# Cat hunting help



## Dyllymoo (14 August 2020)

Ok so I have had cats all my life but most recently had 2 bengals that were mainly indoor cats.  They did go out but didn't really bring any "friends" into the house.

Roll forward to W entering our life a few months ago as a 7 month old from a rescue.  Now he has started venturing out on his own and has brought in a grass hopper and a small frog.  Both have been alive and we have taken from him and put back outside.  Usually we lock the cat flap of a night and he stays in the kitchen overnight but its been so hot and our house is like an oven (and he is the fluffiest cat I have ever seen!) so we have left the cat flap open and the kitchen door so he can go out if he wants to cool down.

2 nights ago (around 1am!) he bought in a half dead mouse into our bedroom (we are in a bungalow).  Literally was so pleased with himself.  I know its nature for him to catch things but OH was not impressed and we both have to get up at 5am, OH struggled to get back to sleep as well.

I put a collar with a bell on him last night but the bell kept waking me up! Ha! Not what it was meant to do!

Any suggestions?  I'm thinking we might shut the kitchen door and leave the cat flap open and hope he doesn't bring anything else in, if he does at least it wont end up on my pillow!


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## Pearlsasinger (14 August 2020)

What a handsome lad!

I just wouldn't allow him access to the bedrooms, when he has been outside tbh.  We have always fed cats last thing at night so that they spend the night inside but presumably he would be able to 'escape' through a window at this time of the year.  
I'm not keen on bells on cats - if it annoys you when he comes into your room, just imagine how it irritates him ringing in his ears every time he moves.


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## Dyllymoo (14 August 2020)

Thank you   He is super handsome.

That's what I'm thinking, shut the kitchen door but keep the cat flap open if he gets too hot.  I normally call him in when we go to bed, he has some food and then stays in the kitchen so think we will go back to that.  He woke me up at 3.30am as he was hot and wanted a cuddle, but was hot... and probably to share his bell ringing with me! Ha!

I don't generally like collars on cats as a rule but OH looked like he was going to murder me or the cat so I thought I best try something! ha!


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## Rumtytum (14 August 2020)

He really is a stunning boy (and I rather think he knows it!). Yes I’d shut him in the kitchen overnight with cat flap open or you and your husband will be zombies 😊.  My cat Tigga had a nervous breakdown when he was fitted with a bell collar 😱


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## Dyllymoo (14 August 2020)

Rumtytum said:



			He really is a stunning boy (and I rather think he knows it!). Yes I’d shut him in the kitchen overnight with cat flap open or you and your husband will be zombies 😊.  My cat Tigga had a nervous breakdown when he was fitted with a bell collar 😱
		
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Think you are right, he is so funny!  how anyone could give him up I will never know.

awww bless Tigga… I took the collar off this morning so hopefully he will have forgiven me by later on (definitely by dinner time!)


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## Surbie (14 August 2020)

Dyllymoo said:



			That's what I'm thinking, shut the kitchen door but keep the cat flap open if he gets too hot.
		
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He's lovely! 

We had to shut the kitchen door at night as my semi-feral cat brought all sorts of gory trophies into the house. As revenge he used to put them into any garden shoes left by the door. We had to have humane traps permanently out for the escapee mice etc, but it was a small price to pay for not waking up next to a disembowelled frog on the pillow.


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## Peregrine Falcon (14 August 2020)

I keep my bedroom door firmly shut as with Tilly allowed access to cat flap we get a collection of mainly live creatures. We don't have a kitchen door otherwise I'd shut it!


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## Dyllymoo (17 August 2020)

So Friday night he looked so sweet all snuggled on the bed so I left the kitchen door open... BIG MISTAKE....

3.30am Saturday morning we had a little mouse being flung around my side of the bed (always my side!).  Thankfully the poor little thing was dead, hopefully it was quick.  Ugh....  Saturday and Sunday night kitchen door closed, cat flap open, no gifts.... thankfully!


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## ycbm (17 August 2020)

Amber eyes,  what a beautiful boy.  I'll take him off your hands if he's too much trouble 

We shut ours in the utility with a cat flap for the same reason.  We got fed up with disturbed nights.
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## Dyllymoo (17 August 2020)

Thank you.  He has been really cuddly this weekend so has redeemed himself completely!

I definitely wont be making that mistake again, that's for sure!


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## ownedbyaconnie (17 August 2020)

What a gorgeous cat! 

I also have a prolific hunter...frogs, mice, vole, bats (alive and gleefully released into the lounge), a HUGE bird (also alive but only just) and a selection of small birds left to bleed out on my white bedding, plus the daily selection of ticks attached to his body (also fluffy).

He is collarless (I always get scared that they will get caught on a branch or something out in the woods, our house backs on to woods hence our menagerie of prey) and has the run of the house apart from our bedroom during the night.  Partly so I don't wake up to a decapitated mouse but also because he comes and wakes me up for breakfast at 5am which was fine (ish) before lockdown but now I don't need to be up as early to commute it is not welcome.  

I'm not sure there is much you can do to deter hunting, some love it and others just aren't as bothered, or at least don't bring it back!


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## Sussexbythesea (17 August 2020)

Mine is a prolific hunter sadly. I thought I heard him bring in something last night. This morning before I left for the yard he was guarding a corner of my bedroom. When I got back I pulled out some furniture and found a mouse on its last legs. I love having my cat sleep on my bed and have morning and evening cuddles so I put up with it.


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## Goldenstar (18 August 2020)

I shut mine into the main living area of the house at night and clear the corpses in the morning .
However they just come in and out the bedroom window .😧
Hes a beautiful cat , I would forgive him anything .


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## Dyllymoo (18 August 2020)

Thank you.  He is such a sweet boy, which is why when he brings in things and shouts all happily about it I cant help but thank him quietly!


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## Dyllymoo (20 August 2020)

The new game is..... going out the back, round to the front of the house and crying outside the front door for HOURS (our bedroom is right by the front door thanks to being a bungalow.....)

I relented at 11.30pm (he woke me up!), and then again at 3.30am..... FML... I don't remember my other 2 being this annoying!


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## honetpot (20 August 2020)

Our old man in the last house would walk along the garden fence, climb on to the conservatory and then sit on our bedroom window sill and scratch to come in.

  I am having problems with semi-feral kittens. To tame them they have been in my bedroom and ensuite for two weeks , and were zooming around my bed at night and playing with my feet. I used to work nights so I have an off switch and sleep through most things. They managed to escape through the soil pipe boxing and in to another room and then out  of the window bathroom window, about four days ago. To be sure we put a camera into all the boxing and roof spaces just to check they were not trapped. 
So I have been putting food out at night and shutting the other cats in, the food has been going but it could be foxes or another roaming cat as I have not seen them. Last night I was late putting the food out, so there is kitten yowling at the patio door loud enough to be heard through the double glazing. Of course it will not be caught, but it got its food. Cats just have life sussed.


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## Dyllymoo (21 August 2020)

Went for a shower before wfh today.... came out to Woody prupping and rolling around the bed.... awwww how cute....

Oh..........




(Thankfully he wasn't alive but still  )


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## Crazy_cat_lady (21 August 2020)

what a beautiful beautiful cat, love his big fluffy tail its magnificent 

Has he got Maine Coon in?


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## Rumtytum (21 August 2020)

Oh dear.... but you just have to forgive anything with those fluffy ears!  He really is gorgeous 😊


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## Dyllymoo (21 August 2020)

Crazy_cat_lady said:



			what a beautiful beautiful cat, love his big fluffy tail its magnificent

Has he got Maine Coon in?
		
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We've no idea as he is a rescue. I've done some googling and I think Turkish angora as he isn't that big like a Maine Coon


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## Dyllymoo (21 August 2020)

Rumtytum said:



			Oh dear.... but you just have to forgive anything with those fluffy ears!  He really is gorgeous 😊
		
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He flung the mouse around and off the bed and was looking for him so I popped him on the dustpan and took him outside.

Woody is still looking for him!


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## Sussexbythesea (21 August 2020)

Dyllymoo said:



			Went for a shower before wfh today.... came out to Woody prupping and rolling around the bed.... awwww how cute....

Oh..........

View attachment 53703


(Thankfully he wasn't alive but still  )
		
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Oh dear! I had my cat Pepper bring in a tiny mouse last night then let it go in my bedroom it ran off, he caught it and ended up in the bathroom. I managed to catch it and let it out the front door. I was awoken again later by the sound of mouse torture this time downstairs I shut my bedroom door at that point as did not want a repeat. Found to bloody body this morning in the hallway. Pepper is now snoozing in my bedroom


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## Sescy (21 August 2020)

oh that must be really horrible for you im quite lucky my cat she doesnt hunt or if she does she never brings anything back. And i really dont no when they stop hunting sorry but im sure somebody else on here will be able to help you


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## honetpot (23 August 2020)

I have now discovered that my semi feral escapee kittens had taken up residence in the house cavity wall, they had entered where an air brick had been taken out to check the wall. They are now out, the hole blocked and still yelling for food on their terms.


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## Dyllymoo (24 August 2020)

Phew good news Honetpot!

We had another mouse this morning.....  this one was very dead.....  That's one thing I'm thankful for at the minute, that they are coming in very dead and with little signs of torture


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## Redders (24 August 2020)

Not sure if this would work for mice but the rspb recommend these collars with brightly coloured ruffs, like scrunchies I guess, but fitted on a safety collar to make the cat much less stealthy and so more likely to warn wildlife of danger.


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## Meredith Brouillette (25 August 2020)

LOl, what a great cat. I am always happy when they bring home a "present". Once, she left me a present inside my shoe...I freak out. I would not let her in the bedroom, because if I found a dead animal on my bed I would die :O


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## honetpot (27 August 2020)

Just seem on FB


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## Rumtytum (27 August 2020)

honetpot said:



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Just seem on FB
		
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That is brilliant! 😂


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## Dyllymoo (27 August 2020)

honetpot said:



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Just seem on FB
		
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Someone tagged me in this 🤣


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## ycbm (27 August 2020)

honetpot said:



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Just seem on FB
		
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I wish that had music! 
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