Calling parents of outside hunter cats....

[PayItForward]

Our Milly girl brought a bird home today. We took her outside and tried to get her to release the bird.

We tried to open her mouth/offered her treats but in the end she jumped down and ran off with the bird.

I do realise she was being affectionate in trying to bring home prey. She was a bit surprised, we weren't grateful for her present.

But how can we get her to drop & release the prey ?

Any ideas welcome.

[Vio&Juni]

Juni was VEEERY surprised that we made her release the bat she cought last summer. I think, there's no way to explain that this is not ok. They will continue doing it. I just hope next birdie will b quicker.

Juni's father - Vasea was a good hunter. His "wife" Naomi - Juni's mom - was a vegetarian (Have you ever seen a vegetarian cat?). She was getting very upset everytime Vasea was hunting birds on the balcony and she wouldn't "speak' to him for days because of this.

[luckies4me]

I would never let me cat run off with the bird. Scruff them if you must and open their mouth. Take the bird out and let it go. Of course, that's if they let you catch them. Our cat Blacky loves to bring home sparrows, but he knows he shouldn't so it's a pain in the rear to catch him. He makes me so mad. Urrgh!

[ramanth]

I've saved mice, shrews, and rabbits, from my parents cats.

Never really done anything special. As soon as I would walk up to the cat, they'd ignore what they caught and would approach me wanting praise and loving, which I would give.

Then I'd pick up the animal (wearing gloves), put the cat in the house, and then let the animal go in the woods.

[Logan]

It seems to always be a little too late by the time I find what my hunters have brought me. Of course, there were those three mice he let loose in the house......eewwwww!!!!

[Denyce]

There are times I am able with Deirdre to take away from her what she has caught before it dies. I have never been able to save a shrew. They die too quickly from heart attacks. What we do is I get behind Deirdre with my hubby in front of her. He holds the plastic cup under her mouth while I put my fingers in her mouth at the corners and tickle and pry till she unlocks her jaws and drops the mouse into the cup. All the while telling her what a good Mighty Huntress she is and now drop the mousie...she is usually growling fiercely the entire time. Last night however the mouse she caught in the pantry was dead before she brought it into us in the bedroom. I am never sure whether to be sad or relieved. Sad that something died...relieved because it is one less mouse....proud of my Mighty Huntress....so many conflicting emotions.

[tikeyas_mom]

fuzzy is a hunter cat, he loves to catch the mice in our garage and we let him. Because the mice will end up in our house if we dont. ..

Fuzzy has also brought home dead birds. it is sad, but cats are hunters. He hides them he doesnt bring them inside or anything. We always get him his shots for parasites and worms and stuff so we dont need to worrie about bacteria.

I love my Fuzzy Cat and he can catch whatever he wants. EXCEPT for my hamsters ..

[Rachel]

Originally posted by Logan
It seems to always be a little too late by the time I find what my hunters have brought me. Of course, there were those three mice he let loose in the house......eewwwww!!!!

You know maybe there is a good reason for me not to become a kitty's mom.

[Pam]

I don't even want to tell you about what Bella (My Dog!) did to a bird she found/caught.

[Logan]

Oh Lord, Pam!! I don't even want to start talking about what the dogs will do!!! At least they are a bit "easier" on the prey than the cats are!!!

[boscibo]

Here's my story: About 10-15 years ago I lived on a quiet country road, my cats were allowed outdoors. One night, we were wathcing a movie, it was just starting to get dark out. I looked up the hallway for some reason and I SAW SOMETHING JUMPING! We stopped the movie and investigated. It was a live, unhurt baby rabbit. One of the cats brought a live baby rabbit in the house and let it go. We had a cat door, so the cats could come and go unsupervised when the wanted to.

Wild baby rabbits are very difficult to catch. Almost impossible. It took two of us almost two hours to finally trap it and get it into a cat carrier to release outside again. This included one part when we thought we had it behind a laundry hamper, we both leaned our heads down to see it and *thunk* both our heads banged into each other, ouch. The baby rabbit escaped that bumbling move. But we finally got it.

I still suspect Bo as the culprit - he would hunt, but he seemed to not know what to do after he caught something.

[PayItForward]

This bird was sadly dead already but we hope to release any future birds.

Thanks for all the stories/advice, we don't feel so alone on this issue.

RIP little birdie.