Well we have been sitting wondering why Coco kitten was under the kitchen table growling at the girls :rolleyes:

She has had her first kill A ickle field Mouse I thought it was a catnip toy as she was having alot of fun :D

Anyway Mike has retrieved it even though Coco was still growling :D

Mike is very proud as the reason why he wanted them was to produce good mousers :D

I can see trouble ahead :D

WHERE is the Picture :o :) :) :)
Lea :)

Will get the photo sorted tomorrow ! :D

:-D  Wait until they start bringing in the half dead and even alive ones in!

I've had a few of those! :rolleyes: One of my cats even brought in a live bird once it was amazing, I could hear this tweating at the bottom of the stairs and there stood my male tabby with something in his mouth, anyhow I got to the bottom of the stairs and he had a tiny bluetit,  I asked him to drop, (didn't expect him to :-P ) but he did and the bird was completley unharmed, it was of course in complete shock and just sat on my hand for 10 minutes, I then took it outside and perched it on one of my trees, it sat there for an hour whilst I kept the cat in, and then just flew away perfectly ok. :-)

Can't tell you how many times I've opened my front door though and found a headless Thrush, obviously a lovely, thoughtful breakfast for me. :-D Which I decline. :-D

i have 2 year old feline sisters! they are completly mad! 
we back onto a lake and miles of fields that are full of wildlife!
we have kept a tally of the killings since may !
47 voles! adult and babies
54 field mice all headless!
1 mole (baby)
17 birds of various breeds and sizes...!
our back garden is like the killing fields
we put all the dead bodies on the compost as i have a Lab that likes to eat the bodies!!!!!

I thought you weren't meant to put "meat" on the compost?

its really just a heap behind the garage! it doesnt get put anywhere its just where we put the grass after we have mowed the lawn! and thrown the peelings! i dont suppose that the bodies stay there long though as something will come along and eat them im sure!

>something will come along and eat them im sure!

Yes. Rats.

At a risk of being shot down, (Thick skin it's OK !) and not being a cat owner, how do you feel about what your cat kills. They seem to destroy an awful lot of wild song birds. I have a front garden which is very secluded, (My house is back to front!) My front garden is out of bounds to the dogs and I have my bird feeders their, no road runs past it and it is a haven for the birds. I have many and varied species come to visit me and I also seem to be the local cat butchers as there can be up to three or four lurking about after the birds. My feeling are that I would like to stop them and to this end I keep a squeezy bottle full of water to hand to try and discourage the most persistent cats. I do understand that cats are more "Natural" in their habits that dogs but feel they do a lot of harm to the bird population. Any thought from you cat lovers/owners on how to cut down on the killing without stopping my enjoyment of watching the birds?
Aileen

Collars with bells.  Though need to be replaced reguslry and be elasticated.

I put cat bells on the dogs collars too, gives the bunnies a chance :)

I think my neighbors may find it quite strange that I am out fitting their cats with bells on their collars ! I need things that I can do to discourage them...many have bells but they don't seem to work, maybe they are too quiet...could try cow bells I suppose!!

A friend who breeds pigeons has a sonic cat deterrent on his pigeon hut roof - what about one of them? I should say though it doesn't seem to work for all cats, it's got rid of most of them but one very determined cat actually sleeps next to the device

Looks like this sort of thing.

As much as I love my cat Daisy, I hate it when she kills birds and mice, especially the babies
I miss not being able to put a bird feeder out in my tree.

Any thought from you cat lovers/owners on how to cut down on the killing without stopping my enjoyment of watching the birds?

Yes. All cats should be kept indoors and/or have a secure fully wired run to go into, never left to roam -it's as irresponsible and unnecessary as letting dogs roam.Quite apart from the birds, it's much, much safer for the cats. :)

I am still not convinced unless anybody has proper proof that domestic cats are soley repsonsible for the decline in the bird population. I would assume it is more down to destroying their natural habitat (new buildings etc), polution, global warming ?

Also I think that keeping cats inside and in runs is not necessarily the 'right' way to keep cats although have no real problem about it . Cats are preditors and thrive on hunting and being outside so it is not repressing natural behaviour IMHO :)

If they keep the mice population down I will be very happy :)

Lucy
xx

im with you Lucy!
it doesnt bother me that my cats are being normal cats and doing what they are born to do!
my cats are in at the moment as i like them in at night,  but i have just gone outside and there are 2 fieldmice on my step! it doesnt bother me at all in fact picking them up and disposing of them is just like cleaning up after my kids its second nature!
if i dont let them out they make more noise than a formula 1 car! until i give in...
As for rats taking the bodies away again im not fussed i live in the country and any wildlife is welcome in my garden dead or alive! well its only fair seeing as i have 2 tame rats living in the kitchen!(in a cage i hasten to add!) The cats would never take Ronnie and Reggie on though as they are scared of them.....
I do however object to next doors pigeons pooing on my washing! now if i could only persuade my cats to aim higher!

keeping the rodent population down is one thing, but the song birds is quite something else :(  shame we can't persuade them to discriminate.

i agree about the little birds but most of the ones they bring home didnt even have feathers! so they are quite lazy and just pinch them out of their nests!!!
but then we have a family of Buzzards living in the field next door that are always killing and noone makes a fuss about them...

You can't compare a wild buzzard with a domestic cat. The buzzards only kill to eat, and in fact a buzzard will eat a lot of roadkill too. Your cats are killing for the fun of it. Not that I think you can stop that, at least if they have bells on their collars the birds have a chance :)

my cat kills to eat, which is why she doesnt bother with birds, there isnt enough meat on them and the feathers are a nuisance ;)

We have lots of buzzards around here and I've never seen them on roadkill, I always see them in the middle of fields, in trees or a vantage point, its the crows that eat roadkill around here and a couple of skanky Munsters!

The diminishing song bird population is mainly due to the environmental changes, the loss of natural habitat, food sources etc.    In France some migrating birds are viewed as delicacies and caught in nets...so you could blame the French too!

Thats because the buzzards will carry the roadkill away to eat it Christine :) I've occasionally see one early in the morning picking up a squashed rabbit and carrying it off.

i am off to France in the morning! last time i went they had sparrows that loked like they had eaten a tennis ball!  they couldnt fly they were so fat!
they just sat around the shopping trollies and walked away when approached!
my cats would probably leave them alones there is no fun in prey that doesnt move!!