Pet Lovers

[Sweet Caroline 1]

My sister takes care of two ferrel cats, simular to what you are doing.  She used crates with wet cat food bait to catch them and had them fixed.  A funny sight it was.  Maybe you could catch yours and put some bells around his neck.  Our childhood cat would catch moles and leave them on the porch.   

[Love4cats]

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@seaBreeze wrote:

My favorite pet ever was an orange tabby feral ... I loved him dearly.  When he caught his first bird and I found feathers, I hated him.  But forgave eventually.

Life isn't fair, I wish all kitties had warm beds in homes to sleep in, and none had to hunt for food.  Thank you for giving your feral a place to dwell, but forgive his shortcomings.

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WOW, I could never hate one of my cat's, regardless of what they did!!!!

[Love4cats]

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@Thebig I wrote:

I have had him for years. i will not bring him in because I have other pets and I know he is very used to the outdoors. I also have immune system   weakness and I know he has been exposed to everything outside. I have feed him for about 5 years, both canned and mixed. he has bedding in the garage and heated cage in th  winter. Here is the problem and I can not tolerate this...he has starting eating little animals and The killing floor has been the garage. I am sooo upset. One week it was a little bunny foot I found, another time a pile of bird feathers, the other day I walked in on a mouse meal. Iam sick to my stomach over this.  What to do?? Speak up cat people.

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That's what cat's do, it is nature!!!!!!! No point in getting upset, just clean up the mess and let him be a cat!

[luvmybeetle]

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@savetheanimals wrote:

First I would like to say what you are doing for this cat is wonderful. But, I find this post a joke - how do you think feral and stray cats survive?? There are not bowls of cat food everywhere outside for cats to eat. What the cat is doing is natural and he should never be punished or yelled at for doing that. Nobody likes to see that, but it happens everywhere with all animals outside. I feed and provide shelter for feral and stray cats. I have trapped many and will never stop. Please do not stop providing for this cat, what he is doing is normal. You should appreciate him helping control the mice. In a perfect world there would be no feral and stray animals! Humans caused the problem, now we need to help them!

Thank you for helping this cat!

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I agree whole heartedly with this.  I also feed and trap ferals and have 5 cats in the home.  Please keep feeding and taking care of this cat and others as need be.  Humans have caused many problems with nature and we need to help.  There are too many wooded areas being plowed through so people can have brand new big homes to live and what happens to all the wild life in that area?????

[denisemb]

I would hope you would continue doing for this feral cat as you've done, and try to understand the naturalness of animals having spent some of their lives fending for themselves.

Or, thank goodness you don't have a "kitty door" leading from your house to the attached garage where your loving kitties bring in LIVE mice and birds for you (and once inviting a neighbor cat to visit)!

(Trying to lighten things up a little)

[TW]

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@kitcat51 wrote:

Cats are hunters & it doesn't matter if they're feral or not, if they have an opportunity to kill a small animal they may eat all or part of it....my indoor cat does it when a mouse gets in the house. You could trap & take the cat to a shelter but I doubt you want to do that so there's really nothing to do but accept it.

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Sorry, have to disagree.  I have 2 cats, had a mouse in the house and they were just amused.  It took a mouse trap to take care of the problem.  Another cat I had even fed a mouse that made it into the house.  Watched him taking kibble to the place where the mouse had taken up residence.   I rescued a feral cat a few years ago.  Took me 3 years to be able to grab her and take her to the vet.  After she was spayed I brought her home.  She hid under the bed for a week then decided she loved my husband.  She loved being indoors, played just like my other cats.  I took in 2 totally feral cats.  They were fully grown and older.  Both made excellent pets after being neutered/spayed.  Both picked one house hold member to bond with which is very common for ferals. 

[TW]

Dislike cats?  I had two great feral hunters.  They are now gone and the mice and rats are taking over.  I wish people would appreciate cats and the pest control they are.  Mice and rats are disease carriers and spread all sorts of dangerous diseases.  Wish I would get some more fearless hunters for pest control. 

[Thebig I]

"That's what cat's do, it is nature!!!!!!! No point in getting upset, just clean up the mess and let him be a cat!"

Ahh, no, I am not going to take that route thank you. I do not want to keep finding bits of small animals in my garage. Keep your advice Love my cats.

Savethe animals... no my post isnt a joke as having an autoimmune dusfunction makes life miserable, you learn to be careful. Further, you really missed the  meat, pardon the pun, of the question. WHy would a cat that has been feed    for many years, all of the sudden start killing for his dinner. The cat is fully fed, he doesnt need to hunt. Now he is not even eating his cat food as much.   

Very perturbed it has not stopped, with two little bunny  paws in the garage again tonite, I am leaning towrds euthanizes him now.

[blackhole99]

My cat Moe is a stray, basically a feral cat, but no doubt from the farm down the road.He came to us as a kitten and is mostly an indoor cat,but he is 14 and he still goes after anything that moves. Cats will hunt, that as many have said, is in their DNA. We had a female German Shepherd who would sniff out the wild rabbits nests on our farm and eat the baby rabbits. I know it's not pleasant, but just clean up the mess and forget about it. Please don't think less of the cat, that's how Mother Nature made him.

[dooBdoo]

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@Thebig I wrote:

"That's what cat's do, it is nature!!!!!!! No point in getting upset, just clean up the mess and let him be a cat!"  

Ahh, no, I am not going to take that route thank you. I do not want to keep finding bits of small animals in my garage. Keep your advice Love my cats. 

Savethe animals... no my post isnt a joke as having an autoimmune dusfunction makes life miserable, you learn to be careful. Further, you really missed the  meat, pardon the pun, of the question.  

WHy would a cat that has been feed    for many years, all of the sudden start killing for his dinner. The cat is fully fed, he doesnt need to hunt. Now he is not even eating his cat food as much.    

Very perturbed it has not stopped, with two little bunny  paws in the garage again tonite, I am leaning towrds euthanizes him now.

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             @Thebig I,  To address your question, I found this online:

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"Hunting is a Strong Instinct for Many Cats.   

Unfortunately, this is a tough problem to solve through training.

Cats who never have the opportunity to hunt early on often never develop a taste for the sport.

Many are even fearful of rats and large mice.

Once a kitty develops a taste for the hunt though, there's no turning back.

Rats, mice, lizards, birds beware.

Kitty will hunt them like his life depends on it and cats, being such avid hunters, can have a major impact on the local songbird and small mammal population.

They'll tenaciously seek their sport and bring a sampling of their catches back, dead or alive to the place they consider home. 

Even a full stomach won't stop his game.

While hunger can increase predatory drive, most housecats hunt for thrill, not just for food.

In fact, cat researchers have known for many years that hunger and hunting are under separate control in the brain.

Cats engrossed in a tasty meal will break away from their flavorful feast to hunt rats that just happen by (i.e. those conveniently placed in the same room by a researcher studying predatory behavior in cats).

They'll seek and destroy and drag their unfortunate catch back. Then, they'll resume eating their regular meal leaving the rat, perhaps for another day. ... "

(source, link to copy and paste: 

drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/cats-hunting-wildlife-why-is-it-a-problem-and-what-to-do-about-it/)

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           My heart aches at the thought that you would even consider having him euthanized.   Sweet little fellow.💔   Please don’t do this.  Please instead think about talking with animal advocacy groups in your area for ideas, or perhaps a safe collar with bells, or read through the article at the link I posted and the comments with suggestions below the article.