What to do with the cat and his presents

Kelz

Hi hoping for a bit of advice

My crazy cat used to bring me dead mice I know they are gifts but lately he has taken to bringing them to me alive !

Last nights offering did an Olympic dive into the sink bowl and I've had to throw the contents out - obviously including the mouse but I don't understand why he is bringing them alive.

It causes great distress for my daughter lol but my boys think it's great and want to keep everything as pets, in a way I guess it's nice as we can free them to fight another day.

Any ideas or is my cat bonkers !

Thanks

csnann

It could be that he's trying to teach you to hunt! This is how mother cats train their kittens, by bringing half-dead animals for them to finish off. I have no idea how to get him to stop though, sorry!

spugzbunny

Yep my cat brings about 75% of his offerings to me still alive (if not kicking!). I think in his little mind he thinks 'she is rubbish at this catching mices thing. I'll bring her a live one so she can play with it'.

I have a tupperware box labelled mouse house and I give the wee cat man a pat and a treat and the mouse gets shipped out to a better neighbourhood. I do get some odd looks doing that though!

Kelz

Ah so glad I'm not alone, I thought the screaming would have put him off !

We have now labelled a box and son has become the mouse house holder luckily it's always of an evening so he doesn't get too many odd looks setting them free lol

it's the way he gives the mouse then sits and waits for his food bowl to be topped up while everyone runs around in a panic that really does make me chuckle,

we have two younger cats but they go out in the gardens as well now and I thought they were gifts for them but he only drops them off in front of us,

he is spoilt and adored so I guess I'll just have to keep being grateful while we deposit them back outside to fight another day,

thankyou for the replies we live in a mini zoo so I'll be keeping an eye in here

Kerry

KxMx

Does he wear a collar with a bell? Doesn't stop the gifts but have had great success here in cutting down the number. If the bell isn't very loud then pop into a craft shop for another single bell and attach that on the collar as well.

JimmyTheWig

Kelz wrote: »

we have two younger cats but they go out in the gardens as well now and I thought they were gifts for them but he only drops them off in front of us

I would guess, then, that he is showing you that he is as good as / better than the new cats. Trying to maintain his position as "top cat".
Don't know what the answer is, but I guess it's the same as with children - lots of attention and praise for the good behaviour. E.g. tell him (along with stroking, etc) what a good boy he is for eating his dinner. If he thinks he can get your approval from something else then he might go easy on the catching lark.

Kelz wrote: »

Last nights offering did an Olympic dive into the sink bowl and I've had to throw the contents out

I don't understand this. What was in the sink?

morg_monster

yes I've heard that they either do it because they think we are rubbish at hunting and want to feed us, or they are just presents to show their approval or love of us, ahh.
Either way, apparently you shouldn't tell them off, as it just will confuse them. We praise ours when they bring us random crap from around the house (pocketpacks of tissues and socks are favourites), I love that, it's so cute, thankfully they haven't caught anything outside. (the best was when they dug out a random toy from somewhere, that I hadn't seen for months, it happened to be a little mouse, how sweet!)
Jimmy's idea of making sure you praise them for other things is a good idea. Don't know if you can really stop this behaviour though really apart from making it harder for him to actually hunt successfully (eg loud bell)

Kelz

Evening all thanks for the replys.

I have tried a collar and bell but he has lost three as they have the new safety catches on lord only knows how he did it !

I don't want to tell him off as I do think he does it out of love I'll just try not too act so 'excited' when he brings more home and see if that works.

At least I know I'm not alone but it'll keep me in my toes washing up as I can't afford to keep throwing out crockery every time a mouse has a bath in the bowl !

Thanks again I enjoyed Reading your replies and wish I had a cat that would just bring me socks !

Kerry

edit to add it was a mouse that jumped in the sink when the cat presented him, mind u I say mouse this one was little with a long tail but I've had bigger but with stumpy tails.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

mine bring back mice/moles etc nothing in the world can stop it, if a cat wants to catch mice then a cat will catch mice and whatever prevents it from doing it will get removed (like a collar with a bell).

JimmyTheWig

Kelz wrote: »

edit to add it was a mouse that jumped in the sink when the cat presented him

But I still don't get what was in the sink that you then had to throw away? Were you preparing food in there?

Kelz

Some plates and cutlery I'm not sure on mouse germs so after he had swam about on it I threw it jimmy.