Should I get another cat?

Kim_kim

MalMonroe said:

I've owned cats (and loved many others!) all my life and I don't think getting another cat will curtail your cat's hunting. Some cats do love other cats but some cats don't. The cat we have now isn't a lover of other cats. But she's also an indoor cat and has been since we found her as a kitten at the roadside a few years ago. Getting another cat would be great (personally I'd love a houseful) but they could then just end up going hunting together. Which would be great for your cat, twice the fun - but hell for you - more presents. Only get another cat if you really want another cat. Not because you want to stop the cat you have hunting. Having known cats for a long time I can tell you that they rarely 'tire themselves out'. They aren't like dogs. A cat can look deep in sleep yet be awake and alert in just a few seconds if there's any suitable prey around. Another cat in the house won't help your boy use up 'excess' energy because all cats - unless they are ill - have boundless energy. 

I would never have a cat flap again either, smart or not because cats I've had in the past brought creatures in through flaps during the day, as yours does. They were never allowed out after a 10pm curfew but they still managed to bring us presents. Very kind of them but horrifying for us.  We ended up abandoning the flaps and just being a slave to our cats - letting them in and out as they demanded. That way we always knew what was lurking outside. More or less.

Much as I hate to contradict BBC4, playing with cats and replicating stalking with them just serves to hone their skills and doesn't stop them hunting and killing. That's wishful thinking. 

Other than tying your cat to a tree or keeping him in, there's no real solution - and many cats never grow out of a desire to hunt, although one of ours thankfully did. Reflective collars with bells are great but cats learn how to move ultra-stealthily without making their bells ring, somehow - they are not daft animals and won't be curbed by humans.

He’s so clever mine.  He jumped on the recycling bin the other day & set the ring doorbell off!! 

I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the app & there was him staring back at me! 

TripleH

I wouldn't worry about picking on his new sister. If he's like our Burmese male, he's just trying to enjoy being top cat before he is ousted. It might be a Burmese thing as ours are terrible hunters compared to our other two, but what they lack in hunting they make up in flirting.

Kim_kim

TripleH said:

I wouldn't worry about picking on his new sister. If he's like our Burmese male, he's just trying to enjoy being top cat before he is ousted. It might be a Burmese thing as ours are terrible hunters compared to our other two, but what they lack in hunting they make up in flirting.

Well since I’ve had her I’ve had no prey brought home, except the toys of my neighbours children, he still steals them!
He has spent more time at home since I’ve got her, so many it’s just the luck of the time.  

TripleH

Our youngest has a habit of dropping toy rats in the water and food bowls.

Can't work out if she is trying to drown or feed them.

Kim_kim

IKim_kim said:

TripleH said:

I wouldn't worry about picking on his new sister. If he's like our Burmese male, he's just trying to enjoy being top cat before he is ousted. It might be a Burmese thing as ours are terrible hunters compared to our other two, but what they lack in hunting they make up in flirting.

Well since I’ve had her I’ve had no prey brought home, except the toys of my neighbours children, he still steals them!
He has spent more time at home since I’ve got her, so many it’s just the luck of the time.  

I temped fate posting this, he brought a mouse in about an hour after.  It was dead, he’d disembowelled it.