Bells on cats

pwurple

Hi guys, I'm sure most of the cat owners here already do this, but just to remind anyone who doesn't... Can you put a bell on your cats please? I know it is in the cats nature to kill birds, but the native wildlife really isn't able for pets.

Third dead songthrush in my garden this month, saw a cat clobber it as the bird was picking up snails.

ABajaninCork

Personally, I didn't put collars (pretty velvet ones with bells) on my cats. I used to, and tried to make the collar loose enough for them to slip it if needed. Until one day, my neighour told me that one of my cats got caught up in her collar. He tried to free her, but she spooked and made off. Came home from work that evening to find the poor thing on the step with the collar caught up in her shoulder.

So - after that? Collars came off, and never went back on. I'd NEVER put a collar on a cat again.

It's a horrible sight (My tom used to bring 'presents'), but frankly speaking, there is little you can do.

pwurple

How about bibs? Catbibs are supposed to be good as well.

Really disappointing to make big efforts with avoiding pesticides and making the garden as clean and healthy a place for wildlife in the city as I can, and then seeing the native creatures killed by pets which have such an unnatural advantage.

People have suggested keeping a watergun nearby and squirting the cats when I see them as a deterent, but I don't think that would work? Would it? Are cats trainable?

Plus, I don't mind the cats walking on through, exploring or whatever. Just don't want them taking out nests of baby birds, or killing the adults.

ABajaninCork

A water gun would work just fine. I've never used cat bibs, so can't comment.

inocybe

They don't work.

Zapperzy

A water pistol would work. Those catbibs look like an awful contraption and a bit dangerous tbh.

There's two types of quick release cat collars, one has elastic that's supposed to stretch if the cat gets caught and the other has a sort of snap buckle that comes apart when you pull it apart. Personally I don't really like the elastic kind, I think the buckle kind are safer. I wouldn't put them on light kittens as they mightn't have the weight needed to pull them open but an adults weight will easily snap them open. Bit annoying if they constantly come home without a collar but it's a solution to the collar/bell issue.

Pumpkinseeds

I've tried a few different types of quick release collar on our cats and have had too many incidents with paws getting stuck in the collar. We don't have collars on our cats but they are all microchipped. Personally I don't believe in putting a bell on a cat. It must drive them mad having a bell rattling around on them constantly.

We feed the local birds all year round and we also leave fresh water out for wildlife. 1 of my cats kills birds from time to time, I don't like it at all but cats are preditors and killing is what they are designed to do. I don't mean to sound cruel or dismissive, I know that you have good intentions. That being said, mankind does far more damage to wildlife through things like pesticides, intensive farming, pollution and the amount of countryside that has been destroyed to build housing on.

rannerap

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Personally, I didn't put collars (pretty velvet ones with bells) on my cats. I used to, and tried to make the collar loose enough for them to slip it if needed. Until one day, my neighour told me that one of my cats got caught up in her collar. He tried to free her, but she spooked and made off. Came home from work that evening to find the poor thing on the step with the collar caught up in her shoulder

So - after that? Collars came off, and never went back on. I'd NEVER put a collar on a cat again.

It's a horrible sight (My tom used to bring 'presents'), but frankly speaking, there is little you can do.

You can get safety collars that pop open easily to prevent things like that happening. I only use them on my two

Capercaille

Sarannewrap wrote: »

You can get safety collars that pop open easily to prevent things like that happening. I only use them on my two

My fellow has a quick release collar on my fellow as well. He loses it every couple of months. I put extra bells on it. Generally one bell is not loud enough. These are the extra bells which I use:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collar-Safety-Chrome-Buckle-Shopmonk/dp/B00I089V7M/ref=sr_1_3/277-9895066-6126353?ie=UTF8&qid=1406479042&sr=8-3&keywords=bells+for+cats

Capercaille

inocybe wrote: »

They don't work.

Bells on Collars reduce the amount of kills. Has been proven in research.

pwurple wrote: »

Third dead songthrush in my garden this month, saw a cat clobber it as the bird was picking up snails.

Juvenile Blackbird. The cat is probably targeting the entire family of young Blackbirds.

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I've tried a few different types of quick release collar on our cats and have had too many incidents with paws getting stuck in the collar. We don't have collars on our cats but they are all microchipped. Personally I don't believe in putting a bell on a cat. It must drive them mad having a bell rattling around on them constantly.
.

My fellow has 3 bells on his collar. two of them large. It bothered him for half an hour and now he doesn't even notice them.

Pumpkinseeds

Capercaille wrote: »

Bells on Collars reduce the amount of kills. Has been proven in research.


Juvenile Blackbird. The cat is probably targeting the entire family of young Blackbirds.


My fellow has 3 bells on his collar. two of them large. It bothered him for half an hour and now he doesn't even notice them.

3 bells:eek: That's a Hell of an assumption that the cat is 'targeting the entire family of young Blackbirds'. A fairly outrageous comment to make and the kind of remark that encourages people to harm cats.

monflat

I know of a neighbour s cat who hung himself. By his collar.
Of course by accident but still the risk is there.

Capercaille

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

3 bells:eek: That's a Hell of an assumption that the cat is 'targeting the entire family of young Blackbirds'. A fairly outrageous comment to make and the kind of remark that encourages people to harm cats.

I didn't have a collar on my cat till he was 2 years old. He had a regular collar and it got caught in his mouth on three different occasions. I found out about the quick release collars and he has had them on every since then without any trouble. When he was around 2 (without collar/bells) he systematically caught a entire clutch of Robins. The robins has their territory in the Garden. He was never let out again without a collar with several bells. Cats are ruthless predators make no mistake about it.

pwurple

The young blackbirds I thought had yellow beaks? You're probably right, I'm no bird expert, just know we have a good few nests and a fair amount of bird corpses, and that's just one city garden.

I know it's in the cats nature to kill, I don't hold it against the cats at all, but they are a foreign species with a huge advantage over the native species. If a cat is killing a bird a day, or even one a week, that's hundreds over their lifetime. Just something to reduce it a small bit might be considered. especially as there are not many people left who have any interest in gardening or creating habitats for them (beyond a lawn).

Shame to make the effort creating the environment where the birds are happy and safe to eat the snails etc, and then ending up having to resort to slug pellets because the bird population has dropped and the cabbages are getting savaged.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the problem if the cat's paw gets caught in a collar once in a blue moon? Just release it, no? It's an inconvenience I'm sure, but if it saves hundreds of birds...

I'll get a watergun, for the few weeks I've left on mat leave. Hopefully it will work during that time at least.

Pumpkinseeds

Capercaille wrote: »

I didn't have a collar on my cat till he was 2 years old. He had a regular collar and it got caught in his mouth on three different occasions. I found out about the quick release collars and he has had them on every since then without any trouble. When he was around 2 (without collar/bells) he systematically caught a entire clutch of Robins. The robins has their territory in the Garden. He was never let out again without a collar with several bells. Cats are ruthless predators make no mistake about it.

I have 4 cats, 1 of which is a former feral, so I'm familliar with cat behaviour. I've never used any other form of collar but a quick release safety collar. No collar is 100% safe. We watched one of our cats get his paw jammed in the collar while he was on our bed washing himself, it didn't release and I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't been there to take the collar off.

The fact that your cat killed some robins doesn't mean that every cat will kill every bird it comes into contact with. I appreciate that you don't want your cat killing wildlife so you keep it in, but I don't appreciate wild statements that cats kill every bird they come into contact with, it's just hysteria. My other 3 cats have no interest in killing anything, except toys.

Pumpkinseeds

pwurple wrote: »

The young blackbirds I thought had yellow beaks? You're probably right, I'm no bird expert, just know we have a good few nests and a fair amount of bird corpses, and that's just one city garden.

I know it's in the cats nature to kill, I don't hold it against the cats at all, but they are a foreign species with a huge advantage over the native species. If a cat is killing a bird a day, or even one a week, that's hundreds over their lifetime. Just something to reduce it a small bit might be considered. especially as there are not many people left who have any interest in gardening or creating habitats for them (beyond a lawn).

Shame to make the effort creating the environment where the birds are happy and safe to eat the snails etc, and then ending up having to resort to slug pellets because the bird population has dropped and the cabbages are getting savaged.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the problem if the cat's paw gets caught in a collar once in a blue moon? Just release it, no? It's an inconvenience I'm sure, but if it saves hundreds of birds...

I'll get a watergun, for the few weeks I've left on mat leave. Hopefully it will work during that time at least.

A cat can seriously damage itself by catching a paw in a collar. What cats do you imagine are killing a bird a day? Also, there's no shortage of birds in Ireland, so I won't get too upset about some getting killed by cats. If you want to make a realistic difference don't blame cats, instead do something that's actually productive like campaign against intensive farming, the use of pesticides or maybe the encroachment of towns into the countryside that is destroying habitats.

boomerang

pwurple wrote: »

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the problem if the cat's paw gets caught in a collar once in a blue moon? Just release it, no?

Because most people allow their cat out without supervision, so it can happen out of the owner's sight.

pwurple

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Also, there's no shortage of birds in Ireland, so I won't get too upset about some getting killed by cats.

!!! :eek:

Wow, thought this was a animal lovers forum. That's a bit harsh.

Capercaille

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I have 4 cats, 1 of which is a former feral, so I'm familliar with cat behaviour. I've never used any other form of collar but a quick release safety collar. No collar is 100% safe. We watched one of our cats get his paw jammed in the collar while he was on our bed washing himself, it didn't release and I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't been there to take the collar off.

.

I've never had a problem with the quick release collars. I'm sure some brands would be of better quality than others. I understand that seeing you pet with a collar stuck in it's mouth is a bad experience. It happened my own fellow ( with the conventional collars).

The fact that your cat killed some robins doesn't mean that every cat will kill every bird it comes into contact with. I appreciate that you don't want your cat killing wildlife so you keep it in, but I don't appreciate wild statements that cats kill every bird they come into contact with, it's just hysteria. My other 3 cats have no interest in killing anything, except toys.

Cats are predators. It's in their nature to hunt, cats that would not hunt if given the oppurtunity would be in the miniority. In the UK cats catch up to 55 million birds per year.

Capercaille

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Also, there's no shortage of birds in Ireland, so I won't get too upset about some getting killed by cats. If you want to make a realistic difference don't blame cats, instead do something that's actually productive like campaign against intensive farming, the use of pesticides or maybe the encroachment of towns into the countryside that is destroying habitats.

Birds like Corncrake are on the verge of extinction in Ireland. There are numerous species in danger of extinction in Ireland.

Teyla Emmagan

I don't believe in putting bells on cats. They are predators, it's in their nature to hunt. Putting a stupid noisy bell around their neck just draws attention to them as well, which I don't like. My cat has no collar either, the buckle ones are dangerous and he loses a quick release one inside half an hour. So out he goes, and sadly does bring back his kill at times. But they are only following their instinct and I don't think they should be denied that. The birds will have to take their chances.

Capercaille

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I don't believe in putting bells on cats. They are predators, it's in their nature to hunt. Putting a stupid noisy bell around their neck just draws attention to them as well, which I don't like. My cat has no collar either, the buckle ones are dangerous and he loses a quick release one inside half an hour. So out he goes, and sadly does bring back his kill at times. But they are only following their instinct and I don't think they should be denied that. The birds will have to take their chances.

Cats are not native predators. The "stupid noisy bell" stops them killing or at worst decreases their kills. If you cats are killing birds you should not let them out.

Joeseph Balls

pwurple wrote: »

!!! :eek:

Wow, thought this was a animal lovers forum. That's a bit harsh.

Its a pet lovers forum.

ABajaninCork

Capercaille wrote: »

Cats are not native predators. The "stupid noisy bell" stops them killing or at worst decreases their cats. If you cats are killing birds you should not let them out.

Really? *shakes head*

new old poster

most my childhood was spent looking after sick birds my cat got I often wondered why my mother just did not buy a bell

Teyla Emmagan

Capercaille wrote: »

Cats are not native predators. The "stupid noisy bell" stops them killing or at worst decreases their cats. If you cats are killing birds you should not let them out.

Native predators? Cats have been in Ireland as long as birds have, and mine will come and go as he pleases. Thanks.

DBB

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Native predators? Cats have been in Ireland as long as birds have

I don't know if I have ever had such a jaw-dropping moment, when reading anything on this forum, as when I read this.
You're entitled to your opinion of course, but jesus swept, any justification you can come up with means nowt when you come out with utter nonsense like this!
I genuinely don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Teyla Emmagan

DBB wrote: »

I don't know if I have ever had such a jaw-dropping moment, when reading anything on this forum, as when I read this.
You're entitled to your opinion of course, but jesus swept, any justification you can come up with means nowt when you come out with utter nonsense like this!
I genuinely don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Why? Seriously. Surely we've had cats in Ireland for thousands of years?

Phil_Lives

Nope. cats came to england with the romans or phonecians about 2k years ago. as romans couldn't be bothered to visit Ireland they came to Ireland later. Birds fly so they brought themselves.
Cats are not native.

irish_goat

Bit of reading.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening/unwantedvisitors/cats/birddeclines.aspx

pwurple

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Why? Seriously. Surely we've had cats in Ireland for thousands of years?

First record of cats in the UK was 936.

They are effectively an exotic species here.