help problem with cats

i have six cats they are indoor out door cats and my problem is with what they hunt, we dont have any problems with them hunting mice and other small rodent like creatures but recently they have been going after young squrrels rabbits and birds what will be next who knows. can any one tell me how to prevent this.

 

I can't imagine how you could limit the type of prey that outdoor cats try to hunt, except by limiting or removing access to the prey by not allowing them outside. Some people put bells on their cats' collars in an attempt to scare away potential prey, but not only does it not work (cats can figure out how to work around the bell and successfully hunt anyway) but it can lead to problems with the cats when the incessant dinging of the bell starts to drive them nuts.

Speaking of hunting increasingly larger prey, Luna began to chase away some very large raccoons from her territory, and one night I saw a group of about 8 of them begin to encircle HER. I came out and fortunately was able to pick her up and bring her inside. She has never gone outside at night again, and actually, has since evolved into a completely indoor cat.

 

i have searched almost everywhere..and i cant find where it says that putting a bell on a cat is not a good idea. :? a lot of wesites that i read actually encourage putting a bell on the cat for many reasons. can someone plz tell me where i can find info about this? :| thanks

 

The bell drives them crazy. It is not good for their hearing b/c they have sensitive hearing andhaving a bell jingling every time they move.....? How would you like that?

I don't know how to keep a cat from hunting. Mine does the squirrel/bird thing too. One time I came home to find 3 baby squirrels dead, and one still barely alive in his mouth. I was horrified. I had to get that thing out of his mouth and bring it to a wildlife rescue. I don't know what happened to it but I felt really bad about it.

 

cats hunt....the only way to stop it is keep them inside.
If you do put a collar w/a bell on them you should use a breakaway collar and they usually manage to get them off so that is useless.
I used to have an indoor/outdoor cat and I had her wear collars with bells (never seemed to drive her crazy). But she did manage to get them off (breakaway). She probably managed to lose 10 of the things.
No more outside cats and I haven't had a dead bird, dying chipmunk/squirrel in my yard since I stopped letting a cat outside.
If it bothers you the fix is easy - keep the cat(s) inside.

 

Is it all of your cats that are doing this? (That's if there's anyway you could figure that out...). Maybe it's just one of your cats that is hunting the larger prey and you could try and make that cat an indoor cat? :?:

 

i am totally against putting a collar on a cat that is outdoors.. (unless its a breakaway but even then like Mary_NH said) anyways i have had 3 cats of mine get caught up on fences and branches by collars and were unable to get out of.. luckily i caught them in time to not have hung themselves but i have seen it happen, TO MANY of times... and even w/ putting the collar on loose to where u think they may be able to get outta it if they need to it dosnt always happen... soo personally i would NOT try the bell thing b/c of the whole collar idea unless u get a breakaway collar but that might not stay on like u want it to...the only thing i can suggest to u is to try and keep them indoors if it is bugging u...good luck

 

the other side of the coin w/bells is the cat itself can become prey.

 

ok with the collar thing we have never put a collar on our cats and we never will way to many horror stories. three of our cats hunt the squirrels. they all hunt mice and small things like that 2 hunt the birds and dont know how many hunt the rabbits we really dont care if they hunt the mice cause that keeps the critters out of the poultry food. we are not going to force them to be indoor cats especially since three of them spray and the spayed girl pees on everything. they come in at night cause of dogs and cyotes.