Recently there has been an incursion of mice in our house. This month alone, our cats have caught four mice (last November: 2, October: 1). The day before yesterday, my sister tells me that sometime in the morning, our tabby-cats (a brother and sister) caught a mouse. Except, the cats had torn the little critter in half. My cat, Blanco, only had the front half in her mouth. The mouse's bottom half was missing, so we assumed, my sister's cat, Bookworm, had it. He didn't and we still can't find it. So, I assuming Bookworm ate the other half.... or stashed it somewheres. My sister thought Domestic Cats weren't Carnivores, so she doesn't like the ideal that they ate a mouse.
What did she think the pointy teeth were for, staple removal? But good on your cats. I had a couple outdoor cats when I was a kid, but the rest have been indoor, and I've always wondered if indoor cats who'd never hunted real prey in their lives still had it in them to take on a good mouse and actually eat it, instead of just "play" with it to death.
I'm not a cat person but one of my friends has a cat who's 14, been an inside pet all his life, and is neutered, is still fully capable of catching anything that comes near it. That includes birds.
Yep. Had a cat. watched it devour a mouse/rat.. can't remember.. uncle even took a pic.. don't know where that pic is anymore.. However.. it's an outdoor cat.
No, but I don't think she thought they ripped mice apart and assumingly ate them as well... Well, our cats seemed to have proved that theory. You can domesticate them, but you can't take the predator instinct our of 'em.
When I was about 14 I was awaken one morning by the woeful howls of my then 10 year old brother, when I ran into the living room to see what was wrong I saw mouse armageddon - we had a large aquarium with 25 or so pet mice in it, somehow during the night it had come open and the cats had a field day, pieces of mouse everywhere. I still have the image of my favorite little mouse I called "Muska" torn in two, her unraveled intestines still connecting the two severed halves of her little mouse body. All 24 other mice were similarly mutilated - I remember the head on the coffee table, the expression on mortal fear still frozen on it's face, all the little legs and guts and heads, the blood stains on the carpet - I HAD TO CLEAN IT ALL UP!!! My brother was too grossed out, and my mom refused to touch any of it. One of my cats I own today is an excellent mouser, and she at least has the decency to strike fast and leave them in one piece, she even brings them into the kitchen and plops them down right by the garbage can. It makes it much easier to clean up!
My parents cat would kill field mice and birds and leave them as presents on their door step. Isnt that sweet?
I once opened my garage door to find the bleeding lower half of a baby squirrel. I never found out what my cat did with the other half. He does that with moles all the time, leaves me half. At the door or under my window . The worst is if he hides in a place I can't find it and ifind it days later from teh smell of maggots. UGH, I hate that smell. I always pull out the bug spray and spray the crap out of them. He also once skinned a mourning dove alive. I was so disgusted, I had no choice but to take it to the emergency animal clinic and have it put down. (the bird not the cat) On hte note of your sister didn't know they were carnivores. My parents didn't know horses were herbivores, and after I got my horse in the first few months I had him my mom was like "why don't you give him some meat?" and I was like "EWW WTF?" And my dad still gets mad at me for depriving my horse of meat, he just doesn't get it.
lol my 14 year old cat (when she was young) would sneak out at night and i would wake up with a dead pigeon next to me several different times. lets just say now she is strictly an indoor cat.
The reason I ask is, I've read that while the instinct to chase, maul, and mutilate small prey comes naturally to a cat (as you can see if you chuck anything small and rattly across the room for them), eating that prey is a learned behavior and is usually taught by a mother that knows how to hunt. I always thought that sounded a little off, considering a cat is an obligate carnivore and absolutely needs meat to survive. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to do a study on if non-hunting cats can learn to subsist on prey animals on their own.
Well, maybe their mother hunted mice when they were kittens and showed 'em how to. We didn't get to own them until they were old enough to leave the mother (they're father was an Alley Cat, not that means anything in the grand scheme of things). That and they watch TV with us, actually stare at the screen and watch everything that goes on on the screen. Especially when the discovery channel's on. 0_0;
I also must admit that I laughed my ass off at this part in particular: Does this make me a bad person?
My cat kills other male cats. He hates cat penis with a vengance. He's a outdoor too. Strangely he has never attempted to scratch us but will growl every chance he gets.
I had a Ferret once that would catch and skin mice,wierdest thing I'd ever seen. I have one male and female fixed cats that like to play golf with waterbugs,mice,gerbils,and spiders. They'll take them up onto a countertop then slap'm off on the floor.
