how to teach cats to chase bugs, mice

[loulou]

how can i teach my cats to catch bugs and other critters that enter the house? i have 2 neutered brothers, 5 years old, and have until just recently been exclusively indoor cats. now we have a fenced backyard that we allow them to roam. problem is, they don't chase anything either indoors or out. we're in a new subdivision, so some spiders, bugs, and mice are not uncommon in the homes. i want my cats to not rest until they have caught anything living inside the house that isn't a person or the other cat. instead, they don't chase anything or do anything. i've seen them watch a bug crawl across the floor half asleep and do nothing. i've seen them in the backyard watch birds land on the fence only a few feet away and do nothing. what can i do? please help!!

[elizabeth]

well in any species the males don't really hunt things it's usually the females that try to hunt for birds,mice,etc... i have a female cat and she chases everything that moves even my feet. it's pretty funny. also maybe the birds and other animals don't bother them for them to chase them u might just have 2 pretty laidback cats.

[loulou]

yours is the best reply i've gotten. i honestly didn't consider the sex of the cats in determining this type of behavior. does anything think that feeding them less (not starving them, so relax) would get them up and about more and give them incentive to chase and kill?

[MagnoliaFly]

Cant really force a cat to do anything it doesnt want to do. If they arent interested in chasing anything, its kind of impossible to try and interest them in it. Plus being that your cats are 5 years old they dont have that kitten instinct anymore and they're growing into settled cats that just want to sleep, eat and sleep some more.

If you are going to use bug spray or roach traps make sure that your cats cant get to them or they are safe for them to be around.

[Left Paw]

uh- stop feeding them?

Just kidding- our George catches things- kills them- gives them to the dogs- so, it's not that boy cats don't hunt. They just only do it if they don't have to move very fast, far, or much.

Inside- Hermione catches anything, but, unfortunately, she has decided to not kill them anymore. She puts them in the bathtub, which is too tall for them to get out of- which can be very shocking early in the morning. We bought some humane traps- they never went near them. She killed the first 3 or 4 she caught, so I don't know why she stopped.

We moved the garbage bins prmanently out by the road- and moved hte birdfeeders away from the house- they don't get into the pantry (at least we've never found mice poop in there or holes chewed in anything) so we think they're just looking for water.

Maybe that's why Hermie keeps putting them in the tub.

[lusciousdragon]

I am lucky. Both of my cats love to eat moths that go flying by. They bat them with their little paws and then eat them. My cats are both girls and they have unlimited access to food. So the food idea may not work. My Penny cat is quite a big girl now even, and she still eats them (vet says to limit amount of cat food out, but if I do that then the skinny cat (Cleo) I took in a few months ago won't have any food to eat and starve. She is already very mental as she was abused in her old home, but coming around very nicely.) You could try catching a moth or whatever insect and sit in on the cat's nose. The cat would have to pay attention to it then. It might get it up and moving to get the bug off, then it may find that that was a fun thing to do. (?)
Good luck!

[elizabeth]

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR ALL OF U? WHY WOULD U WANT UR CAT EATING BUGS AND MICE AND STUFF LIKE THAT. I WOULDN'T WANT MY CAT TO EAT THAT STUFF THEY CAN GET SICK FROM EATING MICE CAUSE THEY CARRY GERMS AND DISEASES. THEY CAN GET RAT MOUTH FROM THE MICE AND RATS. WHERE DO U ALL LIVE THAT U WANT UR CAT TO CATCH THESE THINGS?

[Left Paw]

I don't WANT my cat to eat them- in fact there was a long post on the hamster site i asked how to catch mice without killing them becuase at the time Hermie had murdered three of them. We got the humane traps- moved the garbage, the bird feeders- but the mice came back. We live in the middle of the woods, though, and there is a huge meadow behind our house- the field mice just keep coming in we think for water- when it rains a lot- we don't see them- when it's dry for a week- hermie's got one in the bathtub again. We don't want to kill the mice- we are looking into buying feed to put onthe backside of the field and maybe somekind of trough that will hold rainwater to try to direct them away from the house. I don't appreciate the condescending way that you shouted about that- mice are animals, too- they ahve to have food and water- we get raccoons and opossums in the garbage, a chipmunk made a nest in the airfilter in my dad's truck- we live in the woods- we moved into their territory- we try to cohabitate with them as peacefully as we can- though we prefer they didn't come in the house. I suppose where you live the creatures are civilized enough to steer clear of your house.

FOR loulou- I was just kidding about the not feeding them thing- just so you know. LOL

[loulou]

thanks leftpaw. but for elizabeth and others, for chrissakes, they're cats. let's not lose sight of that. cats have been chasing, killing and eating mice since long before you and i were here and they will continue long after we're gone. it is (except in the case of my lazy cats) a natural thing to do. remember, they're not babies. they're predatory animals, equipped with claws and sharp teeth for (gasp!) killing. just turns out that this would be a fancy by-product for me to deter mice and other pests from entering the house. gives our cats a way to earn their keep too. i won't mistreat these cats, i just tend to think they're less fragile than some others who've suggested that killing mice could be such a bad thing. again, i think a cat chasing a mouse and being successful in the 'hunt' is a happier and healthier cat.

[elizabeth]

WELL I DIDN'T SHOUT AT ANYONE ALL I'M SAYING IS THAT IF CATS START TO EAT MICE THEY CAN GET VERY SICK. LIKE I SAID BEFORE MICE CARRY A VARIETY OF GERMS. DID U EVER SEE A SNAKE WITH RAT MOUTH AND THOSE MICE ARE CLEAN FROM PETSTORES. IMAGINE WHAT A MOUSE IN THE WILD IS CARRING. I'M JUST SAYING IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO LET UR CAT EAT A MOUSE CATCH IT THAT'S FINE BUT NOT EAT IT.

[Bradley787]

If you REALLY must see your cats try and kill something... then try this... go to a pet store, get 5-10 of the little mice that people feed to snakes and get in a completely closed off area and put the cats and the little mice together and see who wins. LOL

I personally don't want my cats to be bringing in dead gifts by the neck though.

[Left Paw]

fyi- WHEN YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPITOLS IT IS THE SAME AS SHOUTING! My Hermie never once ate a mouse- she plays with them until they expire, so to speak. Even George, our big Tom outside, does not eat anything he catches- leaves them lying in possibly well-planned locations- more than once in the dog's food bowl, like a peace offering. Hermie might eventually eat one if we didn't take it from her, but George eats dry kitty chow and absolutely nothing else.

[elizabeth]

WELL SORRY I TYPE IN CAPS ALL THE TIME I'M ON MY WORK COMP AND WE HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS FOR THE PROGRAM WE USE HERE SO I NEVER CHANGE IT. I LIKE TYPING IN CAPS BETTER ANYWAY.

[Left Paw]

Ok, then! LOL! I'll try to remember that Elizabeth is not shouting at us! LOL!

[elizabeth]

how old are u?

[Left Paw]

You can read my profile, if you like... why?

[elizabeth]

I FIGURED U WERE YOUNG BY HOW U TALKED, BUT I JUST WANTED TO KNOW FOR SURE.

[Left Paw]

I guess that's supposed to be some type of condescension. Last I checked, there was no age requirements on Petshub. Oh, well, back to pets...

We have a new Mouse now. Hermione's afraid of this one, though... LOL!

[Arabianhorses]

Actually, cats are hunters by nature. True that the males aren't very active in the hunting, but all of my male cats hunt all sorts of things.

[elizabeth]

I KNOW CATS ARE HUNTERS, BUT U HAVE TO WATCH WHAT THERE CATCHING DUE TO MICE, RATS, BUGS AND OTHER LITTLE CRITTERS THAT CATS CHASE CAN GIVE THEM HEALTH PROBLEMS. IF U REALLY WANT TO SEE UR CAT GO CRAZY AND PLAY WITH MICE GET THEM THOSE LITTLE MICE U GET IN THE PETSTORE FOR $.50. THEY STALK AND HUNT THOSE THINGS ALL THE TIME I KNOW MY KITTEN LOVES THEM OR GET A LAZOR LIGHT FOR THEM TO PLAY WITH. THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES TO THEM HUNTING. I KNOW IF I LET MY CAT RUN WILD THREW NYC SHE WOULD COME HOME WITH ABOUT 20 RATS AND ALSO SOME ILLNESS.

[MagnoliaFly]

I think the chances of cats dying from a disease from rats/mice/bugs are about the same as dying from choking on toy mice and yarn.

If you keep your cats up to date on their shots there usually isnt a problem. My parents have always had indoor outdoor cats for the last 18 years and none of them have ever contracted a disease despite catching mice, bugs, baby turtles (always brought to our porch alive thankfully), snakes and the neighbors chickens. They of course keep the shots up to date and the cats are on Frontline to keep the ticks & fleas away.

Its just a fact that not all cats want to hunt, especially if they dont have to hunt to eat. It is good to keep your cats well excercised in order to cut down on obesity which is a common problem in alot of animals these days.