Collar for a hunter 15 January at 1:08AM in Pets & Pet Care 11 replies 252 views

Kim_kim

My Burmese (just over 1), has so far brought home a dead mouse (well it was dead when I caught him with it), a live mouse (he was still in torture mode) & today a large black dead crow 🤮
He needs a collar & bell doesn’t he. 

Any tips on a super noisy collar & bell.  Apparently some cats can learn to stalk & silence the bell & he is very very clever. 

Or any tips as to how I can persuade him not to hunt and bring home trophy’s? 

MovingForwards

If you do go down the collar and bell route, make sure the collar is a slip one or one which unclips if caught on something.

Cats hunt, it's what they do. If you don't want that to happen keep your cat inside or re-home him, otherwise it's a case of accepting it happens.

Silvertabby

You won't stop him hunting.  It's in his DNA.

If you do buy him a collar, please ensure that it's a rapid release version (ie, snaps open if he catches the collar on a tree branch etc).

Robin9

Can I borrow him?  Mine do a lot of sitting and watching and occasionally chasing unsuccessfully. 

KxMx

Yes do stay away from the "safety" elastic collars which are quite dangerous. 
Needs to be a buckle quick release.
Random example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/nuoshen-Adjustable-Collars-Reflective-Domestic/dp/B07ZKMPB3D

I'd also recommend keeping a supply at home for when he comes in without a collar

Jenni_D

Or ...... be thankful that he loves you so much and accepts you as part of his family?

hb2

My cat is a prolific hunter and has never kept a collar on - never mind one with a bell! I don't mind the mice, dead or alive, but would rather he left the rats and squirrels outside.

Kim_kim

Jenni_D said:

Or ...... be thankful that he loves you so much and accepts you as part of his family?

I’m not sure I believe that.
The first dead mouse he was mauling its dead body in the hall way (outside my bedroom) making a racket.  

The second dead mouse he was playing with not giving to me.
The crow he left on my bedroom floor 🤮 I was out for a couple of hours and came home to it - god knows how he got that through the cat flap! 

None of them have been “presented” to me, not that I want them.
He brings them home to play with in comfort.  

Kim_kim

KxMx said:

Yes do stay away from the "safety" elastic collars which are quite dangerous. 
Needs to be a buckle quick release.
Random example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/nuoshen-Adjustable-Collars-Reflective-Domestic/dp/B07ZKMPB3D

I'd also recommend keeping a supply at home for when he comes in without a collar

Thank you I bought 3 grey reflective snap off type collars, with a bell.  

Pollycat

Kim_kim said:

Jenni_D said:

Or ...... be thankful that he loves you so much and accepts you as part of his family?

I’m not sure I believe that.
The first dead mouse he was mauling its dead body in the hall way (outside my bedroom) making a racket.  

The second dead mouse he was playing with not giving to me.
The crow he left on my bedroom floor 🤮 I was out for a couple of hours and came home to it - god knows how he got that through the cat flap! 

None of them have been “presented” to me, not that I want them.
He brings them home to play with in comfort.  

My (now departed and much missed) last cat was a farm kitten and was quite wild.

He was a prolific hunter - generally fur rather than feathers - and always brought his catch home, he hunted in various fields and allotments quite close to home.

He would yowl at the back door until he'd got my attention and then he'd eat what he caught.

All of it apart from some internal organ (maybe bile duct...?)

I took that as a sign he was bringing me gifts.

He didn't play with his victims as far as I could see, they were always dead when he got  them home.

Apintplease

We have a hunter and he has learned how to get the collars off so we have given up on them

Living on farmland we get mice and voles brought home a lot - maybe up to 3 a day. Some we rescue and set free, others are just remains before we find them. The worse are the ones that escape the cat and then get under the kickboards in the kitchen because we have no option but to bait traps

Hubby leaves on of his work boots lying on its side, smart mice make for that and the cat cant get them

Best one of all was we were sat eating dinner looking out over the garden and fields, when Timmy came flying over the garden and straight through the cat flap - with a rabbit. Still alive and freed to live another day

Worse are the birds, they are usually too injured to make it even if we get to them whilst alive