any way to stop cats bringing me "presents"?

i have two cats, the eldest is very docile and has never killed anything. the youngest started bringing mice into the house, but now he's moved up and yesterday brought in a whole pigeon! the bird was bigger than him!
so is there any way to stop him bringing them in the house? i know it's a long shot but any tips would be great
cheers guys

 

Not really. Your best bet is to not allow him inside the house with his prey anymore. Try to condition a habit into him of leaving the prey outside. For example, when he comes up to the door and has prey in his mouth, don't open the door. Wait until he drops it and doesn't have it in his mouth and then let him in. If you start to open the door and he picks it back up, close the door. This will take lots of time and patience but eventually he will understand that in order to get in the house he must not have anything in his mouth. It is worth a try.

Another thing you can do to help encourage him to leave the prey outside is to offer a treat that he really likes, don't give it to him until he puts the prey down. He will have to, anyway, in order to eat it. Then give him another piece leading him inside so that he is so busy going after treats he leaves the prey outside.

Depending on your cat, it may be necessary to allow the prey to remain where he left it, if you can bear to do so. If he goes back for the prey when he goes back outside only to find it missing it may discourage him from agreeing to leave it outside. Gross, I know, but at least he won't be bringing it into the house.

 

get a dog..

 

Put a collar with a bell on it round his neck, the pray will hear him coming.

 

my friend today asked me why my dog jingled? and i said dont you wanna hear him coming? .. And he said"oh, yeah I get it now"...

 

Aww I like your dog

And, I like you friend

 

Cats bring "gifts". That's how it works. They must love and respect you. I remember once running round my garden shaking my cat like fuck so she would drop the still alive mouse she had in her mouth. Luckily it lived to fight another day. Lilyrayne's right, at least if you can get the cat to realise that leaving the gift on the porch is ok, it's a step in the right direction. At least your getting the whole animal, I used to just get the intestines. Not a pretty sight. And if they had been deposited a few hours before I was aware of them they would be practically welded to the doorstep.

 

My cats are not allowed outside lest they become prey to the hungry coyotes that are lurking in the woods across the street. The little one is too afraid to go out anyway, and the older one just wants to eat and sleep.

 

:grouphug:..

 

good idea however we have a cat flap and our cats come and go as they please during the day! and we usually come home to find the dead things have been there for a few hours :ack2:

orison your dog's gorgeous

i never thought of this thanks! we've been wary of putting collars on them cos of worries of getting caught on something, but i think you can get quick release latches or something.

etherea, that sounds horrible. when i was little we had greyhounds and on a walk one caught a baby rabbit and my mum was trying so hard to get it out of his mouth. he was an ex racing dog so it was his instinct. but yeah baby rabbit lived another day

thanks everyone, very helpful

 

Actually the latest article I read on the subject indicates they bring us prey because they think we suck at hunting. It's something mother cats do for their kittens to teach them how to eat when they are weaning. The next step would be you going on a hunt, but until you are ready, the kitty will keep bringing you dead animals hoping you will recognize it as food.

Personally, I thank them with a scratch and pass it off to whomever wants it- outside of course. With six cats in the house, there's always a taker.

 

I don't know that there's a real ethologist consensus on why cats do it- but the best way is to cut down on it is cut down on what they catch- put a bell on their collar.

 

All it took for me to remove the cat flap was being reminded that skunks and 'coons can get in your house...
There was an incident here last summer where these people woke up to a 'coon and two kits shredding their cats.

I had a steel cover plate that I would put over it at night for a while, but that pretty much negated the whole point of the door anyway.
My cats became very depressed and fat without their beloved kitty flap.

I actually adopted a stray once because I was so moved when one morning he brought me three freshly killed mice, all layed out in a perfect row on the back porch. I though it was pretty cool this American short-hair was picking up where my Manx's were apparently slacking at their job as mousers.

ZW