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View Full Version : Behavior change/why is my female cat hunting, killing and eating pray?


ladyaew
Sep 24, 2009, 03:56 PM
my female cat who is about 3 years old had her first litter of kittens in june, but since then her behaviour has changed quite alot. all of the kittens have been rehomed now but before she had kittens she was always a very indoor sort of cat, never really went outside unless she really needed to but now she is hardly ever inside and my MAIN concern is that she has started to hunt things i.e mice, frogs, birds and bring them back into the house and eating them.
i have heard of cats bringing back things as gifts for there owner but never heard or thought that they actually ate them. could ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME!
AS YOU CAN EMAGINE I REALLY DONT WANT HER BRINGING ANYTHING ELSE INTO THE HOUSE OR MORE SO EATING THEM EWWWW!
why has her behaviour changed since having her litter of kittens? how come she has started to hunt more now? i really would appreciate it if someone, anyone could help me!
thankyou

Sariss
Sep 24, 2009, 03:59 PM
She's doing what's natural. If you are going to have her outside, expect more.

On another note, please have her spayed. Having an unaltered cat roam outside is just irresponsible.

ladyaew
Sep 24, 2009, 04:05 PM
She's doing what's natural. If you are going to have her outside, expect more.

On another note, please have her spayed. Having an unaltered cat roam outside is just irresponsible.

Hi, thanks for replying.
Yes I know this is natural for cats but for her not to act like this what so ever before and we have had her since a wee kitten and now to suddenly change and actually kill and eat things like mice, frogs etc when never done before is a little strange to me considering this was never in her nature before. Especially since she had her litter of kittens. And also the staying outside more now when also she never really cared for the outside before.

And we have had her spayed so no worries there

Sariss
Sep 24, 2009, 04:11 PM
Good on the spaying. You had me worried. :)

She's wanting to be out more, so naturally she will be hunting more. I can't really explain why she wants to be outside more, maybe her kittens drove her crazy (haha), but that's why she's hunting more.

ladyaew
Sep 24, 2009, 04:31 PM
Good on the spaying. You had me worried. :)

She's wanting to be out more, so naturally she will be hunting more. I can't really explain why she wants to be outside more, maybe her kittens drove her crazy (haha), but that's why she's hunting more.

Yea I surrpose so, thanks for your help :) just wish she was the cat she was before her litter of kittens :( and stop bringing things in the house lol

Wondergirl
Sep 24, 2009, 04:40 PM
We've been feeding a stray cat who ended up having five kittens. She turned into hunter-mom, teaching her kittens how to hunt for prey of all kinds. (Even the dogs next door were a little nervous... ) In your cat's case, she maybe turned into hunter-mom too. That's part of raising kittens -- teaching them how to find food.

Can you keep her indoors exclusively?

firmbeliever
Sep 24, 2009, 04:59 PM
I think it is in the nature of all cats to hunt, especially when there are kittens around.

Our female cats always brings around live roaches or mice for the kittens to play with,maybe that's what she is going through; the teaching phase.

Also ours never ate the whole mice, she would just toy with it for a while, chew some and leave the rest.

ladyaew
Sep 25, 2009, 02:10 AM
We've been feeding a stray cat who ended up having five kittens. She turned into hunter-mom, teaching her kittens how to hunt for prey of all kinds. (Even the dogs next door were a little nervous...) In your cat's case, she maybe turned into hunter-mom too. That's part of raising kittens -- teaching them how to find food.

Can you keep her indoors exclusively?

Thank you for your reply, thanks to everyone's reply actually, it has eased my mind a lot more now knowing that its not only my cat that has done this after having her kittens.
Woundergirl I think you could be right , maybe she is bringing them back to teach the kittens are something, but one thing I'm puzzled about is that the kittens have been gone a few weeks now and she still seems to want to do it lol I thought at first it might be to bring the kittens food or something like that but now they are at new homes I thought and hoped maybe she would have stopped it. Oh well I surrpose I will either have to put up with the things coming into my house lol or keep her in which will be very tricky I think as she loves the outdoors. I have kept her inside for today so I will see how she reacts to that. Thank you once again to everyone's replys.been a great help. :)

urbancowgirl7
Sep 25, 2009, 10:28 PM
My cat did this after she had kittens too. She decided out of no where that she wanted to roam CONSTANTLY. I could barely keep her in the house and she starting not only bringing birds and mice and other such animals home and dropping them on my porch, but she'd eat them - well, parts of them. I'd find wings laying around my yard and such. I'm not sure about the whys behind the actions, but based on my cats actions, it seems fairly normal. We prevented her from catching AS MANY animals by making her wear her tags and a noisy little bell on her collar every time she went outside. I don't know if you've tried that, but I think it gives her victims a little more warning. They can hear her sneaking up on them and have a better chance at getting away. It worked for us. It might work for your little darling. Good luck!

Wondergirl
Sep 25, 2009, 10:47 PM
hoped maybe she would have stopped it.
Hey, would you rather have cold boring canned cat food or fresh meat still warm from the kill?

ladyaew
Sep 26, 2009, 02:34 AM
My cat did this after she had kittens too. She decided out of no where that she wanted to roam CONSTANTLY. I could barely keep her in the house and she starting not only bringing birds and mice and other such animals home and dropping them on my porch, but she'd eat them - well, parts of them. I'd find wings laying around my yard and such. I'm not sure about the whys behind the actions, but based on my cats actions, it seems fairly normal. We prevented her from catching AS MANY animals by making her wear her tags and a noisy little bell on her collar everytime she went outside. I don't know if you've tried that, but I think it gives her victims a little more warning. They can hear her sneaking up on them and have a better chance at getting away. It worked for us. It might work for your little darling. Good luck!

thank you urbancowgirl, yes I think I will try putting a bell on her collor, like you said that way they will have more worning :) thank you for the advise, has helped a great deal everyone, thanks.

and yea woundergil I suppose so, boring cat food to a life pray would be more appealing ai lol oh well, I just hope something works like the bell on the collor, maybe she won't bring as many back x
thanks once again

urbancowgirl7
Sep 26, 2009, 05:05 AM
You are so very welcome!

morgaine300
Sep 27, 2009, 12:35 AM
Hey, would you rather have cold boring canned cat food or fresh meat still warm from the kill?

Well, one of my cats prefers the boring canned food. The other one seems to prefer crickets. :p