# At end of my tether with the cat...



## Bossdog (22 November 2013)

Hope someone can help, I'm more of a dog/horse person and my cats are an enigma to me!  I have a boy and a girl, both 4yo (litter mates), neutered etc.  the girl is a complete tiger, she's always been a bit of a hunter which was a bit annoying but since we moved house she has gone crazy and is bringing in several dead things a day, birds mice and shrews.  This was bad enough but in the last week she has started bringing in rats, not just babies but proper mangled up rats and it is driving me crazy! I have two young kids and it makes my skin crawl, she leaves them in the kitchen, on beds, everywhere.  They are bringing in fleas and despite a rigid worming/flea regime (and not the cheap stuff) she is now bringing up tapeworms.... Came home from a run of long shifts to find a dismembered rat at the bottom of the stairs and a big pile of vomit with a huge tape worm all over my sons traintrack, I could have cried.  Logic says there is no way of breaking this habit but I have to ask just in case, there is no way she would tolerate being a house cat.  

The boy is a bit brain damaged I think, he lacks any sense of height/distance when jumping (makes for some classic you've been framed moments) and often wanders around talking to himself which is fine but he is so unclean, he sometimes just relieves himself wherever he is which has recently included my sons pillow, there is no urine infection and he has a well maintained litter tray just in case he gets caught out but he will sometimes just ignore it.  

Honestly, whoever said cats are clean animals evidently didn't have my two fruit loops.  Any cat experts/behaviourists offer some wisdom?!


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## Sussexbythesea (22 November 2013)

I've spent many a night chasing half-chewed mice mouse my cat has brought in and "released" and many a day clearing up vomit and hairballs. Not that unusual for cats I'm afraid. Never really had a worm or flea problem though.

What flea and worm treatment have you used? Advocate flea and worm seems to work well. You need to worm separately for tapeworm though. Also get a good house flea treatment I've used Staykill which is supposed to kill eggs for up to 12 months. 

I would probably make the catflap one way so that they can go out but not come back in unless you open the door - that way they can't bring in unwanted presents.  Are you absolutely sure the male hasn't got any infection? It might be worth a trip to the vets to make sure. One of mine gets cystitis and it took a couple of weeks of antibiotics to get rid of it completely. She always pees inappropriately when she has one.


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## Meowy Catkin (22 November 2013)

Where is the cat flap positioned? Ideally, if the cat flap went into the kitchen, you could shut the door so the cats can only get into the kitchen. This would make any pray easier to clear up due to the wipeable floor.

Sorry, but when I read this I thought 'if only my cat caught something worthwhile like rats'. So far he has caught caterpillars and frogs... oh and a leaf. 

ETA - I agree that you should chat to your vet RE the male cat. When cats are stressed their toileting tends to go to pot. You can get Feliway plug ins and zylkene to put in food. Also do you have enough dirt trays? Generally you need one more than the number of cats you have and covered ones work better with some cats.


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## Amymay (22 November 2013)

Yep, male cat needs checking.  But he could just be marking.

Start feeding the female some raw meat. And make the cat flap out only.


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## twiggy2 (22 November 2013)

vet check for the male and they would both be outside cats-no way I would be having rats in the house and everything that comes with them just makes my skin crawl


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## MiniMilton (22 November 2013)

I feel your pain. Mine leave innards around the kitchen. Not sure what happens to the rest of the mystery bodies. I've long stopped allowing the cats anywhere else in the house. Too many nasty experiences. If a cat is a hunter you need to worm for tapeworm very often. Mine pick up tapeworm very quickly. They can shed tapeworm segments from their bum which is absolutely vile so I go OTT on the tapeworm specific wormer. 

One of the nastiest experiences of my life was my cat sitting on my knee getting a rub, only to realise that a bit of tapeworm was wiggling on my leg. I actually feel quite nauseous recalling it. I didn't touch the cat for about a year after that. Well apart from pinning it to the floor and ramming worming tablets down its throat


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## MagicMelon (22 November 2013)

Faracat said:



			Where is the cat flap positioned? Ideally, if the cat flap went into the kitchen, you could shut the door so the cats can only get into the kitchen. This would make any pray easier to clear up due to the wipeable floor.

ETA - I agree that you should chat to your vet RE the male cat. Also do you have enough dirt trays? Generally you need one more than the number of cats you have and covered ones work better with some cats.
		
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This, shut the cat into only one room in the house - whichever one the cat flap opens into. He's clearly more of an outside cat anyway so just give him a cosy bed and all his food and litter tray etc. in that room. Perhaps he'll eventually kill all the local population of ickle creatures so it'll lessen!

Agree also with the litter tray. My 2 Bengals were having the odd "accident" and turned out they didn't like the usual open litter tray - I bought one of those big plastic storage containers with lid from Homebase and cut a hole in the side and filled it with litter. They've been happy with it for years. I guess they like that the other cat can't creep up on them or something! Some cats also prefer their own litter trays, I've heard some cats even like 2 trays to themselves (1 for each "thing"!).


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## NellRosk (22 November 2013)

Re your male cat, one of my cats is exactly the same!! I think she's brain damaged because she just squats and wees on things and also doesn't have a 'stop eating' mechanism so will gorge for hours. Does yours do the same? I definitely think she has some kind of neurological problem!


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## Kittykins (24 November 2013)

Probably not going to be a popular suggestion, but what i would do would be to rehome the female cat with a home who wants a good hunter. You're never going to be able to stop her bringing things in, and after a while solutions such as always keeping the kitchen door closed become annoying / impractical. 

The other reason i say it is because you may find that it helps with the behaviour of the male. If he doesn't have an infection, he is most likely urinating in the house either to mark, or from stress. It doesn't matter that they're litter mates, cat's can still stress each other out by being in the same territory. I learned this the hard way as we had two sisters until one of them sadly got hit by a car last year. The change in the remaining cat was remarkable. I thought she'd be lost without her sister because she'd always seemed so nervy (which i put down to personality), but instead she really came out of herself, grew about a million times in confidence, and is clearly so much happier now. Her sister was quite the hunter too.


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## Dry Rot (24 November 2013)

Apologies in advance, but does anyone know where this comes from? I haven't been able to get it out of my head over the last few days and I don't even have a cat!

"Quick! Quick! The cat's been sick!
Where? Where?
Under the chair!
Hasten! Hasten! Fetch a basin!
Too late! Too late! For all in vain...
The cat has licked it up again!"

One from my childhood... and I thought it might be appropriate, but perhaps not.


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## Honey08 (24 November 2013)

Can you not close the cat flap off, or make it one way as Amymay says?

Our female cat will bring allsorts in if we leave doors or windows open, so we don't leave them open.  The cats go out and stay out or come in and stay in.


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## splashgirl45 (24 November 2013)

sounds to me like rehoming the female would be the best option... there will be a yard who will welcome a rat hunter with open arms....if that is what she likes doing then a stable yard would be heaven for her.  we used to have feral cats and they had beds in the hay barn so nice and dry and warm and they were fed am and pm, so a pretty good life!! as long as she has somewhere cosy to sleep she would prob be happier...


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## ILuvCowparsely (24 November 2013)

New 2 way lockable cat flap.     Sadly this comes with owning cats.  Ours jump through window in summer with half eaten rabbits, even find decomposing ones.
  Its what cats do and will always do.

I would lock them out and only let them in when u see no prey in their mouth.

  tape worm that's A vet visit as he can put them on a course of wormer.


 take a look at Jackson Galaxy website.
http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/feline-care-and-advice.html




.


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## Clodagh (25 November 2013)

Reminds me why I wouldn't have a cat!


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## Buddy'sMum (25 November 2013)

Leviathan said:



			I would lock them out and only let them in when u see no prey in their mouth.

  tape worm that's A vet visit as he can put them on a course of wormer.
		
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Agree with this^^
My moggy (currently draped across my lap gassing me with the most disgusting cat breath ever..lol) is a hunter so I only let him in when I've had a chance to check he's not bringing any pressies in with him. And he gets wormed more often than normally recommended (on vet advice).


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## Emma_H (26 November 2013)

Jackson Galaxy is a god of cat behaviour!!!
Suspect the male is marking like Amymay says which is often a sign of insecurity


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## MagicMelon (27 November 2013)

Leviathan said:



			Sadly this comes with owning cats.  Ours jump through window in summer with half eaten rabbits, even find decomposing ones.
  Its what cats do and will always do
.
		
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My two have only ever caught 2 mice in the 3 years I've had them since kittens, so no not all cats are keen hunters!  My mum used to be in the CPL and so we've always had a few cats around at hers, I don't remember any of them being a particular problem hunter - even the ones who we'd rescued as outside farm cats, they never seemed to bother once they came to ours.


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## Penny Eater (27 November 2013)

Bossdog said:



			Came home from a run of long shifts to find a dismembered rat at the bottom of the stairs and a big pile of vomit with a huge tape worm all over my sons traintrack
		
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minimilton said:



			One of the nastiest experiences of my life was my cat sitting on my knee getting a rub, only to realise that a bit of tapeworm was wiggling on my leg.
		
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Put me off ever having a cat! *bleurgh*


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## Exploding Chestnuts (27 November 2013)

I could not live with that, I' d get the hunter out to a farm or stable and see what happens then.
My two are bro and sis and sis is rather nervous, he does chase her and can be aggressive every so often, I wonder if that is reason for her general timidity.
They do mutual grooming and eat together, so not a constant battle.
Never had a tapeworm, little one brings in mice and shrews and there have been two young rats in ten years, not sure who brought them in.


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