Do you have a cat who likes to catch baby rabbits? (1 Viewer)

[Thik Nongyow]

In last few months, our Siamese cat (anyone surprised with this?) had been catching and killing young rabbits around our backyard almost daily. My father last week, put a small garden fence around our backyard to prevent our cat from going further backyard and hunting down young rabbits. However, yesterday, our cat got smart and was able to find a weakness in the garden fence and escaped. He was able to hunt down a young rabbit and mortally wound it by bitting on its neck. My father found out and forced our cat to release the dying rabbit who latter died from shock.

We never thought that a Siamese cat who was raised at home can be a very competent hunter who catches rabbits, especially young rabbits. We have another cat, a fat American short-hair that likes to chase animals, but unlike his slender rival he has a difficult time catching young rabbits.

Does you have any similar experiences with your cats?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I had a cat who was doing the same thing
The mother rabbit sneaked up behind him and quite literally kicked his ass
Never bothered them again

 

[Paul Spurgeon]

Both of our cats constantly bring home gifts and leave them on the deck or carry them inside if the sliding door is open. They don't just catch rabbits and small rodents though, they catch small birds, squirrels, and even snakes! You really can't blame them for doing what they're genetically hard-wired to do, but it still makes me feel bad when I catch one of them in the act and their victim isn't quite dead.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

My current Siamese cat is very careful to present us with live gifts

 

[Jack Briggs]

When I lived in a very, very bad part of town--it's called "Hollywood"--my then less-than-one-year-old Attila the Cat demonstrated his feral prowess by presenting me with his rodent prey as gifts--the dead mice were gifts, demonstrating, in the process, Attila's sense of honor and commitment--not to mention making an infested apartment building in that sinkhole of despair, that black hole in the gut of Los Angeles--Hollywood--more palatable. Thing is, I felt sorry for the mice. But I understand far better Attila's mission in life.

Now, in our much better place, Attila is living the life of a philosopher cat; he is a sage, in charge of his own feline activist group (Feline Awareness Now Group--aka, FANG).

 

[Julie K]

Jack,
You might wish to suggest the highly esteemed Kappa Alpha Tau fraternity to Attila as well. The gentleman philosopher cat can easily find many clubs and associations that are worthy of his time.
(Damn, I'm doing it again....although this time I doubt anyone will get it )
My cats have always been indoor cats, but that hasn't stopped them from gutting a bird that flew into the garage, eating half of a lizard that found its way into the house, and, in the case of my nutso Calico, presenting me with her gifts of hunting prowess which were leaves from a Pothos...
(I'll never forget one evening while I was reading. Kitty was strangely absent - off doing kitty things I thought. Then I heard a proud little "mewww!" (she was still young) at my feet and when I looked down there were about 10 large Pothos leaves spread in an orderly pattern at my feet. I thanked her profusely and complimented her on her hunting skills.)

 

[Scott Strang]

Yep one of my cats (Gizmo-parking lot goodle) caught a little rabbit on Easter eve of all nights. I heard a sound from the back porch went out there and found a little bunny trying to get away from Gizmo. Gizmo is truly a sweet cat (despite the fact that she's really a somewhat wild housecat) and is very loving but she can chow down on hapless rodents, lizards, toads, rabbits and squirrels(sp).
My other cat, Oscar, is a runt that feels hollow when you pick him up but he kills for pleasure. He kicked the shit out of a stray one night that came up to the house to eat his and Gizmo's food and that stray was a little over twice his size.

After watching Watership Down the following night, I kinda felt bad about not stopping Gizmo from killing that rabbit but that's "survival of the fittest". I just hope an owl doesn't decide to do the same to one of my cats some night.

For some reason I love those two cats and I usually don't have any "attachment" to pets.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Oh, Attila the Cat is strictly an indoor cat himself, as well--always has been. Though he hasn't commented to me much about the writings of a certain horror/fantasy author dear to the heart of Ms. K, Attila does read quite extensively. His most memorized "book" is comprised of my facial expressions and tones of voice--in short, me. And he outsmarts me every time. I know him down to a tee, yet Attila always gets the upper hand. Can't figure that one out. Attila never told me what his IQ is.

 

[Scott Strang]

Please excuse my ignorance,

Pothos?

 

[Julie K]

I have to be the first to admit that my Calico was none too bright. Of course, as a kitten she was fond of running around with aluminum foil balls in her mouth. The only problem was that she would inevitably run headfirst into a wall. I always thought that explained a lot.

She was however a born hunter. The leaves were the first gifts and she was ruthless with insects. If she'd been let outside I'm sure she would have decimated the local small animal population.

What she lacked in brain power (compared to the Siamese who was genius level) she more than made up for in invisibility. I still wonder how a 15lb cat could disappear so quickly, only to reappear hours later in the middle of the bed or a room where I had glanced microseconds before. She always wore an expression that clearly said she thought I was blind and stupid.

 

[Julie K]

Pothos?

Pothos
(Also called Devil's Ivy)

 

[Danny R]

I have a dog that thinks rabbit poop is a treat bar none.

 

[Scott Strang]

Danny R sez

I have a dog that thinks rabbit poop is a treat bar none.

I had a dog that loved kitty biscuits. Hmmm Hmm.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Julie: Fifteen pounds? Wow! All muscle? JB

 

[Ricky Hustle]

My two cats don't hunt at all. They think they are cows, though. The second they get outside their entire focus shifts to grazing on grass. Then they want to come inside, but we make them stay out so they puke it up outside and not on the carpeting. They are cute cats, very loving. I'm just expectiing them to moo instead of mew soon.
Then again, I guess their grazing is better then rabbit killing.

 

[Julie K]

Fifteen pounds? Wow! All muscle?

A combination of fat and muscle. She was immensely strong - my visiting grandmother would bring her cat, a lean street warrior who was the terror of his block, over as well. My cat could send him flying with one paw. Poor cat, he would try to make all the proper submissive gestures but she would stand over him chattering her teeth as if he were a bird. Unfortunately, there's not much humans can to do influence kitty dominance games except to separate them.

Anyway, have you read those letters or did I give my little reference away by the smilie?

 

[Jack Briggs]

All the more reason, Julie, to read Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer--the most influential SF author of them all possessed a deep insight into the mind of warrior cats, especially tomcats (one of the book's two true heroes is a striped tomcat named Petronius the Arbiter--aka, "Pete").

 

[MickeS]

Alright, Jack and Julie, get a room and stop hi-jacking threads...
I think all cats catch smaller animals if they have the chance. My grandma's cat did it all the time, it was rather sad to see how she toyed with the injured little mice before she killed them and brought them to the porch.
We fed a stray a while ago (then found him a loving home, that was a great cat, *sob*...), he caught a rather big bird once. I heard noise, and came out to see what was going on, saw him throwing the half-dead bird around for fun... i broke it up and had to kill the bird with a hammer (the legs and one wing were torn off).
I think the problem with indoor cats hunting outside is that they only hunt for fun, and not for food, so they don't seem to have much interest in eating the animals they catch, which just makes them catch it, injure it, play with it and leave it for dead.
/Mike

 

[Thik Nongyow]

I would like to mention that our Siamese cat is more clever than our fat short-hair. The Siamese would find a way to get out of an enclosement by himself, while the short-hair can only cry for someone to get him out.

Even though our Siamese is six years old, he is still active, while our short-hair is five years old and acting like a cat at old age.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

All the more reason, Julie, to read Robert A. Heinlein's The Door Into Summer

Hahhaha, my family has been making the comparison for years "Maybe the backdoor doesn't have snow!" "Perhaps it's spring at the front by now"