Does your cat hunt - and how do you deal with it?

I know some people keep their cat as a purely indoors pet and so those should (hopefully) not be presented with the chance to hunt anything other than an occasional spider, but what about the cats that go outside?

Obviously hunting is a totally natural drive in cats and if they see possible prey they are going to instinctively try to catch it and should never be punished. On the other hand a cats natural behaviour can seem cruel to us especially when they don't kill straight away.

Does your cat hunt? Do they present you with dead things? Or do they bring live prey home and continue to play with it? How do you handle it? Do you wish you could stop it?

I don't have a cat anymore, but I always loved cats,, and have a cat for almost all of my life. Some were hunters; others were not, and would not catch a mouse if you put it in front of them. One cat in particular hated mice, and he would run away of he even saw a mouse !
We had one beautiful blue Maltese cat back when the kids were little and we lived out in the country, and that cat was the best hunter that I have ever seen ! Grey would go out hunting and come home dragging a fat ground squirrel (gopher) that was almost as big as she was.
When Grey had a litter of kittens, she would hunt mice, birds, and gophers for them to eat all of the time, and that kept her busy all the time between feeding the kittens and hunting for rodents for them to eat.
Basically, I have no problem with a cat that wants to go out and hunt rodents. I don't like mice anywhere near the house, and having a few cats around goes a long way towards solving that problem. Farmers and ranchers will always have several cats out in their barns, and most feed stores also have a cat that sleeps in the back room and watches over the grain bins.

(10-16-2014 01:06 AM)Happyflowerlady Wrote:  I don't have a cat anymore, but I always loved cats,, and have a cat for almost all of my life. Some were hunters; others were not, and would not catch a mouse if you put it in front of them. One cat in particular hated mice, and he would run away of he even saw a mouse !
We had one beautiful blue Maltese cat back when the kids were little and we lived out in the country, and that cat was the best hunter that I have ever seen ! Grey would go out hunting and come home dragging a fat ground squirrel (gopher) that was almost as big as she was.
When Grey had a litter of kittens, she would hunt mice, birds, and gophers for them to eat all of the time, and that kept her busy all the time between feeding the kittens and hunting for rodents for them to eat.
Basically, I have no problem with a cat that wants to go out and hunt rodents. I don't like mice anywhere near the house, and having a few cats around goes a long way towards solving that problem. Farmers and ranchers will always have several cats out in their barns, and most feed stores also have a cat that sleeps in the back room and watches over the grain bins.

Your story reminds me of the best hunter cat I ever had the privilege to know (and knowing him was a privilege - he was an exceptional cat). He was a big un-neutered tom, black body white paws and nose (that quite common pattern that almost the reverse of Siamese colouring) and belonged to my landlady when I was much younger. His crowning success hunting was to take a seagull on the wing down - they are big aggressive birds and awesome fliers and with wings the same size as him. He had led up in bushes next to grass and waited until a flock were grazing before charging and leaping onto one. I have never seen anything like it and never known another cat attempt it.

I agree cats can be good for avoiding or reducing rodent problems - although I think I would be removing less field voles if the cats did not keep bringing live ones in. We do sometimes get rats around here (close to farms and allotments) but I wish the cats would not tangle with them as a wild rat can seriously injure a cat. If someone has a problem with rats I recommend terriers rather than cats as there is less risk to the pet.

So, I know this will sound a bit silly but yes my younger cat hunts....toy mice!!! He is an indoor cat and really never goes outside other than our enclosed back porch. I bought him those small toy mice and he loves them. It is so funny to watch because I honestly think he thinks their real. He does exactly what an outside cat does, I'm sure!!!

We get a kick out of watching him. Such a good hunter!!!

Danyel

My female cats like to hunt, but my male cats are lazy and have no interest in hunting. They like to do more napping and lounging around the yard. My lady cats like to get birds and they even got some bunnies this weekend. They found little bunnies and left them in my backyard. That was pretty traumatic for me. I try to make sure that they are well fed, but they still have that desire to hunt.

Ella, my young one (-1 year) caught a mouse a few days ago. As far as I am aware, that was her first kill larger than a bug. We've been living near our land up north during the spring, summer and fall for the past few years and, last year, we spent the winter up north to, so our house has been empty for a while. Subsequently, it seems that a mouse decided that it might be save to come on in.

There is a small hole in one wall, along a heater pipe leading from the main part of the house to the library, which also serves as an entryway, as it is usually unheated. Apparently that's where the mouse came in.

I walked in the room, I guess, just as she saw it, because I saw her scramble up against the wall by the heater pipe. I thought she was batting a toy around, then I saw that it was a mouse. She killed it almost instantly.

Meanwhile, our two older ones, who are twin (24 y/o) sisters, have never hunted. In another place we lived, Cutie glanced over at a mouse that had come in the house once, and then turned away, uninterested. Her sister, Lydia, caught a bird outdoors once, but then decided that catch-and-release was the way to go. She covered the bird with both her paws, held it there for a moment, then released it and watched it fly away.

I guess that puts paid to the idea that hunting in instinctive in cats then lol. No doubt it they are alone and starving most cats are perfectly able to catch their own food but as several have demonstrated on here not all hunt just for the sake of hunting and some will release catches. I just wish my lot would find somewhere else to release rather than my front room.

I think that it does make a difference whether the cat is hungry, and also whether the mother cat has taught the kittens to hunt. So, if the mother was a house cat and never hunted, and then you have a kitten, and it never learns to hunt; it might not have that hunter instinct.
Some cats just seem more inclined to hunt than others, in any case, and I have had cats that would actually run away if they saw a mouse !
One cat that I had just loved catching anything, and he would track down those little lizards with the bright blue tails----- those little rascals are FAST ! ! But he also went after birds, and when I was fishing and landed a fish, he grabbed it as fast as I got it off of the hook, and ate it. That cat just loved fresh fish.

Here is a cute video of a cat that just loves birds, and is not a hunter at all....

http://youtu.be/sumn6flhNtg