the sickest thing i have ever had to do

i do not feel guilty about some animals that cats kill that are Introduced species but when they kill native species it sucks.


NOTICe how they always kill the animals we dont want them to kILL? I wish mine were able to deal with the grey squirrels that ccome around but ive never seen a cat catch one! They make my life hell

no way! squirrells have sharp teeth! they could really hurt a kitties paw.

Oh, I don't know about cats only killing the things we don't want them to kill: my own two (indoor) kitties are the only reason we don't have a mouse problem. At my old house, there were four indoor cats and a mouse/vole problem; my boyfriend put traps in our cubby hole (the only place in the house we could be absolutely certain the cats couldn't access), and so for a while we had a competition going to see who could kill the most mice/voles: the traps or the four cats. (The traps won by a narrow margin.) Our cats get a lot of praise and treats for bringing us their kills (or their not-yet-dead victims), because the last thing we want them to do is to find some place to hide them ...

However, while we lived at that place, our roommates had some gerbils (seven or so of them -- the "same sex" pair of gerbils turned out to be male and female, the female got pregnant ... ). We were unaware of the fact that Habitrail is not intended for gerbils (who gnaw on things more so even than hamsters and, apparently, have stronger teeth), so the gerbils escaped. And the cats, being cats, did what cats do best: they hunted and killed the gerbils. I admit, when I first caught Oz with half a gerbil in his mouth, I was pretty disgusted and I had a hard time reconciling my loving, well-fed kitty with the sadistic predator I suddenly perceived him to be. The other cats had always brought me or the other humans their kills, so I wasn't really prepared to see Ozzie in this new light. But I got over it: he's a cat, he did what cats do (and he did it very, very well), and being well-fed had nothing to do with it.

In high school, I had a friend with two indoor/outdoor kitties; the younger cat was an extremely successful hunter. I remember sleeping over at her house one night and waking up to see her fierce huntress kitty sitting in the bedroom window, the butt half of a squirrel hanging out of her mouth ... Good times, good times.

I had a truly awful experience with a half dead baby rabbit... my dog was in the back yard laying over the rabbit and the poor thing was SKINNED and its stomach was sliced open, entrails hanging out. It was sick and very, very sad. I still tell myself to this day that my cat was the sadistic beast who injured that rabbit so badly, and my sweet angel dog just went to check it out!

Anyway, I put my cat right by the 1/2 dead rabbit, hoping nature would take its course because I couldn't stand to see it suffer anymore. Of course, my cat was not interested whatsoever, so I made my hubby kill the rabbit the fastest and most humane way I knew possible...

He put it in a bag and ran it over with my car.

To be honest though Id rather have a hunter/huntress then non hunter because mice and rats ALWAYS seem to sneak their way into houses chewing cords spreading hteir crap everywhere making nests etc.... The cats seem to know when the mice are attempting to make nests because they ALWAYS seem to get caught I do not hate mice and rats as an animal but dont want them around they are horrible nest robbers

That is really gross!! I don't know what my first instinct would be..to shoo my cat away and try and save the bunny..or congratulate the kitty for the victory!! What a weird situation to see.

i have 5 cats live in the country had a bad rodent problem before we got these lovable 5. had another before these but a dog killed her it was only three months we had no cats so the rodents almost took over the oldest of the five geegee is 14 months as of now for about a mile around our place there is no rodents and when one shows up he don't last long. as for rabits i have about 20 cotentails around the place and everynow and then the gang will get one of them. it is normal for them to do this as cats are natural prediters and can turn feral real easy.
as for geegee/tiny/baby/ranger/lovey i don't know what i would do with out them as for why they hunt it is not becaus they are hungry (free fed dry purina along with 9 cans split between them three times a day as soon as they seem to be getting pudgey they will be cut back on the canned food.

Ran over with the car I am not sure I could even do that

I would say to get your cat to the vet immediately after something like this. Chances are pretty up there that your cat was bitten, especially given the circumstances. When a cat is bitten by a wild animal, usually it is something with pretty small teeth, and the bite will close and be covered by hair, so it is hard to see. When the small wound closes, the bacteria from the wild animals mouth start to multiple under the skin, resulting in an abcess infection. If you can get the antibiotic treatment started right away, an abcess should not develope. Please take your cat to the vet.

Recently my ten year old male, Trixer, caught a gopher and killed it. He did not eat it, he just left it there. It had been digging holes in our yard. I was concerned when I saw him drop it, and my first words were "Oh no, i really hope that didnt bite you..." Sure enough, I was right and it did, but I didnt know until a few days later when he had a lump on his cheek. Apparently, trixter caught it by first grabbing it by the head and it bit him inside his mouth! The doctor had to squeeze the abcess, and then he needed antibiotics. If gone unnoticed, an abcess can be fatal from the infection in the body. Hope this helps.

Poor bunny...

Yes, this is shocking. But cats are predators, with very strong instincts. Last fall, my kitten accidentally caught his leg in the leg of a table I have at home, severing his paw in two. It was horrible, and the poor littly thing was howling in horrible pain when I got home after work. His mom did not seem to know what to do. When I liberated the kitten from the table leg, he limped to my bathroom on three legs. While I was making a call to the vet, his mother just went ... to eat, ignoring her kitten completely. I was on shock and very angry at her. But was later told at the shelter (I was their foster mom), that this is instinct and seeing what had happened to the kitten and knowing he was dying, she had to leave him as she could not do anything for him anyway, and to avoid attracting 'predators' that could harm her, by being to close to her dying and bloody kitten. This is pure instinct, just like your cat who ate live the rabbit, even if this cat is usually very affectionate, just like the female cat. I have since adopted her.

Regards,
N.

Just to add that the kitten had to be put to sleep forever, his injury was too severe and would have required amputation up to the hip as necrosis had damaged the tissues irreversably up to there. I still think about it everday. This happened the week before my own mother had major heart surgery. We were not sure she would come out of it. The worst fall in my life, really

Originally Posted by Arlyn

Yes, that's gross, been there done that.
Though I would think quickly breaking it's neck might have been better.

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I think so too. I don't think I could have done either though. (I guess I would have turned a blind eye and let nature do it's thing and left the cat to it's victory (probley just as bad, but I am a coward I couldn't have killed the bunny ) This is why I am glad my cats are inside kitties, and even if a mouse jumped in their mouths they would probley be too lazy or docile to acually bite down (I have ragdolls )

Wow, I would probably throw up!!!

My oldest cat (now 12) loves to go hunting, and usually leaves us a lizard, a vole, or a chipmunk. When we had lived in this house a few years, I commented to my husband that for having a rainwater creek behind our house, it was odd that I hadn't seen a single frog, toad or tree frog. The next day, Tweety was doing that "Come see what I brought you (and check before you open the door )" meow, and she had brought me a good size frog without a mark on him and plopped him on the doormat like "There ya go, Mom! And this is the only one she has ever brought me, still. Sometimes I wonder about that cat! She's also the only cat who tries to comfort me when I cry .

Our longhaired Calico brought me a HUGE LIVE BLUEJAY (she had it by the neck about couldn't walk with it ) and was going to bring it in the house to play with. I made her drop it, and it hopped to the deck stairs and flew away. This is the same cat who would bring IN live RATS to teach her kitten and the foster kittens to hunt (end of the pet door!)!

And finally, my white fuzzy cat found where the baby chickadees were learning how to fly, and kept bringing them on the deck to play with (they were fine- I put them in the ficus tree in the sunroom until they recovered (one at a time-by the second one, I guessed what was going on) and she got to spend 3 days in the house while the baby birds learned how to fly!

And by the way, if something needs "put out of it's misery", I call my husband or my dad (is there a chicken smiley? that's me).

Originally Posted by momof3rugratz

I am not sure I can handler killing the animal even if suffering. I would probably be chicken and take it to the vet to do the deed

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that's exactly what I would've done. I couldn't kill it at all... besides it was only a leg wound. I dunno...don't animals survive leg wounds?! My LuckyGirl is still kinda wild (she was only taken in 4 weeks ago) and she sees bunnies out the window & goes NUTS!!!! Poking her head at the glass like she's ready to attack! And you should see her go after flies!!!! She won't even let you pet her if there's a fly in the house! She's in serious mode...the ultimate hunter!!!

Originally Posted by momof3rugratz

Wild rabbit cant that be dangerous.

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Wild rabbits can carry grubs which when eaten can hop onto the cat and start eating through the skin. Just ask my cat, Piglet.

All my cats have been hunters, so far. Even the INSIDE kitties! One of my queens from years ago used to like to bring in her prey (still living and not yet injured, just shocked), when I was sleeping, and kill it near me so I could hear it and she could show me. It was gross, but she was giving me a present! She was always VERY pleased with herself when she had her "gifts".

eek! my mother had a similar problem with her one kitty. Jeri is about 8 lbs, 5 years old,and a very petite little cat, and was literally dragging a headless rabbit across the yard (this rabbit was also a wild rabbit, had to have had at least 5 lbs on her, even without the head) honestly, the rabbit was bigger than her! my mother freaked out, shooed her away from the rabbit, picked it up with a large shovel and buried it on the side of the property. little did she know that sneaky little jeri had secretly followed her, saw where she buried it, and within an hour it was dug up and being dragged across the yard again, lol. at that point, my mother gave up, and just watched her. after a few nibbles, then dragging the remains to the doorstep, she was satisfied and left it for my mother to bury it again. I think the cat was just annoyed that my mom wouldn't let her devour and deliver her present!

A squirel got into my parents basment and our family cat Rusty got it. We later found what was left and it wasnt a pretty scene. There was an eyeball about three feet from the rest of the body, he ate the head of the squirell and then puked it up and finally he gutted and it and spead the intestines all over the basement. Im not really sure what he was trying to do but it was disturbing and a little funny.