Strangely enough the old cat Florence, who is 17, has decided this year to catch birds which she brings in alive (she has no teeth!) and I find them flying around the house.
(I had a lovely cat called Dylan once - Daisy's brother - and he was a brilliant ratter. I put it down to the being born on a farm)