I don't think I can ever forgive her... last week she brought a dead mole up on the front porch. I know that she is only 2, but my other cats are so loving and not hunters. This is very difficult to deal with. I have kept Ladybug in the house since she did it this afternoon and I can't bear to even look at her. I know it's instinct for a cat to go after birds/moles/mice... but it just breaks my heart.

I have cried so much over that little bird today. Will she ever outgrow this? I don't feel like I can trust her outside again without someone watching her. - Mary and Petey

Saying a prayer for the dear little bird that is now in heaven...

awwwwwww Mary, I don't think that's a fair statement. Cats are cats. It is natural for them to hunt. It's hard for a bird lover to deal with that, but such is nature.

If you feel this strongly about it, then perhaps Ladybug needs to be an inside cat. Or when she is outside, have her on a leash.

I'm sorry you are so sad over this. I completely understand why it upsets you and you have a right to be upset. But please, don't blame your kitty.

Thanks Carrie Anne, I'm doing a little better this morning. I know I can't blame her, she's a cat! It's just very upsetting to see her be so murderous.

My children don't know what happened, so they are feeding her and petting her - giving her lots of attention as usual. I still can't go over to her yet. I am thinking that she does need to be an inside cat for now, my heart just can't handle having this happen again. - Mary and Petey

So sorry you had to see a little birdy killed...Also sorry you felt so badly toward your kitty. Sounds like everybody lost in this! (Thank goodness your kids didn't see any of it!) Nature can be so brutal sometimes.

Hope your feelings about kitty will return to what they were before. I'm sure she was only trying to show your family she could be a good "provider", and never dreamed she'd cause such upset.

I'd be cautious about making her an indoor cat, based on her proclivity for hunting, since you have a bird indoors, as well. It might be in your family's best interest to let her remain an outdoor babe, and prevent any indoor tragedy's that might result from keeping her with her prey.

She loves being outdoors too. And, I have to agree, if anything happened to Petey or Heaven like that, I don't think I would ever be the same. It makes me shudder just to think about it.

I do need to do something though. And why would a cat hunt when she gets canned food every night in addition to her dry food? It makes me mad to think she was hunting for fun... - Mary and Petey

No amount of human's idea of food (even gormet...think: lamb and rice?) for a kitty overcomes some kitty's need to show their ability to provide for their family. It might be that your little kitty is preparing herself to be a mommy (instinctively), and/or is providing for you and your family, by bringing food (the real variety) to you.

If we consider the plight of the animals that were killed to provide the canned kitty food, and tried to imagine them whole, I dare say we wouldn't feel so good about the people who make that stuff for us to feed kitty's with either.

Unfortunatly that is the way nature works. It is possible to train your cat to stay away from your indoor birds. I had a cat that used to hunt outside but never went near my indoor birds.
Two of my current cats were strays that had to hunt for their food and I keep them totally indoors and have not had an issue as long as I am cautious.

Try keeping her indoors or maybe on a leash out back for a while and see how it goes.

This is so true - I hadn't even thought of that! - Mary and Petey

So sorry to hear .. no matter how well fed kitty is they have a natural instinct to hunt .. hard to overcome.

When I was a child my Mom had collars with bells on our cats .. It gave the birds a chance to fly away because the bell would ring when the cats would pounce .. Maybe that might help if you can't keep her an indoor cat.

Ah...I'm with Carrie~Anne...that's just a cat being a cat. Please don't stay mad at her for doing what comes NATURALLY to her.



Mary, as a volunteer with cat rescue groups in four different states over the past 9 years, I would HIGHLY recommend that you keep your cats indoors at all times. One of the vet's we worked with in Idaho told us that the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is 4 years, and of an indoor cat - 14. The rescue groups - all four! - I have and currently work with will ONLY place cats with people who promise to keep the cats indoors at ALL times.

There are just too many dangers to allow our beloved cats outdoors...and as you have so sadly learned, cats can BE a danger, too.

Michelle

Well Duh!!! (head-slap!) ...You know, it's always the simple solutions that escape us! That's a wonderful solution, and one my family used when I was growing up! (Guess I'm as silly as my fid! hehehe)

I guess I just assumed they had bells on because all of mine do. Also if you have a name tag and a rabies tag on the collar they make noise too. That is how I know where my cats are.

I am going to try this tomorrow - thanks Dee! She's been an outside cat (like my other 3) ever since we got her from the pound. I do put them all in at night because we have some foxes in our neighborhood that hunt at night. Yikes!

She has always loved being outdoors, and enjoys lying on the front porch in the sun. I would hate to take that away from her.

I am still trying to get over what she did. I think I also feel terribly guilty because I had filled the birdfeeders that morning and our birdbath. Here I am, trying to get birds to come in my yard - and look what my cat did!!! I can't bring myself to snuggle with Ladybug, at least not yet. The memory is just too fresh in my mind right now. - Mary and Petey

I know how you feel. My Whiskers, who passed away 4 years ago, was an avid hunter.

You name it, she dropped it on the front door mat.

She often ran to meet you coming home from work/school and one time was running up the long gravel driveway with a snake in her mouth. STILL ALIVE!!!!

Oh aye, she gave me a merry chase that day.

We raised a few cows for beef back then and often joked that she would take down the calves.

I know it is sad, but I couldnt (nor wanted to ) change Whiskers, all 3 lbs of her. She was a hunter. Period. And perfectly natural.

Now the last half of her life she lived w/ me in apartments, duplexes etc. This was when I came of age and moved out on my own. She was not allowed outside then. That limited her hunting.

When I was a teenager, we had a severe hunting cat. What we did was put a cat collar with a bell on it. She couldn't sneak up on anymore little critters after that.

All it took was coming home from school to find a dead bird on my pillow. YUCK!! After that, the bell went on and the problem was solved.