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[bluemoon6]

Hello. I'm new to this forum. It's great to find like-minded kitty lovers. We took in a stray 2 winters ago when a beautiful long-haired orange kitty was crying outside of our house. It was -15 outside and the kitty just ran into the house! It seems he had been outdoors and starving for a long time. I fed him, took him to the vet, searched for the owner, and healed up numerous skin problems and infections. We named him Kiwi.  He is probably about 6 years old now. Vet believes that he had possibly been an indoor cat that got out and got lost. He is now an outdoor cat- we tried to make him an indoor cat, but to no avail. I love him dearly but we have a terrible problem with him killing not just birds, but animals like large rabbits, small rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels. He brings them home and leaves them dead at the front door. He sometimes eats them. There was one baby bunny that he set down in my garden that was in shock and not dead- I rubbed it and it began to breathe again. Traumatic for me and very disturbing. My children are getting very upset by the killing and so am I, but I do not know what to do.

I am not a new kitty owner- Kiwi is the 5th cat I have ever owned.  We also have 2 dogs- a small Maltese and a Shih Tzu. They all get along very well together for the most part and sleep cuddled up to each other. 

Any suggestions? I would love to keep Kiwi indoors, but it is just not an option. He will get out. I have 6 children (and another group of neighborhood kids) that run in and out of my house all day opening and closing the door. Kiwi will get out. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks. 

-Blue

 

[yayi]

Welcome to TCS, Blue!

You have the option to built an outdoor enclosure for Kiwi. 

 

[crazy4strays]

Welcome to TCS!

I feel your pain as I have a similar dilemma. I have a kitty that I adopted as a stray who doesn't care to stay in all the time. Like your cat, he is a prolific hunter and occasionally drops live or dead animals in my living room! Today he dropped a live chipmunk in my living room. Eeek! 

Is it expensive or difficult to build an outdoor enclosure? Are there any tutorials on it?

 

[handsome kitty]

 
Welcome to TCS!

I feel your pain as I have a similar dilemma. I have a kitty that I adopted as a stray who doesn't care to stay in all the time. Like your cat, he is a prolific hunter and occasionally drops live or dead animals in my living room! Today he dropped a live chipmunk in my living room. Eeek! 

Is it expensive or difficult to build an outdoor enclosure? Are there any tutorials on it?

I've seen kits that run from $1,400 thu $4,000 depending on size and style.  There are also plans you can purchase and some people have posted designs on pinterest.  Just google outdoor cat enclosures.  I've been looking too.

 

[bluemoon6]

Hi! Thanks so much for replying to my post. It had been moved from New Cats On the Block and I had to search around to find it. I am seriously considering an enclosure for Kiwi but haven't started youtube-ing how to make one. I also think that after all of the effort to make one, Kiwi would get out of the house anyway. He loves it indoors and besides killing for enjoyment, he loves to be climbing trees and doing outdoor things. It would have to be a very interesting enclosure...

 

[misterwhiskers]

Can you put a jingle bell on a cat-safe collar?

 

[fhicat]

Just in case you aren't aware, leaving dead animals out for you is a sign of tremendous respect. Yes, it's gross and possibly upsetting to us humans, but to a cat, it's their way of saying "I am honored to be with you and here is my gift."

In other words, don't be angry at him.

 

[bluemoon6]

Hi Crazy4Strays. Do you have any ideas about how to keep your kitty from doing these things? The other day there was a chipmunk running around my house and we could not figure out how it ran into the house. Then we realized that probably Kiwi brought it in to play with! 

 That had never happened before. I am keeping a much closer eye on him now than I ever have before. When I call "Kiwi" from my front porch he will always come running from wherever he is in the neighborhood so now I am doing it a couple of times each day to keep him close to home. I am trying to keep him very well-fed so he doesn't hunt because of feeling hungry. Not sure if it will help but it's worth a try.

Has anyone ever tried the "cat bib" that is supposed to get in the way of cats hunting birds?

 

[bluemoon6]

Hi Misterwhiskers. Do you suggest any particular collar? I have used 3 different break-away collars and all have gotten lost (fell off, I guess). I have given up on collars, but I would love to try one that would work. All of the ones I have tried had bells on them and I think it did give the animals/birds advance warning.

 

[bluemoon6]

 I could never get angry at Kiwi. We see his "offerings" as gifts...but some of my kids feel a little less honored than others 

  I definitely see that over the last 2 yrs that we have had him, he is acting much more trusting and attached to us. 

 

[crazy4strays]

Yes, I figure that my kitty is just trying to show love to us and make sure that we don't starve by sharing his hunting catches. I never realized that he would think that he had to bring it inside the house so that we could cook it for dinner though. LOL! I think that my kitty doesn't understand why the whole family doesn't eat chipmunk.

Your kitty sounds pretty much exactly like mine to the tee.

I left my cat strictly indoors for my pet sitter to take care of while I was gone on vacation and he figured out a way to escape, by clawing duct tape off the side of the air conditioner accordian. 

 

[crazy4strays]

I keep a collar with tag and a bell on my kitty and he still hunts a lot.

 

[handsome kitty]

 
I keep a collar with tag and a bell on my kitty and he still hunts a lot.

My cat has learned to keep the bell silent.  He has also learned to jingle it while staning still hoping to flush out his prey.

@BlueMoon6   here is an interesting thread you'll enjoy  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/276982/moving-house-taking-the-colony-with-me-any-advice-please

 

[bluemoon6]

Hi Crazy4Stray. Your kitty sounds a lot like my kitty for sure! You have a VERY resourceful kitty! He actually clawed through duct tape! I think if Kiwi figured that one out he would do it too LOL! I think Kiwi would be very surprised to know that we are not chipmunk or bunny eaters, too. We have a lot of wildlife (even deer and moose) near our house and my kids and the neighborhood kids are very, VERY sensitive to animals and it upsets them terribly when an animal is dead or hurt. To the point of tears and sobbing crying. Makes me feel like I myself killed the chipmunk! I am also not sure how to dispose of the gifts Kiwi brings us so that the children don't see it and the cat doesn't find it again. I don't want to be disrespectful and throw it away- I am thinking that if I bury the animal that either Kiwi or any of the neighborhood strays might dig it up.  But maybe not- that has never happened. I still stand there every time he brings us a gift wondering what I am going to do with it. 

About the bell thing- I had a feeling Kiwi was keeping the bell silent sometimes. Other times I could her it from a distance. I cannot find a collar that will stay on him for more than 1 day. He always came back without it on. I got tired of buying collars 

  Handsome Kitty- do you recommend any particular brand of collar? 

 

[evamilly]

I don't have any suggestions, just wanted to say that Kiwi is a beautiful cat!

 

[crazy4strays]

I use Safe Cat collars that I purchase from Amazon. He's lost a few, but the last one has lasted for awhile. My kitties are also both microchipped.

I've heard that a lot of people also have good luck with Beastie Bands.

Tiger is my indoor/outdoor cat but I also have a cat that's strictly indoors, except for supervised outdoor time. Tiger came and brought a live chipmunk in the house, he dropped it in the house, and eventually it went back to the back room and run right under the bed--where my indoor kitty was sitting.

My indoor kitty caught it and finished it off. Teamwork! LOL!

 

[crazy4strays]

Another suggestion that I would give is to at least catch him and bring him indoors after dark. That will help reduce his chances of being preyed on by coyotes, if you live in a rural area. (I'm guessing that your area is rural by the description of your cat's hunting) 

We live in an area far back in the woods, way back from the road, with nice neighbors and dogs who don't hurt cats and so our greatest risk to our kitties out here is wild animals. I make sure that his rabies vaccinations are up to date and that I bring him indoors at night.

 

[bluemoon6]

Thanks Evamilly. He really is. I love his long orange and white fur. He has so many shades of orange and red in his coat. 

 

[bluemoon6]

Lol Crazy4Strays. Poor lil chipmunk! Kiwi is the first cat I have ever owned that hunted. Does your indoor kitty ever want to get outside because he watches Tiger go out? I also worry about other animals looking to prey on Kiwi. Especially at night. I started a couple of months ago to bring him in at night. With my kids STILL going in and out of the house at night...friends, etc...I started this strategy: Kiwi will always come to me when I call out the door (very loudly), but he ventures far away from home when he is full and well-fed. I started feeding him dinner later, after dark. This way he stays close to home until its time to come in. In between breakfast and dinner I give him some dry food. Every time I call him and he comes I give him some the dry food he loves (called Maxcat). The Maxcat isn't filling enough to be dinner for him, so I feed him 1/2 can of wet food when he is finally in for the night. If I feed him the wet food earlier, he will be full and venture far from home and not hear me call him to come in for the night. 

Might sound complicated, but it seems to be a routine that gets him in the house after dark. He has even waited for me on the roof of my porch to call him for his night meal! Then jumps down to me when I call him.  Not thrilled with the roof thing- I am always afraid he will get hurt. He goes up into trees, too.

 

[bluemoon6]

About Microchipping. I am thinking about doing that. I don't want Kiwi to get lost again. We live in an area/block that is more of a neighborhood, but we are steps away from rural cow country and farms. I like having neighbors fairly close by. So there is always the possibility that Kiwi could really get lost out there.