[MoreWhisky]

We are getting a bit upset with our cat Trelow at the moment,  this yr hes turned into a bit of a serial killer.

We have had cats before and occasionally they bought back a dead creature but not often. Trelow kills daily   

Today he caught a wood pidgeon and brought it in the house with his face covered in blood, upsetting the wife.

Do bell collars work? or anybody got any other ideas?

Its sad as he is a big ginger tom whos lovely and loves/needs to be outside but we are getting worried about letting him out.
 
 

[elrohana]

He's a cat, sadly they kill.  Mine have bells, makes no difference.  Only thing that works is keeping them in, and that ain't fair either.  I have now learned that I can kill a beast to put it out of its misery, since mine have ocasionally brought home something not quite dead.  Good luck with training yourself and the wife to cope

[spottymint]

Hi

I have heard it said " cat's bring them home as presents" 

If you scold him, he will think he's not got, a good enough gift & will go & get a bigger, better one.

You have to praise him & he should stop.

P.S, I haven't tried this, our cat eats & then welds itself to the duvet for 12 hours.

[davethespread]

two pairs of hob nail boot for his paws should slow him down

[8doubles]

A plump tasty woodpigeon is  a nice present , if  cats did it every day and left the songbirds alone i might get one.
They would need to bring two collared doves a day as you need more for a pie.

[Casey76]

Bell collars make no difference.  A cat can learn to walk without making the bell jangle.

[madcat]

Hi
I have heard it said " cat's bring them home as presents" 
If you scold him, he will think he's not got, a good enough gift & will go & get a bigger, better one.
You have to praise him & he should stop.
P.S, I haven't tried this, our cat eats & then welds itself to the duvet for 12 hours.

Tis true!  Mind you I dont know if it would work with an adult cat - but we got ours variously between 6 wks and a year (all rescues) and they soon got to know what we approve of and what we dont. 

Bird kills were ignored (as far as possible, humane-ness and chaos allowing) with bodies remove swiftly and with no fuss.  Mouse catching and eating is actively admired and approved, consistently and however gruesome the process.   The result is that birds aren't caught (unless they annoy over a period of weeks and then you have to understand if not appreciate) but when mice are caught, they shout for us to come and appreciate and approve before settling in to eat. 

It took a while for them to figure out that voles and shrews didn't get approval - and they didn't like them to eat, so what was the point?

Eeeking and shreking wont help - cat will either take it as approval or as an inadequate offering.  Either way, he'll do it again.

Note:  when I feel sorry for a mouse - I remember that they are helping to save the dolphin.  Mice breed fast and the population isnt damaged, but catching the tuna for the cat food also catches dolphins and they breed slowly and are at risk as a species.  So, encourage them to eat mice and save the dolphin!   

[Beetroot queen]

I can understand exactly where you are coming from with this.

Our cat Chloe, is a mass murderer. she also kills daily and last summer in the height of august she killed six times in one day. she has taken down wood pigeons, robins, and a seagull.  its awful to watch and we have considered keeping her in, but I just do not agree with cats being in 24 hours a day.

She is not interested in them to eat just plays with them and plucks the tail feathers. She is a lovely daft cat but the killing makes me wonder what we have done wrong with her.

She  is very well fed and has a whole basket of toys that she uses but I do wish she would keep her eyes and claws off the birds 

[cissie]

I have 5 cat's but only one kill's on a regular basis. He wear's a bell and it does'nt make any difference. His largest kill was a wood pigeon which he plucked in the back garden while i was out, took me ages to gather all the feathers he's killed a Robin which upset me and a Goldfinch which was even worse, but sometimes i have a success. Last week he came in the catflap with a Blackbird, let go of it in the bedroom and after it spent the afternoon thinking how lucky it was, i set it free you win some you loose some.

[Caralou]

How old is Trelow?

Often cats calm with their hunting as they get older - at about 5 years old. Arwen when I first had her (18 months old) spent the whole summer leaving me offerings outside the bedroom door (she originally was originally allowed in the bedroom but a vole on the head at 4am stopped that!). On one morning I got up to a line of 8 voles and mice spread across the landing like an agility course   Now she is 5 and never really bothers to hunt. My younger ones (6 months - 4 years) still hunt but not as much as she did (I think because they play with each other in the garden whereas Arwen was on her own so when I slept she went hunting).

As mentioned by others the bells don't work   I too encourage hunting of mice,and little Niblet has caught rats the size of her which she gets huge congratulations for, and I luckily very rarely get birds (although there is a suspicious pile of feathers on the carpet this morning!!!).

[MoreWhisky]

Hi everyone thanks for all your replys 

Trelow is 4 hes a big cat in his prime.

By the looks of it i will look forward to receiving the pheasant or seagull then.

He next to me looking lovely and asleep at the moment having murderous dreams no doubt.

[madcat]

Another idea if possible - 'accidentally' let him meet a goose or a large bad tempered duck...  That'll larn him to be wary of birds!   

[Caralou]

I think one of the reasons mine rarely go for birds is that those big sparrows in the garden beat them up  The ducks have been found curled up with the cats before  :blink:

[Ruby Red]

 
  Obviously keeping him in at night is a must. Not only is it safer for the cat but he wont be out during the start of babies and adults urgent feeding early in the morning. Perhaps getting him in at dusk would help as well.

[kzaba]

our cat has four bells on his collar, which might be why we never get birds, or it could be the semi wild guinea fowl that comes to roost of an evening has put him off the whole idea of feathered snacks.
Shrews and rabbits are his favourite and he hunts mostly spring and autumn so maybe as the summer goes on you'll get a little peace. We tried all the praise and punishment bit, but he just look at you like your mad and does his own thing anyway, so we gave up.
Basically cats hunt or sleep and as they get older the balance moves slowly towards sleep