What would you do?

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  • #16790
    Cato1730
    Participant

    After his adventure in the tree, I realized Cato was doing reconnaissance for baby birdies. About an hour later, I heard the bluejays going nuts. I went out to throw rocks at them as they are very tough on Cato. What I found was a very large baby jay and Cato playing with him. Cato love the delectable Spring babies. I used to have to put a bell on him or it would be mass slaughter at my house. I felt bad for the baby, so I picked up a sputtering cat, who clawed me and brought him inside. But, as I really am sick of the bluejays in my back yard, I let him go back outside to “Play” about an hour later. Do you forbid your cats a natural kill if you are aware of it? Elizabeth

    #210335

    We have similar issues at our house. The little wrens build nests everywhere and as soon as the nestlings start to fledge, our cats have a heyday. We try to discourage the cats from bothering the babies if we see them stalking one on the ground. But we can’t be outside every minute watching them. I take heart in the fact that there are so many little wrens around that many of them are successful in raising their babies. This year we have a cardinal nest with three babies in it. Hopefully they will safely make it from their nest to the grape arbor that’s close by.

    #210336
    Karenopa
    Participant

    I always interfere for the underdog or underbird so to speak..that’s what cat toys are made for. Kitties are entirely too cruel with their catch. There’s nothing I hate more than a prolonged death for any of God’s creatures.

    #210337
    anncetera2
    Participant

    My indoor cats don’t go outdoors, so that’s not a problem. I neither encourage nor discourage the outdoor ferals, though. If I come across one of them with prey that’s not quite dead yet, I try very hard not to distract him or her (so as not to prolong suffering of the prey).

    #210338
    Rubia in CA, 4/28
    Participant

    Tikka will catch both mice and birds, and like all cats, likes to “play” with the poor creature before she kills it. If we see her in time, and if it seems that the bird or mouse has a reasonable chance of surviving, we do our best to rescue it. The mice we put back outside. We tend to take the birds to a local wildlife rescue place called St. Tiggywinkles, because it is so much more likely for them to be traumatized. Granted, I don’t think Tikka has ever brought anything in that we particularly disliked so that we didn’t mind if it was eliminated. Hubby is the type that doesn’t like to kill anything, but I WILL encourage Tikka to capture, kill and eat spiders, because the ones over here are HUGE and they scare me!

    #210339
    Sylmiafelixsmama
    Participant

    There is a dove making her nest in a tree right outside my bedroom window. My cats discovered this just this weekend. When I let Mia and Sylvester out on the balcony, they went over and watched but didn’t try to climb the tree as it is a very fragile type tree and also because I have scolded Mia for climbing the railing to get a closer look.

    The doves were in the nest this morning and Mia and Sylvester were locked at the window watching them. They wouldn’t leave their viewing window unless there was a loud noise. I need to buy a video camera as my cats are so entertaining at times.

    #210340
    JerseyJoan
    Moderator

    I’ve got a mom-to-be Robin just outside my bedroom window – I’m so excited! She even seems as though she’s ok with me looking at her. Shaddo is done with his bird-killing days (gonna keep an eye out for the neighbors kitties though). He doesn’t even look at the birds when I hold him by a window. I don’t get that. He used to love chattering at the birds from the kitchen window. At least he purrs when I pet him.

    Cato1730 – here’s hoping that Cato will leave the birdies alone. I don’t know how to stop cats’ natural ways. Many years ago, Shaddo got a male Robin, then got a baby. All bird singing stopped and Mama Robin made Shaddo miserable that whole summer. Whenever he went outside, she would scream at him constantly and dive-bombed him. It was a rough summer for all of us…

    #210341
    metsa
    Participant

    My cat Sultan used to bring home all manner of things, particularly rabbits. He did bring home one or two birds, but they never met with the same reception from us as the mice, rabbit or ferrets, so he stopped. Or maybe they were too fast for him, but certainly he didn’t bring back many birds. The rabbits were nearly always dead when he brought them back, or adults and totally uninjured as far as we could see, and they’d run off as soon as he stopped trying to get them up the steps. We’d never stop him with his prey, but if he was ‘playing’ with something live we’d all go away and leave him to deal with it, so he wasn’t distracted or thinking he was amusing an audience. If he left anything suffering, my poor dad would take the high-powered air rifle and put it out its misery. We’re not hunters or anything, but a cat is a natural hunter and it always seemed unfair to us to intervene. Also, I’ve heard that as cats have such dirty mouths, bites on prey are quite likely to become infected even if you do save the poor thing.

    I did try once, when I was a child, to save a mouse from him, and then had to watch it die from shock and injuries. So I learnt to leave Sultie to it sadly. Depends on how fast you can get to the prey animal I suppose and how you personally feel about it, I became proud of my little panther. Now he’s arthritic and has renal failure, so those days seem to be passed. Sigh!

    #210342
    JerseyJoan
    Moderator

    This thread brings me back. When I was a little girl, I rescued many a bunny/chipmunk/bird from our cats. Sometimes they lived, sometimes not. Dad always tried to help me help the poor creature. I’m sure he knew better, as far as the circle of life & natural instinct is concerned, but he also taught his daughter about rehabilitating wild animals. Meanwhile, Mom was stuck with bloodstains on her kid’s shirts…

    #210343
    Karenopa
    Participant

    If ever I come across an injured animal who cannot recover…I put it out of it’s misery. Once dead..if my cat still wants it..he can have it..but he rarely wants it. I cannot condone prolonged torture of innocent creatures for my kitties sense of play. They don’t eat it..and I understand their natural instinct to hunt..I don’t understand walking away from a suffering play toy so that my kitties psychological fantasy hunt for food is played out. I’m such a wimp for suffering….

    #210344
    Cato1730
    Participant

    I don’t see signs of dead bluejay babies, so I am thinking that the parents got the baby going (flying). Cato hasn’t been interested in birds in the past year. There just aren’t that many here (nice juicy ones, that is) and there is the gigantic cat across the street to contend with (he seems to eat everything). Cats can wipe out the neighborhood birds, they can be quite destructive. There is a whole movement by birders to keep cats indoors…….I am torn. Thanks for your replies. Elizabeth

    #210345
    Leeny
    Participant

    The hunting instinct is one of the reasons my cats stay indoors. I want to protect small wildlife, and I also don’t want my cats to ingest something that may have parasites or disease, or that may have eaten pest-control poison. Anything that is inside the prey goes inside the cat, and that’s not always healthful.

    I’ve read that cats release and recapture prey as a means of keeping their hunting skills sharp. Although to us humans it looks like the cat is playing and being cruel, that isn’t the way the cat intends it. Still, it is a difficult thing to watch, which is one of the reasons why my girls don’t do it.

    #210346
    2bpurring
    Participant

    Blackbeard just loves lizards…thankfully, he can get all the “hunt” finding them, then when they drop their tails, we rush in save the lizard and let Blackbeard continue playing with the tail…

    #210347
    cynthia
    Participant

    When i had my kitten he stayed indoors. we had playtoys and two ferrets he could play with. the older ferret is a female and was a little ruff with him but the little one who is his age they would chase each other for hours. I not much on other animals hurting other animals. My female ferret i would put in another room if i thought she was being to ruff with my kitten. i not trying to be mean i’m not much on other animals hurting other animal. If your birds are bothersome find a place that takes birds away. Like some kind of Animal Control

    #210348
    Emma
    Participant

    Rotley and Ruggles are completely indoor cats, and the squirrels and birds all know it.

    One squirrel in particular loves to taunt the boys, and Ruggles stands at the deck door like a little boy in black pajamas, hammering at the door and yowling.

    Poor little cats. And I swear that damn squirrel was moonwalking in front of the door!

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