When good cats go bad: how to stop pets hunting
ASLAN, a Maine Coon cat, is the latest addition to our menagerie. He’s a large, handsome ginger cat, aged around eight months now, and he’s already bigger than a normal house cat. While he is the most sociable, friendly, playful cat I’ve ever owned, in the last few weeks he has started to display a characteristic that I had not considered in depth: he’s taken up hunting.
On three occasions recently, Aslan has carried a bird through the cat flap into our home. First it was an adult wren, then it was a fledgling Blue Tit, and yesterday he brought in a large Pigeon, which was just old enough to fly but not yet strong enough to evade the clutches of a marauding cat. On each occasion we have tried to rescue his victim, but they have all died. The claws and teeth of a cat do immense damage to the fragile body of a young bird.
I should have realised that Aslan was going to be a serious hunter: it’s one of the key characteristics of the Maine Coon breed. Maine Coons are originally from Maine, on the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. They are said to be descended from seafaring cats that arrived with the first settlers, and they have always had a reputation as fearsome hunters. Farmers in Maine valued them for this ability: every barn needs a good way of controlling rats and mice, and the ideal answer is a cat who’s also a friendly, personable individual.
The problem is that people who appreciate cats often also appreciate local birdlife, and as we are discovering just now, it can be difficult to have both groups sharing the same space. On the one hand, we leave out food to attract garden birds to our neighbourhood, and then we unleash the terror of a killing cat on them. We have been searching for answers to this dilemma.
The first, and easiest, step has been to cat-proof our bird feeding areas. We have unassailable high-up posts with bird tables on top, and we have wire mesh enclosures at the foot of these tables on the ground so that birds can eat any spilt bird food without becoming victims of cat attacks.
The second measure has involved keeping Aslan indoors at the prime bird hunting times of dusk and dawn. He’s locked inside for these periods so that at least there are times of day when the birds are completely safe from his onslaught. It’s possible to buy cat flaps that have timers built into them, so that cats are only allowed out at certain times of day, and we are considering getting one of these to further restrict his time outside. We have considered making him an indoor-only cat, but he enjoys running, jumping and climbing so much that this would be a last resort. Studies show that indoor only cats tend to become obese, and they suffer from more stress-related diseases like cystitis. So for the sake of Aslan’s fitness and enjoyment of life, we want him to continue to spend time outside.
The third measure that we are considering is using collar devices to stop Aslan from being such an effective killer.
The traditional method has been to put a bell on the collar, but recently questions have been asked about this. It’s thought to be possible that the bell can actually make cats more effective as hunters, because they learn to prowl even more slowly and silently, allowing them to creep up unawares on their victims. You can also now buy the 21st century high-tech equivalent of bells: motion sensitive electronic devices that beep loudly when a cat moves suddenly.
A more recent modification is a device called a “CatBib”. This resembles the type of bib that’s placed on babies who are learning to eat at the table. A CatBib is made from a flexible neoprene type fabric, clipping around the cat’s neck and dangling in front of them. The cat can walk around easily, and can carry out most of their normal daily activities. However when the cat crouches low, then leaps forwards to pounce, the floppy bib gets in the way, stopping them from moving smoothly and effectively. Their intended prey has time to flutter or scamper out of the way.
Scientific research has proven the effectiveness of CatBibs: they reduce bird catching by 81 per cent and mammal hunting by 45%. They may look awkward and ungainly, but studies have shown that most cats (86 per cent) adjusted almost immediately to wearing a CatBib, 10 per cent took a day or so and only 4 per cent took longer.
For me, the only problem is their awkward appearance, and the fact that if your cat has a quick-release collar (as they ought to do, for the sake of safety), the CatBib can fall off. I’ve tried CatBibs on my cats before, and they regularly came home bib-less. I’m not sure if they fell off, or if a well-meaning neighbour removed them because they looked so awkward. I’m ordering a few to use on Aslan, and I’ll discover for myself whether or not they suit his lifestyle.
There’s an extra hassle linked to cats that hunt: Aslan is likely to be prone to picking up the tapeworms which are carried inside birds: cats that are regular hunters need to be wormed once a month to ensure that they don’t carry a tapeworm burden.
I suspect that Aslan is always going to be a bird hunter at some level: it’s part of the genetic make-up of the magnifcent Maine Coon breed.