Cats and their relationship with their prey

If there’s one question that I have for you cats, it’s this: Why do you feel the need to continue to hunt small birds and animals when you’re offered a wonderful selection of delicious foods by your guardians?

Ok, ok, I hear you saying that it’s not your fault, and you can’t help it. And, yes, I know that it was this strong instinct that first earned you your place amongst humans. You’re born to be keen hunters – and I guess that your predatory urge is still as strong as ever. Households nowadays don’t often have serious problems with vermin, so you have to  look elsewhere to fulfill your instinctive desires. So the garden birds and small mammals suffer. It’s such a shame – you cats are such adorable creatures in every other way.

My own two cats regularly bring back trophies — they drag their unfortunate prey through the cat flap. I assume that the cats expect me to be pleased with them, but when I am presented with freshly killed carcasses of small animals, my modern emotion is exactly the opposite. This is a common problem amongst cat guardians, most of whom would regard  themselves as “animal lovers.” Why does cuddly, benign Tommy suddenly turn into a bloodthirsty killing machine? Why does he seem to enjoy playing with his prey before  killing it? How can he be stopped from being so cruel?

I suspect that there are no easy answers – we humans just have to accept that you cats are serious carnivores at heart, and that you sometimes enjoy killing other animals.

We’re not going to let you get away with it though. We can use human guile to frustrate your unfortunate sadistic streak. My own cats wear loud bells around their necks (and I know some people who fit plastic “cat bibs” to their pets). Our bird feeding table has a cat proof ledge around it. If we  see vulnerable animals outside, the cat flap is locked so that the cats are house bound for the day. There are still incidents. I found an injured frog on the kitchen floor the other morning.  He was not seriously hurt. I kept him for a day’s recuperation and then released him. My cats looked extremely annoyed with me when I interrupted their fun, but really–don’t you guys realise that frogs have feelings too? It can be frightening for a cat guardian if they catch their pet “in the act.” How can they rescue a small creature without risking being bitten or scratched by an annoyed cat or a terrified rodent?

Keeping both cats and their prey safe

Mrs M. told me about her technique recently. If she sees her cat tormenting a small animal or bird, she pops a large plastic flower pot over the prey, so that they are safe from further harm. She then slides a dustpan underneath the flower pot, so that she can lift up the little animal  and carry it away, whilst still keeping it covered. Finally, she takes the whole assembly–flower pot, dustpan and contents–to a safe part of the garden for release.

One positive aspect about the way you cats treat your prey is that you rarely damage the small creatures until you’ve finished playing with them, so I am sure that Mrs M’s method saves the lives of many small garden animals.

You cats are wily hunters. I’ve noticed that you rarely get hurt, yourselves, from hunting incidents, although I have seen rats and magpies fighting back when cornered.

One small consolation for your victims may be that at least small birds and mammals are able to pass on tapeworms as a deathly present from the grave. All regular hunting cats should be given an effective worm treatment at least once every three months. When I was grappling with my three cats recently, struggling with them to give a worm tablet, I could have sworn that I heard a frog’s croaky laughter coming from the back garden.

Tagged as: animal health, cat health, cats hunting