Am i too soft

[moose and Lindsay]

We have 2 cats and some days they will take dor mice in, but i hate it, i feel so sorry for the mice, they squeel etc and try to get away

I know its nature and its just what cats will do, but i can't stand

The cats will play with the thing for ages throwing it about the place for ages and it trys to run away, i have to shut myself out of the room for ages til i know they have ate it or it is dead at least before i will go back in the room, we have glass doors so i can see when its dead,

Am i too soft??

We have only just bought the house, so i am going to have to get use't to it, but how do i do that??

Thats 1 reason why we got cats in the 1st place to keep the mice out as we have fields all around us!!

Any ideas how to get use't to this??

[Julia]

I'm so soft I'd rescue the mouse and let it go outside, then I'd give the cat a row!

[Saveman]

I feel a twinge of sympathy for the mouse too; I really don't like my cat playing with them while they're still alive. He doesn't do that as often as he used to, usually a quick kill nowadays.
I find the whole "cat-mouse scenario" preferential to the "mouse-trap scenario" and if we didn’t have a cat then we'd be overrun.... so its the lesser of two evils.

[Tymey]

The cats are gonna hunt so think you'll have to grin and bear it or form some kind of mouse resistance group....

[JAWS]

The cat's got a sense of fair play.
It's just giving the mouse a chance to get away!

[connieb19]

I have a stray cat that decided to live with me a couple of years ago!!
I have the same problem as moose and lynsay..I just can't look when he has a mouse or a bird..it's such a shame. Last year i did manage to rescue a bird from him but it died the next morning and I can't help wondering f it would have been kinder to let him just kill it. But it just goes on for so long and I cant bear to hear the screeching. It's worse at some times of the year, when there are young birds and mice..sometimes he'll have 5 or 6 birds in a day!! But it's just nature and there's nothing we can do about it.

[blondscot]

I have a cat who loves to hunt and take back presents for me and the other cats!! Ive had mice, birds, shrews but pummels favourite is to take home rabbits ranging from baby ones to larger ones and he will take them in cat flap and leave in kitchen for me to find in morning. You could try putting a collar with a bell on as this alerts any possible prey! may help stop them!!

[porshiepoo]

We have 2 cats and some days they will take dor mice in, but i hate it, i feel so sorry for the mice, they squeel etc and try to get away

I know its nature and its just what cats will do, but i can't stand

The cats will play with the thing for ages throwing it about the place for ages and it trys to run away, i have to shut myself out of the room for ages til i know they have ate it or it is dead at least before i will go back in the room, we have glass doors so i can see when its dead,

Am i too soft??

We have only just bought the house, so i am going to have to get use't to it, but how do i do that??

Thats 1 reason why we got cats in the 1st place to keep the mice out as we have fields all around us!!

Any ideas how to get use't to this??

Lol: I don't think you do get used to it.
We have 3 cats that we bought up as house cats, since they had kittens and we kept one they all go out and bring back all sorts for the kitten.
At first it was dead mice, birds etc but now they bring them back just stunned so the kitten can finish them off. It's awful!
We grab them when we can and put them back outside but the worst animal they've bought in was a frog. I don't know whether you've heard a frog scream but it sounds just like a child and is really really loud too. In the summer we get to hear it quite a lot cos we have another cat that kills all the time.

Unfortunately, I don't think you will get used to your cat bringing creatures in, it's awful.

[moose and Lindsay]

[QUOTE=blondscot You could try putting a collar with a bell on as this alerts any possible prey! may help stop them!![/QUOTE]

Might give that a try, thanx for the idea never thought of that

But 1 good thing about having the cats is they stop the mice coming in the house,



Porshiepoo, no i have never heard a frog scream and by the sounds of it i hope i never hear it, it sounds dreadful, don't think there r any frogs about here, well i hope not LOL the worst thing my cats have took in was a great big crow and what a mess feathers everywhere,

Yesterday afternoon 1 cat came in with a mouse and i was upset coz the poor wee thing was desparate to get away and it was standing on its back legs with its front paws up, i felt so sorry for it but there was nothing i could do, so i had to leave them to it, i felt bad tho!!

Thanx for all the replies

[krieve]

Might give that a try, thanx for the idea never thought of that

But 1 good thing about having the cats is they stop the mice coming in the house,



Porshiepoo, no i have never heard a frog scream and by the sounds of it i hope i never hear it, it sounds dreadful, don't think there r any frogs about here, well i hope not LOL the worst thing my cats have took in was a great big crow and what a mess feathers everywhere,

Yesterday afternoon 1 cat came in with a mouse and i was upset coz the poor wee thing was desparate to get away and it was standing on its back legs with its front paws up, i felt so sorry for it but there was nothing i could do, so i had to leave them to it, i felt bad tho!!

Thanx for all the replies

watch with that collars my friend had a cat with a collar on it who also loved to hunt and the cat got trap in barb wire but luckly it was found before it was to late. Also not that long ago found a cat with a collar on it and some how the cat manage to get his front paw trapped in the collar which was still on his neck so i seen it and took the collar on the cat.

[moose and Lindsay]

Oh good thinking

My cats have never had collars, so maybe not such a good idea right enough!!

Cheers

Lindsay

[Katy]

Some people say that they take back all sorts of animals - dead and alive as a thank you for feeding them!! Not nice I know, I have 2 cats and my big cat usually brings back rabbits - I hate it and feel bad but there is no way I could go take it from her I would be sick!!

Agree about the collar sounds a good idea but might be dangerous

Kxx

[teritoots]

Afraid I must be very soft too! If I find my cats with any prey I rescue it then determine whether it's full health and well enough to go back if it is i put it outside and keep cats in for a while to give it time to escape. If it's injured or to far gone then normally they die of shock pretty quick or I give them back to cats which is really hard but at least it's over pretty quick.
I'd never sit back and watch them kill if i can rescue i do! I did try collars but they just hated it and worried that they would get trapped or injure them selves.
Yesterday one of them marched in through door dumped a dead mouse at my feet then turned round and went off to eat out his food bowl?? I dinni mind if they kill to eat but think they kill for fun!
Also sometimes my cats manage to loose their living prey in the house!! Now let me just say a stunned mouse is much easier to catch and let out than a fully active mouse they too fast for me but i canni let cat have it either so i just somehow manage to catch it and outside it goes!!

[Lavenderblue2]

I'm so soft I'd rescue the mouse and let it go outside, then I'd give the cat a row!

I do the same - I can't stand it hearing the poor mouse squeal. Also I can't begin to tell you the amount of birds I have nursed back to good health following an encounter with one or other of my cats - of course there have been many fatalities along the way - poor birdies.

The cats also seem to have a problem with frogs too - what is worse the frogs NEVER agree with the cat's digestion! YUK!

LB

[_Ju_]

If you do put a collar on them make sure it's a proper cat collar, with an elasticated segment, so that they can pull their head out if the collar gets stuck anywhere.

As for getting used to the kill, there is not much you can do. It's nature in action and its in the feline realm to hunt. If you have them, you love them with this flaw.

In densly populated areas their hunting has been responsible for a decline in bird population. Here not so much a problem I think.

[paris]

Last summer our cat brought home a signet( baby swan ). We live with a river at the back of our house so get all sorts of nasty things brought home as "presents" . the signet lived and went back to its mum after we chased the cat with a stick . poor kitty he he he

[angela5]

The collars with elastic is safer as ju said i put these collars on my cats with bells and since then i've had no little half dead birds in the house.

[moose and Lindsay]

right that sounds safe enough, so i'll get 1 of them then!!

I think thats what blondscot was on about, but with my cats never having collars, i didn't know they were elasticated!! LOL

Cheers everyone

Lindsay

[Keve!]

Have you not seen the show "Tom & Jerry", it's what cats are meant to do. If you don't like it....kill the cat. teehee

To be fair, it's only a damn mouse, there's plenty of them!

[krieve]

Quote
watch with that collars my friend had a cat with a collar on it who also loved to hunt and the cat got trap in barb wire but luckly it was found before it was to late. Also not that long ago found a cat with a collar on it and some how the cat manage to get his front paw trapped in the collar which was still on his neck so i seen it and took the collar on the cat.


Hi again the first cat i mention did have an elasticated collar the second cat did have also.