This morning, for the first time ever, my cat caught something. I know it's in their nature but it's distressing that they play with the poor things before killing.

He brought a field mouse into our bedroom at about five a.m. and proceeded to chase it round the bedroom. We caught it, and, as it was uninjured put it at the bottom of the garden. Within fifteen minutes Ollie had brought the terrified little thing back to our bedroom and played with it some more before killing.

He ate the whole thing, previous cats have always left it whole as an unwelcome gift.

At least he's tidy I guess.

Perhaps it was slightly injured in the first instance - Ollie does wear a bell which should give prey enough warning to scuttle off.
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05-01-06, 08:23 AM
Rainmaker
Yes, I know how you feel.

When I first moved into my new house, my cat Isabel brought something into the house and started playing with it. Turns out it was a baby bird. It was the saddest thing I ever saw. Frown

I took it away from her and gave it a proper burial. Thankfully, I haven't seenher kill anything else but I do see feathers on the front porch occasionally.

05-01-06, 10:27 AM
juanruiz

quote:
Within fifteen minutes Ollie had brought the terrified little thing back to our bedroom and played with it some more before killing.



Was there a reason you let that cat back outside after saving the mouse?

05-01-06, 12:31 PM
babthrower
Well, you can't save all prey from all predators. It's just the prey's fate.

Besides, the vast majority of young birds and rodents die of starvation before they mature.
KLIK

And humans are the biggest predators of all. Safeway makes its money by separating us emotionally from that nasty fact, but it's true just the same.

So don't sweat it. The cat probably saved the little thing from a worse death.

Rodents foul grain, because as they run around they continually dribble tiny amounts of urine. So to protect our food, we use massive amounts of poison in food storage facilities. In the old days they used cats.

Inspection of grain storage facilities is routine. In Canada, rodent hairs are allowed at the rate of up to one in every 100g of peanut butter, one in every 450g of popcorn or 4.5 hairs in every 225g of macaroni or noodles. Wheat can contain up to 9mg of rodent droppings in every 450g of grain.

When cats play with prey, it's their instinctive way of honing their hunting skills. They really are marvellous animals. A mother cat will bring a mouse or bird to the nest and drop it in front of the kittens and give it a couple of pats with her paw to stimulate it into action. The kittens are attracted by the movement, and will instinctively chase and play with it. Then the mother will deliver the death bite, and the kittens, perpetually hungry, will be attracted by the smell of blood and learn to eat solid food.

We have all kinds of toxins now, (and all kinds of new cancers to pay for the luxury), but most of us wouldn't be here if predators hadn't limited the number of rodents eating our produce through the ages.

Nature's cruel, but it works.

It's hard not to be sentimental about animals. (One Russian writer, I can't remember which, defined 'sentimentality' as the emotion felt by a noblewoman weeping as she watches the opera La Boheme in which Mimi dies of consumption in a garret; meantime in the frigid Moscow street outside of the opera house, her coachman slowly freezes to death waiting for her.)

05-01-06, 01:47 PM
DorianGreyed
"Well, you can't save all prey from all predators. It's just the prey's fate."

Like Archie Bunker always said, "Well, you know what they say, Edith. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta fry."

05-01-06, 06:20 PM
kittypal
I USED TO like peanut butter and pop corn!!! Wink

05-01-06, 11:18 PM
Tree
Babthrower - thanks for such an interesting and informative post! Wink

05-04-06, 01:40 PM
spooked
Ditto.

Bab, so true, so inarguable.

05-04-06, 01:48 PM
spooked

quote:
Originally posted by juanruiz:
[QUOTE]
Was there a reason you let that cat back outside after saving the mouse?



Sorry juan for the late reply.
The decision to let the little darling back out was basically an oversight (it was 5.30am and I was half asleep). Also, we have a huge garden and I overlooked the fact that he had the scent.

I wouldn't dream of trying to discourage his instinctive ways. Cats are fabulous hunters - but at 5.30 it was a little inconvenient. Roll Eyes

What's so hurtful is he didn't even make any offering!! He ate the whole thing! Wink

Incidentally. Does anything prey on cats?? Could their lovable indolent nature be due to being top cat of the food chain??

05-04-06, 02:11 PM
babthrower
They're vulnerable as kittens, of course, and three defenses have evolved: the scentless coat, the fastidious licking of fur and kittie bottoms by mom, and the absolute fierce defense which the mother will put up if someone tries to take them from the nest! There's a story that is several generations old, of a mother cat who attacked a bear that entered the granary where her kittens were denned, and she just flew right at his head, and 'rode' him off, teeth and claws working, last seen as he entered the woods. And mamma returned unharmed to her kittens, wearing a very self-satisfied smirk! I guess she hung on until they were at the edge of her territory.

They are not really loners. Mothers will share babysitting and even nursing with other mothers. And they'll co-operate to defend the dens. Cats out-of-doors are interesting to watch. They make eye signals at each other. A squint on making eye contact means, "Oh, yeah, I know you, you're a bud. Wanna groom?"

She can fight a larger animal because she is so strong and flexible, and can use all four claws in defense, and her canine teeth are relatively long. She can do a lot of damage in a scrap. But she's most vulnerable to packs of dogs and wolves. Then she must go up a tree and hope they are too hungry and impatient to wait. Also they don't have great endurance, so can be run down by dogs if there is no refuge for them. That's why they are so reclusive in desert country. You can be right in the middle of cougar country and perhaps rarely see them.

05-04-06, 02:58 PM
aminator2002
I think my cat used to fight with raccoons.

05-06-06, 02:17 PM
kittypal
I thought coons were a pretty tough fight for a cat, aren't they almost cat like with their sharp claws and even sharper fangs? They also climb trees right???

We don't let our cats out, but ages ago we let our old cat out...He was a big tough kitty...the neighbors dog came at him ONCE and then would respectfully sit at the edge of the property and look at the cat, if the cat stared back the dog usually slunk back closer to his own side. Smile He also used to kill birds, mice, and once a baby bunny....he usually didn't eat the kill....Our cats now are indoors, they love when a stray fly happens to get in, they will play with it til it dies.

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