How can I stop my cat killing rabbits?

Yuriy said:

What about a bell? Did you consider a bell attached to your cat? One my colleague suggested this to me, I did not try it yet but going to.

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Welcome to TCS

The thread you are replying to has been dormant for 2 years. Most of the members posting are no longer on here. Please note that the date of the post is in the upper left-hand corner of each post.

While this is a subject that needs discussing currently, older threads don't get many readers.

I urge you to start a thread about your cat, if this is a problem you want to see other member's feedback on.  I also suggest you introduce yourself and your cats in the New Cats on the Block forum.

Have a nice day.

what if my cat was born an outside cat and we made him an indoor cat and we let him play for two days outside and he still attacks bunny's and rabbits

I wish I knew how to stop my cat from killing baby animals.  She, Samantha, was dropped off here, she adopted us, back in Dec. 2014,   It was so cold, so we let her stay.  We love her and she loves inside and outside.  I didn't know she was a hunter but this morning she caught me a baby rabbit and brought it to me as a gift.  I was upset.  The rabbit was not bleeding and was very alert.  It's back legs seems fine but it's front legs or  it's back was hurt;  I think.  So I live about 3-4 minutes from an animal rescue and I took the rabbit to her husband.  I pray it lives.  So, now Samantha can't go outside, no matter how hard she begs.  We have a very large screened in front porch so she can come and go as she wishes there.  I think letting a cat on a screened in porch is fine.  She will be alright.  We are going to build her a climber with a large platform so she can sit at the top and look outside of the screens, get fresh air and Lust" after the baby animals.  LOL.  What else can one do?  We have to protect the baby animals and also protect her from worms.  Cat who eat wild animals get worms.  Tough love I guess. 

Sorry, but all you can do, to protect your cat and baby animals, is screen your porch in and let it sit on a platform and get fresh air, or maybe buy it a nice harness and take it walking outside.   That is what I have to do, starting today. (screened in front porch) LOL.  Use tough love and protect everyone.    Good luck with your baby.

Hi @lovin animals and welcome to The Cat Site!

This thread is pretty old and it's unlikely to get a response from the person who started it.  We'd love to meet you, though.  Would you like to introduce yourself and your kitty in New Cats on the Block?

Every pet I'v ever had was part of my family now that I have 2 cats they are my 4 legged children, I must take care of them and protect them.I look out for them, when I go somewhere I make sure they are inside and safe. When I'm home I let them go out if they want they learned to go for walks with me around the complex or they sit in front of the door. I always go and find them if they are out of site every few minutes to make sure they are OK. They come when I call for them, all this took a lot of time to teach, Like raising children. I didn't get a pet just to open the door and kick them to the curb I had to teach them not to cross the street. It's expensive taking them to the vet. And the thought of loosing them because of my negligence or any reason tears me apart. I've caught them many times with a small bird in their mouth, I take it away from them try to talk to them about it being wrong and try to get their minds on something else they do understand more than we give them credit. Was able to take menny baby birds to wild life preserve So it can be taken care of and live. This is the only way I could think to keep them from killing other critters. Good luck.

Aww... It's just doing what comes naturally. Rabbits are probably really yummy!

Just put a bell on your cat's collar. Eventually the rabbits will hear it and know to hide. My old family cat used to kill way too many birds and it rEALLY solved the problem. 

I have never seen belling a cat work. My cats wear bells on their collars indoors. We rarely hear a bell jingle. Most cats are skilled hunters and quickly learn to balance the bell and make it so it never moves until they pounce, by then it is too late for the animal they're after. Our cats only have jingling bells when they make a mad dash across the house (the reason they wear a bell). 

Outdoor cats will hunt. It is in their nature. Our last cat was an indoor/outdoor cat. She hunted outside and ate her kills all of the time. She lived to be 17 and never had any problems with getting sick from the animals she ate. If you don't want a cat to hunt, the best way is to keep them inside or in a cat enclosure at all times.

NewYork1303 said:

 
I have never seen belling a cat work. My cats wear bells on their collars indoors. We rarely hear a bell jingle. Most cats are skilled hunters and quickly learn to balance the bell and make it so it never moves until they pounce, by then it is too late for the animal they're after. Our cats only have jingling bells when they make a mad dash across the house (the reason they wear a bell). 

Outdoor cats will hunt. It is in their nature. Our last cat was an indoor/outdoor cat. She hunted outside and ate her kills all of the time. She lived to be 17 and never had any problems with getting sick from the animals she ate. If you don't want a cat to hunt, the best way is to keep them inside or in a cat enclosure at all times.

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Simply trying to mention other possible options since she said she didn't want her cat indoors. It worked for my family's cat. Then again, it was a bell that I could hear pretty loud and clear. I wouldn't rule out trying this option because it's pretty easy and low-cost to do and one could simply stop using a bell if it didn't work, and then take more extreme measures like an enclosure.

Rabbits are good food for your cat.  It's the best food he can eat and he knows it.  Nothing wrong with that in my opinion..just gotta test him for parasites.  But I agree that bringing it indoor is gross!  Raw uncooked bones are not harmful to dogs and cats.  He's just being a cat.  It's waaaaay better than eating canned food and/or kibble.

From what I've read online there are bells that are made with two or three bells all attached, so harder to balance out. Maybe those would work?  I think it would be kind of sad to limit a cat from hunting if its outdoors though personally. I really think the eating animals outside kept my cat healthy when I was growing up since she ate very low quality dry food in addition to the animals she hunted outside. 

Also this thread is fairly old so I doubt the OP is still looking for ways to keep the cat away from rabbits. 

Oh didnt notice the date. Hopefully he kept eating good stuff lol.

My Chuck loves to hunt and he leaves somethings behind from a rabbit.  I went out and got a large bell to put on him, he still is successful and getting those rabbits.  I hate that he leaves it by the patio door, because the dogs are all about what he brought home.  I think he brings it home for them, not me!  So the larger, louder bell did not work.  

I used to think that my cats were evil because they would gang up on birds, mice, small rabbits and probably other things that never made it into the house. Once a mouse found it's way into our basement (turned into my son's room and, ping pong and TV room; and neither of them tried to kill it. The mouse ran along the wall and the cats, one at either side, toyed with the mouse for about 40 minutes, until I saved the partially dead mouse and mercifully took care of it.

Both cats were inside cats and we always intended for them to be so but they both dart for the open door and we would have to install a revolving door or some type of double door like in a spaceship to prevent them from becoming outdoor cats. We would literally have to pick up the cats before we left, walk outside and then throw them back inside or they would bolt past us.

Now I find little presents in the house. It used to be a mouse in front of my room, then birds starting popping up, a few days ago it was a bunny.

My wife called me this evening while I was out shopping and cried that I had to come home instantly before the kids came home, because the basement looked like a crime scene out of Law and Order: Bunny Victims, with chunks of rabbit fur here, chunks of fur there, some on this side of the couch, some on the other, fur all around the ping pong table and finally a pretty much scalped bunny rabbit dead in my sons room.

My daughter came home and rushed past us and started taking pictures of everything. Apparently she wasn't upset by the carnage, only for the life of the poor bunny. Either the makings of a sociopath or a forensic pathologist.

After cleaning up the mess, I vowed to buy my cats clown collars, loud bells and only let them out during the day. Ten minutes went by and one of the cats showed up with some kind of small animal with legs. Everybody shrieked.

Maybe I'll dye my cat with glow-in-the-dark ink.

I will have to devise some kind of large enclosure like they are zoo animals.

I'm besides myself.

David

How are they getting inside with their prey? If you have a cat door, lock it. Nobody wants to find bunny bits in their bed!

Think about whether you really want them to stop killing critters. While it is upsetting, it does play a part in pest control. My mom had a cat who killed rabbits on a regular basis. After he died, their neighborhood became overrun with rabbits!

But if you really want to keep them from killing critters, yeah, an enclosure is just about the only option if they won't stay inside. Although a few critters might make their way inside the enclosure. . .

ziegfeldgirl27 said:

My cat is a serious hunter. Ever since the spring, we are getting several rabbits every week. Some are alive, some are dead, and he eats most of them (he eats the whole thing except the tail).

I have quite literally lost count of how many rabbits he has killed. We live next to a big field and every morning I let him outside and he loves it. It must be like a paradise for a cat. He is always at home around 6pm when I come home from work and I keep him indoors until the next morning.

I am getting concerned because he has killed so many, and a couple of times he has brought rabbits back which are still alive and my pet dog has killed them. I am really upset when the dog kills them. And also the way he eats them. How does he eat the skull, etc.? I hear him crunching every last bit of it. But he never eats the white fluffy tail. Would he not choke on the bones?

I cannot consider keeping him indoors full time. That would not be fair on him since he has been going outside since he was a kitten. I have been looking for rabbit toys for him so maybe to get him used to seeing the real ones outside?

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Lucky cat! I wish I could let my cats outdoors so they could stalk the birds they love watching. But I'm too scared to endanger them.

To stop your cat from ending those rabbits, you could send them to me.

Which reminds me of....
Had a friend with a pet snake (I don't know why, but, he did ). Anyway, he got mice at the pet store to feed it. The mice were sold as "reptile/snake food".
For some reason, they got expensive. More expensive than baby pet bunny rabbits.
SO......He started buying those instead of the mice.
After a short while, they figured out what he was doing with the bunny rabbits, and refused to sell them to him any more. In not a nice manner either.
Moral of this story: Just finding that funny means something is wrong with me.

yuriy said:

What about a bell? Did you consider a bell attached to your cat? One my colleague suggested this to me, I did not try it yet but going to.

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THIS ^ may be the best idea yet. Collar with a little bell.