How Do You Stop a Cat from Eating Lizards?

I do appreciate the concern about our ecosystem, and I do know that feral cats are a problem, but the only piece I think is missing is that a lot of 'common' pests are invasive species to begin with. Half the lizard species in Florida are not natural to FL. As a matter of fact, its against Florida law for a resident to NOT kill Cuban frogs. Of course, no cop is gonna come knocking on your door for letting that frog hop away... Bit my point is if we are going to be upset about the imbalance of our natural ecosystem, we should know if the animals we're concerned about aren't part of the problem themselves.

itsalwayssunny said:

I do appreciate the concern about our ecosystem, and I do know that feral cats are a problem, but the only piece I think is missing is that a lot of 'common' pests are invasive species to begin with. Half the lizard species in Florida are not natural to FL. As a matter of fact, its against Florida law for a resident to NOT kill Cuban frogs. Of course, no cop is gonna come knocking on your door for letting that frog hop away... Bit my point is if we are going to be upset about the imbalance of our natural ecosystem, we should know if the animals we're concerned about aren't part of the problem themselves.

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This is very good information however this thread is several years old and the last post was over 2 years ago.  It is unlikely that the poster will respond.

Coco Maui said:

 
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I don't want to start a fight about this - I love cats and could not live without them. I just want to promote awareness of the impact our cats make. when I read "my cat brings in two lizards a day", I am horrified at that impact times how many million??

I could go outside right now and see about 100 lizards if I started counting them. They are definatly not endangered here in South Florida. I would rather my cat be able to go outdoors in my screened in back porch and enjoy the weather than worry about a couple of lizards. (I do try to stop her when I see her going after one.)

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They are everywhere in my area of Florida also (southern central Florida). My daughter is a student at UCF in Orlando and there are lizards EVERYWHERE. They have no fear of humans and because of that are getting themselves killed by getting stepped on or by bikes and skateboards. Cats are the least of their problems and there are a lot of cats on campus also. From what I hear, students leave them behind when they go home.  

Lizards are only active during the day sooo if you keep your cat in during the day and maybe allow to go outside in the evinings

My cat luckily hasn't eaten a lizard yet, though i do worry about it. He simply rips their arms and legs off and lets them die a slow agonizing death. It's disturbing and sad, especially because i love lizards, they eat bugs and aren't as scary as spiders. I have been trying to train him not to catch them by simply giving him the cold shoulder when he gets one and when he catches something else like a bird or mouse i shower him in pets and love and extra treats and even soft food. I'm a firm believer in positive reinforcement and only discipline when absolutely necessary. Boot is a hunter i would never try and change that fact, though i will try my hardest to manipulate him into preferring one prey over another.

martyR said:

I would do everything you can to prevent this killing. some things I do are:  a collar with multiple bells
 

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Many years ago back when we were living in England, our first (Siamese) cat was called William and we had him from a kitten. When he was about 14 months old William started showing an interest in the birds on our bird feeding table. Accordingly we belled him.  William did not like being belled.   On that very afternoon; there, on our front door mat was the head, only the head, of a Robin Redbreast.

With kind regards,

Geoffrey

Gray lizards must be really tasty!

Both of our cats have bells and it doesn't seem to stop them catching and killing mice. I've never seen them catch a bird, but that's not to say they haven't.

While I agree that the cat population has probably risen to an 'unnatural' proportion than it would be if they weren't domesticated. I also suspect that they are now doing the job that other predators would have been doing, if we hadn't culled their numbers by building houses/farms etc.

We do rescue and release any animals that we notice our cats playing with, but we have to rescue more birds that stun themselves by flying into our windows, even though we have those big stickers on them that you get to remind children there's a glass door there. 

I don't know about lizards, but to prevent your cat from catching birds, you can try the birdbesafe.com product which claims that songbirds can detect cats when they wear bright collars. I just bought one so we will see. My only worry is that it makes my cat more visible to predators, but their FAQ addresses this and says that dogs are colorblind (for the most part) and other predators are attracted to movement so collar won't affect them.

Good Luck to birds and lizards. They don't stand a chance with my fierce one, but I'm trying everything. Next, I have to research bunnies and hawks, two others that live in danger with our kitty around.

birdsbesafe.com

I misspelled it.

We bought one of these for our cat:  <http://www.birdsbesafe.com/>

He didn't seem to notice the collar (did not seem uncomfortable in any way), he looked rather adorable (although perhaps not his intended sleek hunter image), and the twice-a-week lizards deposited in our hallway trickled down to less than once a month.  (Reptiles apparently also see color.)  The problem with bells is that cats can hear them, and learn to move silently in spite of the bell-- I HAVE seen a bird take off in response to the sound of the bell just before my cat pounced, but he is also really good at moving without the bell ringing.  The cats can't see the collars, though, so they can't compensate for the warnings they give.