Cats killing birds

Roanmore

Hi.

We got 2 kittens about a year ago, lovely guys, neutered, different personalaties but loveable.

However in the last 5 days they have killed 3 birds between them and it's upsetting us. We had a female cat for 11 years and she never went near birds, she us to sit and watch as they'd feed in the garden sometimes around her.

Is there anything that can be done to stop them (might sound stupid as it's probably in their nature)? They are well fed so they can't be hungry.

We thought about putting collars on them with bells to warn the birds but out beyond our garden are some wil bushes and trees where they roam and we're afraid they might catch the collars in them.

MrWalsh

You can get breakaway collars so if they get caught they pull apart easily.

twomonkeys

Get snap-off safety collars (not the ones that have stretchy elastic that call themselves 'safety collars'). Most collars come with a bell already attached. When my cat was younger I attached a second bell to the collar too, it cut down the number of kills quite a bit. Be prepared to replace these collars regularly if theres a lot of bushes/branches nearby.
Be warned, your cats are young and agile so a bell wont stop the kills completely. Its entirely natural for them to hunt, some cats do, some dont bother.

mymo

You can reduce the bird kills by keeping them in at certain times, Dawn and dusk are most obvious, also just after heavy rain or bad weather. (Birds will be hungry and looking for food and I find that's when mine were catching them)
I do this and mine rarely catch birds now, I don't put on collars either as one of mine was going through 5 or 6 collars a week and I found another cat hanging from a tree by one of those snap safety collars, lucky she could get her paws on other branches but I had an awful time getting her down.

pwurple

Oh it's really nice to hear a cat owner also caring for native wildlife! Good on you!

This is one of the worst times of year for bird kills as well. They are getting fledglings and immature birds, as they are easy targets and can't fly as well as adult birds yet.

Keep a closer eye on them from April to July.

aaakev

How about doing the responsible thing and keeping them in?? Problem solved

MrWalsh

aaakev wrote: »

How about doing the responsible thing and keeping them in?? Problem solved

Because that would be cruel to the cats.

aaakev

MrWalsh wrote: »

Because that would be cruel to the cats.

Ah come off it plenty of cats live perfectly happy lives without going outside. You ether accept your cat will kill native birds and just let them roam free or keep them in of you genuinely care and dont want them doing it. Its simple

kylith

MrWalsh wrote: »

Because that would be cruel to the cats.

It'd be less cruel to the cats than it currently is to the birds, wouldn't it?

MrWalsh

aaakev wrote: »

Ah come off it plenty of cats live perfectly happy lives without going outside. You ether accept your cat will kill native birds and just let them roam free or keep them in of you genuinely care and dont want them doing it. Its simple

Meh, some do, some prefer to go outside - depends on the cat.

MrWalsh

kylith wrote: »

It'd be less cruel to the cats than it currently is to the birds, wouldn't it?

Well its nature. Nature is red in tooth and claw and all that.

Cats kill birds. Birds kill other birds. Birds kill worms etc....

kylith

MrWalsh wrote: »

Well its nature. Nature is red in tooth and claw and all that.

Cats kill birds. Birds kill other birds. Birds kill worms etc....

But pet cats aren't 'nature'. Birds kill other birds and worms, insects, etc. because they need to in order to eat and survive. A pet cat has no such need; it kills for fun, reducing the number of native songbirds in the process. They are non-native, well-fed, killing machines.

MrWalsh

kylith wrote: »

But pet cats aren't 'nature'. Birds kill other birds and worms, insects, etc. because they need to in order to eat and survive. A pet cat has no such need; it kills for fun, reducing the number of native songbirds in the process. They are non-native, well-fed, killing machines.

I meant its IN their nature. Its what they do. Cats kill birds.

Im not really interested in a big debate on it tbh. If you can stop your pet cat killing bird then thats great, if not, its not a good enough reason to confine a cat who is used to outdoors imo.

Cats are cats, they do cat things. Its not a very solid scientific answer but Im tired and its friday afternoon.

kylith

MrWalsh wrote: »

I meant its IN their nature. Its what they do. Cats kill birds.

So do dogs, but we curb that and keep them confined. I doubt if anyone would look at a roaming dog taking down ducks and shrug it off as 'nature'.

MrWalsh wrote: »

Im not really interested in a big debate on it tbh. If you can stop your pet cat killing bird then thats great, if not, its not a good enough reason to confine a cat who is used to outdoors imo.

Fair enough, and it's an argument that regularly goes round and round. I'd have to disagree though, I think that protecting our wildlife is a good reason to not allow cats to roam.

OP, there are various bells, bibs and collars that can help warn birds of your cat's approach. Otherwise, if you really want to make sure they can't harm any other animals, you can keep them confined to your house, or in a cat enclosure in your garden, or you can remove cover they can hide in in your garden and put up a cat fence so they can't wander and hunt elsewhere.

MrWalsh

kylith wrote: »

Fair enough, and it's an argument that regularly goes round and round. I'd have to disagree though, I think that protecting our wildlife is a good reason to not allow cats to roam.

I agree that protecting our wildlife is good also but I love my cats and they love to go out.

Mind you neither of them are interested in killing wildlife, Maisey did bring a dead bird to me once but I think she found it dead as she is too fat and lazy to bother going after one.

I might feel differently if I had a cat who was out hunting wildlife regularly.

SpaceTime

The issue is as much humans as cats. They've been part of our households for at least 90,000 years as companion animals.

The biggest threat to birds is a combination of intensive agriculture, gardening and urban spread removing their sources of food : insects, seeds and berries.

If you want to protect bird life, diversify your garden and leave plenty of leaf litter for insects!

Pumpkinseeds

Humans cause far more destruction to bird and other wildlife than any other species on the planet.

Roanmore

Hi,

OP here. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, didn't mean to turn this into a cat vs bird thread.

I'll get the breakaway collars. Keeping them in the house isn't really an option as we have them a year now and they are use to the outside. When we got them from the sanctuary they were already use to the outdoors.

I suppose what has shocked us is how sudden it happened. They showed no interest up until the last few days.

DBB

This seems like just the right moment to close this thread, so that we don't have yet another circular argument on this topic.
Thanks,
DBB