Cats and Ants

[Jugglering]

My (new) cat - about 16 months old - is loving the garden and thinks it's a brilliant place to catch...... ants ! I cannot believe the number she has caught and eaten ... it's not as if I'm not feeding her, she's getting plenty of food (both the posh pouches and the dried stuff). I've never known a cat to hunt down ants before...... is this *normal* ?

[bensmum]

One of mine used to catch moths and eat them. Having had cats for many years I don't think there is such a thing as normal behaviour!

[sue11]

Surprised that ants would have been big enough to catch her interest! One of my cats once bought in a worm for me and laid it on the carpet in front of me proudly for me to admire..apart from that both my cats just go for the usual birds, mice etc!

[madboutcats]

shes still a baby jugglering, learning new things, and ants are fun they run fast and are fun to chase and eat!! yuck..
my patch used to catch moths as well as the odd bee/fly/wasp and scoff them its in their nature i suppose. both cupar and margo chase down flies and spiders and eat them. just wait for the birdies and mice so yummy for pussy cats. have fun.......!!!

[Jugglering]

Thanks ! I'm glad to read that she isn't that unusual then.... lol

She has also managed to catch a very large bluebottle - and eat it - arghhhhhhhhh. I have already put a bell on her collar (as well as a nametag) and if she starts even getting near to catching a bird, she will end up with three bells !

At the moment she is having great fun climbing (up the inside) of a large hebe bush and earlier on today she was having a brilliant time chasing her catnip mouse under the kitchen table by hopping from the horizontal rungs of one chair to another. Her sheer energy levels astonish me (and the other new cat, a more mature 8 year old.....)

[madboutcats]

you should have see the cat (sam) that hangs around in my mums garden, the other day i was repotting some canterbury bell seedlings and he was helping, i was wondering what the odd few plants were that were growing with my c b seedlings and he went bonkers for them and i remembered that i used that tray last year to grow catmint. wel i ended up giving him one of the catmint seedlings and he chewed it licked, rolled and picked it up and carried it off, he was on a high for the rest of the day and slept it off curled up in his donut bed......lol

[ruthann58]

yes she is quite normal ours eat all sorts flies, butterflys ,moths we have had a frog brought indoors and had to move the bookcase to retrive it live mice let loose in the lounge thankfully the rat one brought in. and dropped at my husbands feet as he was watching tv was dead even a large dragonfly proudly brought in and let go . the best !!! is when i go in the porch to get somthing out of the freezer and dont put the light on and then put my foot on somthing soft it makes me cringe but they are always so pleased to bring me little pressies

[leelapops]

Ah Jugglering, could you bring her round to mine please, we have ants in the kitchen, and she sounds like she would be veeerrrry useful! I would pay her in catnip.

[Jugglering]

We are on our way Leela ! Ruby adores catnip but you might be better off paying her after she has caught all the emmets..... she gets seriously bonkers on catnip and is not to be trusted !

[Jugglering]

PS I have just caught Ruby on the kitchen windowsill (naughty gal !) chomping on another fly.... I couldn't tell her off for walking over the sink and draining board because she was good enough to catch and devour nasty horrid fly for me ! Oh no, now there is another fly here in the lounge..... J ducks as Ruby leaps into the air to catch it

[Kleiber]

Had to laugh, Jugglering!! Welcome to the world of cat ownership! Actually, that's not right - it's them that own us!! K xx

[Jugglering]

Hiya, fellow slave... yep, you've got that bit right...

I actually get up from my chair when Floss (older cat) cries - I imagine some sort of horror... nope, she just doesn't like that particular posh pouch of food I've just put down for her....

And then when the little one (aka Ruby, the Ant Eater) cries.... omg... I actually leap up..lol

[leelapops]

Oh Jugglering, they re like the cats that cried, erm, "cheap food scandal"...! *lol* They must cost you a fortune in wasted pouches! I would appreciate Ruby's help, and have a warm bed and a mound of catnip with her name on it!

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