Live presents... any ideas? (meowing, hair, house, kitchen)

[RH1]

Hi everyone,

My cat is 6 years old and has just started bringing live prey in. He usually does it just before I go to bed, which means I've got to shut him out of a room overnight while I trap/ catch it and I rarely get a decent night's sleep. He does it less often than once a week but I don't know whether I can do much about it.

A friend reckons he's trying to teach me to kill, but I'm afraid I'm not going there...

This little guy isn't looking too impressed with the whole game, even though he was about to be released:


Any bright ideas anyone, or do I just have to live with it? I'm not locking him out at night and I can't lock him in either (he actually punched the cat flap in half trying to get out when I tried that the other day...)

Your tiredly...

R

[Janecj]

Hmm.. my cat brings some in also.. sometimes.. I didn't do anything about it.. mine were mostly moles.. one snake.. talk about freaking out. I didn't let mine go out for awhile and that seemed to work (no kidding? right?) But I let them out again, and they haven't been bringing their catch home lately. So.. I guess I really don't have any more insight. I love the photo!

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Janecj

Hmm.. my cat brings some in also.. sometimes.. I didn't do anything about it.. mine were mostly moles.. one snake.. talk about freaking out. I didn't let mine go out for awhile and that seemed to work (no kidding? right?) But I let them out again, and they haven't been bringing their catch home lately. So.. I guess I really don't have any more insight. I love the photo!

Moles? Wow! That would be really interesting, I've never seen a live mole before! We don't really have snakes here, except little grass snakes, and I think he'd be more scared of them than the other way round. At least he only brings small things - you hear of people's cats bringing in full size rabbits and seagulls... all sorts!

I think my cat would go nuts if I didn't let him go out for a while.

I know I've basically already rejected every possible fix anyone could come up with, I suppose I'm hoping for a miracle or witchcraft or something.... lol

Maybe he'll just get bored of it.

[Ohiogirl81]

Cute mousie!

I guess you have a cat door so he can come and go as he pleases? If that's the case, you just have to live with it, or get rid of the cat door so that you control his coming and going. Contrary to your cat's belief, it's your house!

When I had indoor/outdoor cats, if they weren't home by my bedtime, they got locked out for the night. Which didn't stop one cat from mewing under my bedroom window until I got up to praise her catch. Oy. But if she didn't catch anything, she'd just sleep on top of the picnic table until morning.

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Cute mousie!

I guess you have a cat door so he can come and go as he pleases? If that's the case, you just have to live with it, or get rid of the cat door so that you control his coming and going. Contrary to your cat's belief, it's your house! .

Oh yeah! I forgot about that! Maybe I shoud go home and tell him who pays the mortgage... I haven't always had the cat flap - I put it in because he was driving me to distraction meowing and scraping at the window. I'm not sure which is more irritating now...

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

When I had indoor/outdoor cats, if they weren't home by my bedtime, they got locked out for the night. Which didn't stop one cat from mewing under my bedroom window until I got up to praise her catch. Oy. But if she didn't catch anything, she'd just sleep on top of the picnic table until morning.

That sounds like an idea. Maybe I'll try to start something more assertive when I move house. Thanks for your reply!

[Racelady88]

Nice to know I am not the only one with a fierce hunter in the house. Mine takes the prizes & puts them in the bath tub because she knows that is the first place I go in the morning. I have gotten up to 12+ dead lizards in the tub, a live black snake in the tub, a half eaten bird (my personal fave) in the tub...... The other day she walked in to my office in broad daylight and deposited a 2 foot rat snake at my feet. I have mostly gotten her to sleep at night andit has helped. No real advice, but I share your pain.

[molochai2580]

Your cat is showing you the he loves you. I have indoor only kitties so luckily I don't have this problem. I can only suggest along with previous poster about getting rid of your cat door, that way he can only come and go as you please. Good Luck!

[RH1]

Originally Posted by Racelady88

Nice to know I am not the only one with a fierce hunter in the house. Mine takes the prizes & puts them in the bath tub because she knows that is the first place I go in the morning. I have gotten up to 12+ dead lizards in the tub, a live black snake in the tub, a half eaten bird (my personal fave) in the tub...... The other day she walked in to my office in broad daylight and deposited a 2 foot rat snake at my feet. I have mostly gotten her to sleep at night andit has helped. No real advice, but I share your pain.

OMG!! You've got it far worse than me - you have my complete sympathy. The lizards thing made me laugh though, I hope they were fairly small ones!

My cat seems to have just recently got it into his head that I might like them still moving, I'm not sure what triggered that. The first one was a bird. It was playing dead and I'd resigned myself to another burial, so I got some kitchen paper, laid it over it, wrapped my hand over it and it shot across the room up onto the bed. I swear I had more grey hairs in the morning.

[nancy thereader]

YUCK ...... Well , cats can not really go to the mall to buy you a present so that is just a "thank you " gift, I guess.

[Laura707]

I had a cat years ago that use to bring things inside also. Moles, rats, lizzards and birds. I always thought she did it so she would have something to do while we were all gone during the day. We fixed the way she was getting in and out and could only use the door when someone was there to let her in and out and stop her from bringing anything in. She was the best mouser that I ever had and other than the ones SHE brought in, we never had a rat problem. (We lived way out in the country)