Has anyone had any luck keeping their outdoors cat from catching mice and birds?

Question

Not looking for a lecture about keeping them inside. They like to go out and the area I live in has little traffic. I'm wondering if a bell on their collar actually works?

Answer 1

**Has anyone had any luck keeping their outdoors cat from catching mice and birds? **

No,
i was told they do that to show their prowess as hunters. Mine still brings field mice and birds. She never really eats it, just brings it to me and leaves it at my feet. I figure maybe that's payback for all of the food i provide. My guess is there is just no getting around that natural instinct. Cats are special for sure.
Bell, yes will warn the prey, however i myself got tired of the tinkling after a while.

Have a pleasant day.

Answer 2

Well if they are an outdoor cat that is what they do. A bell can't hurt long as you think it won't get caught on something. Only way to really stop it is declawing or keeping them in. WHats wrong with them catching mice and birds its just the natural way.

Answer 3

It might, but I've come across cats in my life that were capable of stalking prey without their little bells making a sound. They're quite efficient hunters. Plus, they could get the collars off. You could try it, but if it doesn't work, I don't really know what else you could do.

Lectures aside, there are more dangers to cats in the outdoors than just cars.

Answer 4

A bell on the collar actually does work, but then you have to worry about your cat choking itself if it gets into a tight spot (like under bushes, etc.) There are break away collars that open if they get snagged on something, but I don't trust that they will always open if snagged.

You might just have to put up with a dead mouse or bird every once in awhile...good luck.

Answer 5

Don't worry, no lectures I have an outdoor kitty. He has a bell on his collar. I'm not sure if it really alerts birds and wildlife of his presence or not, but as yet he hasn't killed anything. So mayebe If I were you I would try the collatr with a bell method.

Answer 6

In my experience, nothing works, even the bell on the collar. My mother had her outdoor cat declawed a number of years ago (which is a stupid thing to do to begin with since they can't defend themselves otherwise) due to a neighbor complaining about his littering the yard with critters. He killed more birds, which he deposited in said yard, after he was declawed than before. No one could figure out how he did it and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it.

Catching critters is their natural behavior and there's nothing you can do to stop that if they continue to spend any amount of time outside.

Answer 7

My greatest fear with cats getting prey outside if the possibility that their hunting prize has been poisoned. People use mouse and rat poison all the time and the cat can die from "secondary" poisoning that way. We have crows in our area that are dying of West Nile virus and cats succumb to that too.

My cats are confined to my garden. If I see them stalking something I close the doors until I am sure they are not going to enter the house with prey in their mouths. So I would close the cat door is you don't want those critters, dead or alive, in your house.

I don't think any cat should be out after dark. The dangers to them are at least doubled if they roam at night. Cats that know that dinner is served at dusk will come home for that and then stay in the house for the night.

Answer 8

The cats, if they're outside, are going to hunt. If you don't want them to catch anything, a bell to warn the little animals that the cat is there is about all you can do.

Good luck!

Answer 9

Bell on the collar might help but it's hard to stop them from doing what comes naturally.

Answer 10

I'd try the bell. Just make sure it's on one of those "break-away" collars in case she gets stuck on a branch or something else