Righto, first post - hi everyone!!

So, I have huge male, neutred moggie called Merlin. He's a lovely boy. But he is particularly good at catching birds and mice and bringing them home to "examine further" shall we say.

It's especially bad at this time of year, and the bigger the better with him, his favourite to bring home is pigeons. Sometimes they're dead on arrival and he just wants to eat it or leave it to be found by one of us, sometimes they're alive and he wants to play with it, sometimes looking more like he's conducting some sort of scientific experiment with it.

Anyways, it's gotten worse since we had a cat flap put in because he can now come and go as he wishes and he just brings whatever through the flap. Now, i know you can't stop a cat from going off to catch things, it's in their nature. He has a collar with a bell on it but this doesn't seem to help. Is there anything we can do to stop him catching things in the first place? would extra bells help? is there any collars which emit sound or something when he starts running about? THe only thing i can think of is when we go out to lock the cat flap so once he goes out he can't go back in and to keep it locked on an out only setting so he can't bring anything back in the house.

Oh and he's a heavy thing too and he gets fed regularly and all but still does this.

We had a particularly nasty incident last night when we found one of his well hidden 'conquests' and it'd been there quite a while...eww.

Thank you for the advice in advance.

lol - its cat nature. Obviously you live where such prey is abundant. Look upon it as the strong culling the weak, so the weak won't pass on their genes....

OK. Well, when our moggie did this I rescued the prey if they were alive and released as far away as I could, but I think this was wishful thinking

If you are into raw food prey diet you could freeze the prey - sorry couldn't resist that

Hi Glitterari and welcome Dunno what to say really,maybe close the flap for a while and let him hunt as a treat?? So you can keep an eye on where he leaves his catch

Hi, its awful isn't it when they bring you presents home First one we had in the house was a mouse, cat just brought it in and dropped it in the middle of the kitchen floor, dead. Few weeks later our other day brought a bird in, I just saw her and ran OH had to come home from work cause I was in shock (yes I know, it was pathetic of me ) by that time we had feathers all over the place. Thats when I realised our days of leaving the doors and big windows open were over.

Think I'd try locking the cat flap for a while if things are getting too bad, as least if you let them in and out you can do a mouth check first

hi, and welcome.

all i can say is its an advantage having an indoor cat, i dont have to worry about "presents"

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You never own a cat unless the cat owns you!

Urgh I know how you fell. I was sitting on my floor a few weeks ago, and then a mouse ran past my fast, a LIVE one! I don't know which of my kitties did it, but eeew it was nasty. I don't mind mice, I just mind them in my bedroom going about their business!

You could try putting an extra bell or two on his collar. Thats the only thing I can think of though.

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Unfortunately there is nothing you can do.

With Jasper I tried bells on collars I think he held the bell still with one paw while sneeking up on his prey.

Two or three doors down from us they breed racing pigeons Jasper didn't have far to go for his hunting ground (that caused a few neighbourhood disputes shall we say). We could only apologies but it wasnt good enough so she threatened to set her Rotti on him (admittedly I was worried for my cat) but realistically what could I do.

Next time she came to the door it was to complain about what our cat had done to her dog.

Jasper our cat was a hunter through and through, from mice, birds, rats, even a hen. At that point I took him to the vets in case there were some kind of a deterrent available. No, I said isn't there anything I can do, the vet said jokingly get a contract with your local butcher.

Right or wrong I always took live animals from him, cats are cats but I can't turn my back or watch.

Sue

One of my cats used to bring back 'live' presents. I've spent an hour before now rescuing a vole from under that washing machine, caught live mice in my hallway, had to cover a pigeon with a teatowel and send the kids for my dad (the birds neck looked like it was broken but the bird was still alive) only to find the teatowel walking down the hallway and once had to catch a young ferret in a box (how the hell the cat got it home I'll never know as it tried to take my finger off when I went to get it's scruff) and then find out who'd lost it!
We moved a few years ago and now a live present is a thing of the past thank goodness, plus the cats are old now and so have realised that the energy spent on catching something can be put to good use int he form of more cat naps
I tried extra bells, large bells, nothing seemed to stop them from trying to catch things, my old cat even tried to catch a squirrel but it was quicker than he was.

Mine often bring in little gifts for me too!

I remember in my old house I came downstairs one morning and found three dead rats in the lounge - yuck - but at least they were dead.

Once they managed to bring in a bat - and I really don't like things that flutter. It managed to crawl under the door in my bedroom (the bat, not the cat) and I had to get my neighbour's husband to come around and rescue me.

I had a little white mouse brought in once. It looked like a pet so I had to keep it and it lived for another 18 months. When they bought in a gerbil I gave it to a neighbours' child.

I, too, try and rescue their prey if I can. I have a wildlife rescue centre about 40 minutes drive from where I live and I often turn up there with injured birds or mice. I am lucky I have an understanding Manager as it makes me late for work!

My older three don't do it so much any more - they are lazy. One of my younger ones - the male - is a real hunter and keeps eating my neighbour's goldfish, which is causing a bit of a problem with the neighbour! I have a pond too and yet he seems to leave those fish alone - I think it's because I have a fountain on all day so it is more difficult for him to see them.

I do get frogs brought in from the pond and have fun trying to catch them!

All part of the fun(!) of having cats who go outdoors!!

Lumpy

My old family cat from years ago progressed from bringing in pegs and cigarette butts as presents as a kitten to.....a not long dead small chinchilla when he was older Goodness know where he got it from or indeed HOW he got it

I'm giggling at the thought of suggestions of more bells. I have visions of cats out there in Morris Dancer get up

xxx