Cats killing birds ... Nieghbours keep feeding birds!

antw23uk

withabix wrote: »

How about NOT LETTING YOUR CATS OUT.

You are the thoughtless one, not your neighbours.

What an unhelpful thing to say, you should be ashamed of yourself.
The OP is clearly feeling bad enough that the cats are doing this. I agree with one of the other posters, its very thoughtless and selfish for the neighbours to be encouraging both prey and predator into the garden.
The OP has already said they are going to try and change the fence to discourage the cats going out of the garden. Not everyone can have indoor cats OR cat proof there garden!

Mrs_Arcanum

Harry_Flashman wrote: »

Don't worry about the collars. I've kept cats for over 20 years and they've always had collars and never had any problems with 'em.

Other than that, there ain't much you can do. It's a natural instinct to hunt (no matter how well fed they are).

Well fed cats are better hunters.

Mum had a cat used to bring chickens home.

HelenDaveKids

My cat is always catching birds and mice but does eat them. often just leaves the innards of the mice and the feet of the birds. I don't like it but hes an animal and thats what they do. I never put food out for birds (for obvious reasons) but hes brilliant at catching them, he had 2 in about 10 minutes last weekend and ate both. I don't think theres a lot you can do, its (IMO) nature and although I dont like it, I do really love him.

JGL

My cat has developed a habit of bringing live birds in, then releasing them to fly around the house... five last week alone ...

withabix

coinxoperated wrote: »

cats are meant to go out. Hence the law allowing them to roam.

There is no specific Law. It is only an inference.

I can guarantee that you won't be able to find a Law which states this or mentions any 'right' for a cat to roam.

Cat owners do however have responsibilities under common law.

Idiot yourself.

KxMx

When you hit a dog with a car you have to report it, when a cat gets hit it's fine for anyone not to report it.

Third party liability within pet insurance- dogs only, not cats as it's recognised cats naturally wander and can't be held accountable in the same way as a dog.

Pet owners and as another poster mentioned, fish keepers have a duty to work together, bells on cat collars and netting on fish ponds etc is as much as each party can be expected to do. When it comes to wildlife ie birds, mice then any responsible cat owner will put a collar on their cat with a bell.

I know it's my cat's natural way but the bell on her collar is my way of trying to minimise the damage. That is they way I have tried to strike a balance.

globetraveller

I think you shouldn't approach your neighbours over this. Your cats will just find another garden to do their hunting. And in any case, how do you know that your cats haven't killed the birds in your own garden or elsewhere? They do tend to bring back any catches to their owners as presents. Your neighbour gets enjoyment from feeding birds and also feeds your cats when you are away. Don't destroy any friendship over what is just nature.

Froom2

Have you tried letting them out only during the daytime, and not at dawn or dusk or night time? I don't know how effective that is, but my mother does that as a matter of course for her cat and seems to think that it's better, and that way he still gets the whole day running around. He's terrible with catching frogs

Cats are known as a huge threat to british wildlife, and it isn't really their fault - just like others have said, it's their instinct sadly and is always going to happen regardless of whether the neighbours feed the birds. I don't mean to be harsh, but the fact is that the neighbours have as much right to feed birds as you do to let your cat enjoy the outdoors :S

Do remember that the birds have the ability to fly and so it is as much their fault that they are caught as it is your cats for catching them
It's a sad fact of life, but I don't think it's worth getting too heated up about either with your neighbours or here.

I grew up with cats that caught their own food, as there were rats and rabbits all over the place, and learned that it's just part of having cats. They weren't allowed inside so we rarely got presents on the kitchen floor unless they snuck in. The worst time was finding a baby rabbit running around the drive with a broken leg, and the cat watching it and playing with it. We put the rabbit out of it's misery but let her keep it to eat (only other option - giving it to maggots.. so why not let the cat keep it).

Every creature eats and plays and this is part of what a cat does too.
I hope no one takes offence to what I've written :S

~Froom~

krlyr

Buckslad wrote: »

Its been mentioned to them and one got chucked back over the fence in anger the other week for them to pick up for a change (petty i know but we were so fed up and upset)

I think we need to sit down with her and explain just how many birds are being killed and she can have that conversation with the husband. Failing that we will just throw all of the bodies back over the fence:( Thank you.

Why should it be your neighbours' problem if your cats are killing birds? They are completely within their rights to feed wild birds in their own garden if they wish. Yes, it's an inconvenience but if you choose to let your cats roam free, you effectively choose to accept the consequences. You chose to own cats, you chose to let them roam free, no where in that scenario should the neighbours have to suffer for your decisions.
If you were my neighbour and did something as petty as that then you would certainly find yourself without a handy catsitter, and probably being reported to the local police for throwing dead animals into my garden!

Caroline_a

Pros and cons on both sides of the argument here, but just to say I stopped feeding birds when we discovered that the rats were helping themselves.... we didn't have rats before! (and they've moved on since)