aaagh! another unwanted gift

Every night my cat brings back a dead mouse/vole/rat/bird and leaves it for us in the morning on the kitchen floor, he used to bring it to the bedroom but we started to close the door at night. I assume Bernard is bringing us gifts as he seems really quite proud of himself and we feel really mean sanctioning him for it. What can we do to stop his nocturnal gifts?

Originally Posted by bumble

Every night my cat brings back a dead mouse/vole/rat/bird and leaves it for us in the morning on the kitchen floor, he used to bring it to the bedroom but we started to close the door at night. I assume Bernard is bringing us gifts as he seems really quite proud of himself and we feel really mean sanctioning him for it. What can we do to stop his nocturnal gifts?

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Hey Bumble...welcome to TCS. I'm assuming your cat has free access outdoors. Yes, these are gifts that he is bringing to you and although I know you don't like it....he will continue to bring them to your door (he is sharing his hunt with you). My family had a cat that was an indoor/outdoor cat and every morning he would bring home a gift....in fact, he was so good at what he did he ran out of the typical gifts in the neighborhood and started to bring home empty plastic flower pots and baggies with the neighbor's daughters barbie clothes.

The BEST way to stop him from bringing home gifts is to restrict him to an outdoor enclosure. He won't be able to get to the birds, voles or rats that he is currently catching. You can set up an outdoor enclosure rather inexpensively:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

The other option is to only allow him outside when you can walk him on a leash or keep him indoors only.

Katie

It is really a huge compliment that he shares with you. We used to have a barn cat who left dh a mouse every night.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

It is really a huge compliment that he shares with you. We used to have a barn cat who left dh a mouse every night.

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Well I have one who is a theif does that mean she doesn't like me, my glasses, lighter, whole packs of cigarettes, mail, and paper money, she takes everything and puts it behind the couch Well maybe she's trying to get me to quit smoking and taking my money so I can't buy anymore cigarettes And my glasses so I can't find what she takes

Originally Posted by halfpint

Well I have one who is a theif

does that mean she doesn't like me, my glasses, lighter, whole packs of cigarettes, mail, and paper money, she takes everything and puts it behind the couch

Well maybe she's trying to get me to quit smoking

and taking my money so I can't buy anymore cigarettes

And my glasses so I can't find what she takes

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WHAT a caring kitty!!

Simba's been known to steal my money, and take it to his little spot, I call Simba's Lair. He doesn't steal anyting else, though. Just my money.

Yep he is sharing his trophy with you. Take it away without making much of a fuss about taking it- he may growl, so be careful. Then give him a nice tasty meaty treat, one he never gets anywhere else. Also realize that he is probably infected with fleas and tapeworms so be sure you call the vet and get the right flea treatment for him as well as Drontal to stop the worm invasion.

We have one cat that spends much of her time outdoors and she is always depositing little gifts, in pieces I might add, on our front porch. Hubby gets the job of disposing of them. Heck I poop scoop so I think it's a fair trade.

Percy leaves me part of his hunt every morning, especially now that the fields are in and prey is so plentiful. I don't complain too much about the mouse innards littering the back porch (ugh), because it's better than knowing the mice are getting into the house! Percy is my mouse-barrier! Besides, if a mouse ever got in here, I'm not sure that Princess Sophie Grace, in all her pampered manners, would know what to do with it! (Sunni never did. If there was a mouse in the house, she followed it around and looked at me like, "Hey, you gonna do something about this?" )

Keeping him in an outdoor encolure is not an option due to lack of a garden, but he has access to huge wild areas so it seems cruel to keep him in after so many years of roaming the countryside.

I guess We'll just have to live with it. I know it isn't nice but if it means so much to him we can put up with it.

Take it as a great complement. He is obviously very attached to you and wants to please you.

I keep my cats indoors at night. Mostly because we get alot of stollen cars joy riding up our road. But it has stopped the nocturnal hunting. Although they still hunt during the day. But thankfully they only choose to do it during the warmer weather. So we get a hunt free winter

I`m glad mine are indoors only!!!!! :-) I`ll forfit the "compliment" thank you anyway!
Linda

Originally Posted by halfpint

Well I have one who is a theif

does that mean she doesn't like me, my glasses, lighter, whole packs of cigarettes, mail, and paper money, she takes everything and puts it behind the couch

Well maybe she's trying to get me to quit smoking

and taking my money so I can't buy anymore cigarettes

And my glasses so I can't find what she takes

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Our car keys disappeared on Thursday evening shortly after getting home. We searched high and low for them, checked bins, driveway, cat-run and everywhere else we could think of - nowhere to be found. Thankfully we had a spare set so weren't too put out. Anyway, on Friday night i was watching tv in the living room. I heard one of the upstairs cat flaps click soon followed my the appearance of Caleb on the outside of the living room door, he pushed the flap open with his paw and then heaved himself through with a bunch of keys in his mouth Needless to say we're being more careful now but there is still a small list of 'missing' items from around the house

Originally Posted by Anya

Take it as a great complement. He is obviously very attached to you and wants to please you.

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Yes, it means he REALLY loves you.

About 20 years ago, I had a cat that brought home a LIVE field mouse. She deposited it on the doorstep of my 2nd floor apartment, where it promptly ran over the edge of the balcony into the bushes below. LOL She looked sooo bewildered.

How about putting a collar with bell on him? It won't stop him hunting but at least the little beasties will hear him coming and have a chance to run. Just make sure it's a breakaway collar so that he can't hurt himself if it gets caught on anything

If you're going to put a bell on him, it's better to have more than one bell (you can buy them separately from pet stores) because most cats can learn how to move without sounding a bell if they've only got one. Especially cats that enjoy the hunt as much as it sounds like yours does!