1st Live catch_ what do you do?

RacyRed

I think I have committed a major faux pas

My young tom woke me up the other morning and led me and the little girl cat to the kitchen, where he had deposited a dead mouse next to the girl's food bowl.

It was the first time he had brought a catch home and he was obviously very proud of himself, for all I know it was his first ever live catch! When the girl sniffed it he went over to her, but instead of purring loud thanks she hissed at him. The boy then picked up the mouse and strutted around the kitchen with it in his mouth, growling loudly. He then started to try to eat it, but didn't. The mouse was then deposited under the fridge (which is where his favorite foods come out of).

I binned the mouse and he knows it.

Have I committed a major blunder in cat etiquette? What do you do when your furry bundles get lucky and bring mice home?

Should they be served raw, roasted or boiled?

Help!

foreign_correspondent

Cats are strange! I have no idea, sorry :-)

Lorian

Dead ones go in the bin while they are not looking (they are usually left as a present for you anyway).

Live ones get put back outside while they are not looking too (find a small cardboard box and keep it handy, much easier than just using hands).

Soon it'll realise that if it wants to eat it it will have to do it outside.

rita-rabbit

Ah bless!

I would have put it outside. So that he doesn't bring you any more presents. Let's hope that next time he's not so selfless & eats it outside.

simontheiceman

I have had more live and dead presents than I care to remember - I dont think anything works to prevent the "bringing home". Nothing is quite as bad as the noise of screaming rabbit in the bedroom at 3AM (actually happened), or waking up to bird calls , only they were actually in the room! I take runners as far away from the house as I can (I live on an estate so could not really say their exact origin). I let birds out of the nearest window - we had a robin brought in by a 14yo cat a week before christmas for goodness sake. Do wha you will - they dont care.

UKTigerlily

The best one we had was a bat, fortunately unharmed, the Cat dragged it in then let it go & it was flying round our living room so I turned the light out, opened the window (Which was one of those huge old fashioned ones) & waited for it to fly out which it did.

Mice are normally alive, she brings them in, releases them & goes back out. I just pick them up & put them back out while trying to keep her in so she doesn't go right back to it. Luckily she doesn't hunt much!

frivolous_fay

I heard that the best thing is not to react too strongly... as with naughty children

Unfortunately we do tend to chase them around waiting for them to drop their catch... with plenty of aforementioned growling! They're getting wise to it, so we've started putting them outside and not letting them in until they've dropped it... Only one mouse has been alive when brought in so far, so we thought it might be savable, but sadly not

We get mice, have only had one bird so far, but the favoured prey is worms
... which they usually bring in late at nigh, giving them the opportunity to bite them into pieces and leave lying around on the stairs or sofa...

picklepick

we used to get loads of live mice, i dont think my cat really had the kill instinct, she just used to like watching them moving about.... anyway we always made sure we had a box ready to keep them in and we safely released most of them back into the wild. poor litte miceys!

my sisters cat loves worms aswell fay. shes also a pro at bringing headless pigeons and rats. i dont want to think about where the heads go...

c6h4m1

Mine dump their kills either on my pillow, or right where I put my feet when I get out of bed. It's quite hard not to react then! Usually a scream, followed by a yeugh, followed by me resignedly picking up said dead offering and putting it in the bin All of my cats will drop a catch for me when I tell them, whether it's dead or alive, so I can remove it easily. They're pretty good at dropping live mice into a small box for me so I can release the prey safely. They then follow me up the garden, out into the fields and watch me let it out of the box!

Birds are the worst, although we only get one or two brought in each year. They seem to want to be caught again, once the cat has let them go, and fly straight into waiting teeth. Anyone watching us trying to get a bird out of the house would die laughing - much flapping and waving from two adults, while several cats leap around trying to "help". :rotfl:

Mely

Ive had cats most of my life and in my experience you cant stop them bringing 'presents' home.
Ive had allsorts brought home over the years...the worst was always live rabbits. The noise from them and fear in their faces used to make me break my heart crying! But its one of those things that is par for the course when you have cats unfortunately.

frivolous_fay

c6h4m1 wrote: »

All of my cats will drop a catch for me when I tell them, whether it's dead or alive, so I can remove it easily. They're pretty good at dropping live mice into a small box for me so I can release the prey safely.

Bless! If only! :rotfl: