My Cats vs Birds

Rascal and Buddy both love to stalk birds, Buddy at times catches one or two for her meal.

Rascal stalks birds from the house windows, she crouches low and sits waiting and watching, looking like she's ready to attack at any moment and anyone who dares to shut one of her windows gets swatted or snapped at, so we leave Rascal to her bird watching in peace for the most part, although my brother sometimes will try to pet Rascal which usually gets a cranky how dare you disturb me noise and a swat or nip to the offending hand. If Rascal ever escaped outside it wouldn't surprise me at all if she was able to catch her own birds. She's quite good at hunting anything else she sets her mind to, whether it's finding where we've hidden all 25 of her Dasani water bottle caps at 3 am or finding the catnip toys we sometimes hide around the house just to give the smarty pants cat something to use her brain for besides mischief.

Buddy stalks birds outside usually from the deck, back porch, Peony bushes, Tiger Lilly patch or from the grave where Shawna and Cuddles are buried which is surrounded by rocks of all different sizes and shapes so it makes a perfect hideout for a black cat waiting for some unsuspecting bird to come her way before she leaps and pounces. Most times her hunting is successful and she proudly carries off her fresh kill either to the deck or under the front porch, then later when she's finished she buries whatever remains there may be.

Tigger and OJ don't seem interested in the birds whatsoever, they are quite content to ignore the birds and eat whatever food is provided for them.

I feel sorry for birds in our backyard because against Buddy and her stealth sneak attack skills they don't stand much of a chance when she decides to go on a hunting expedition.

Comments: 13

Len Maxwell Mar 30, 2012, 2:27pm UTC

I think you're lucky Buddy buries the remains. We once had a cat that brought her kills into the house to show us what she'd done. It wasn't unusual to find her lying in the middle of the living room with a dead bird between her legs. Once we acknowledged her prowess, she'd take it outside and eat it.

Ashley S. Mar 30, 2012, 3:23pm UTC

We praise Buddy for her skills( we see it as less canned food she'll eat) and tell her what a good girl she is for burying the remains and that since we already know she's a master hunter we don't need to see the remains. Buddy thankfully listens although probably thinks us humans are an inferior species because we cater to her finickiness about her her food and don't hunt birds from the backyard or anything else for that matter. We don't have a need to go hunting and don't have the heart to kill something.

Ashley S. Mar 30, 2012, 3:31pm UTC

We consider ourselves lucky for that fact since growing up we had 2 cats that would hop up on Mom's bed with a mouse that wasn't dead yet and start playing with it or they'd drop it into one of Mom's shoes which then Mom killed by wrapping the open part in a towel and then when she had a hammer or some other hard object to use as a weapon before releasing the stunned mouse to the floor and smashing it.
Mom hated it when cats did that and thankfully we no longer live in the drafty old farmhouse I grew up in, we sold it and moved to my Grandmothers home which thankfully is rodent free and mortgage free.
We do have to put poison up in the attic area every year because we live near an FS station so when grain starts coming in the mice do too. We've never had one in the house though.
If we ever had a mouse in the house I'm quite certain Rascal would fix that quite quickly.

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William M. Mar 31, 2012, 5:24am UTC

Cats are all different and most will try to catch the birds.

Ashley S. Apr 2, 2012, 2:57pm UTC

True, I suppose that Tigger and OJ perhaps are the sort of cats that figure as long as they're getting good food and don't feel the need to hunt or if it just isn't in their nature like with Buddy since OJ & Tigger both want to come in the house so we think and our vet agrees that at one time they were indoor cats but till we get them neutered and treated for fleas and get them an overall health screening we shouldn't bring them in because of the risks of 1 unwanted kittens since Rascal is a girl and 2 unknown health risks to Rascal since we really don't know their health history other than they've both been in a few scraps at one time or another.
OJ though we've noticed doesn't clean under his tail very well or at all, he's always got dark staining on his fur around his rectum which the vet said could just be because male cats sometimes are a little lazy with their grooming habits compared to female cats who mostly can't stand to be dirty anywhere. Since neither OJ nor Tigger appear to have tapeworms that's a good thing but there's still a risk of heart worms.

William M. Apr 2, 2012, 6:58pm UTC

I hope every thing works out for them. Love the way you care.

Ashley S. Apr 2, 2012, 7:32pm UTC

Thanks.
I love cats.

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Pam Brittain Apr 2, 2012, 8:39pm UTC

Poor little birdies. I had a cat that brought me an unharmed baby that had fallen out of the nest. She gave it to me to take care of.

Ashley S. Apr 3, 2012, 2:15pm UTC

Yeah poor birdies, most of them I doubt even know that there's a large black cat waiting to catch them. That was nice of your cat to give you the baby that fell out of its nest to care for. Buddy I doubt would have done that.
Rascal probably would have looked at it funny and gently batted at it with her paws trying to figure out what it was and what she should do with it.

Pam Brittain Apr 3, 2012, 6:21pm UTC

I can so picture that.

Ashley S. Apr 4, 2012, 2:38pm UTC

Rascal is a sweet cat when she wants to be but she's named Rascal for a reason, she loves mischief! Rascal is full of energy and is a very inquisitive cat, she'll be 3 this fall. Last night a had fun watching her attack her favorite catnip toy which looks like a Christmas tree, it even has short faux fur on the backside to entice cats to play with it, she's trying to bite a hole in it but so far it's holding up quite well to her use.
Buddy hates catnip, the last time and only time we gave her catnip was last spring and I sprinkled a little on the deck thinking she'd roll in it or eat it, instead she sniffs it and turns around to pee on the spot where I'd put the catnip.
We're thinking about getting a bottle of catnip bubbles for Rascal's Easter gift. She's never seen bubbles but knowing her love for chasing things I bet she'd have a blast with them.

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Franklin Newman Apr 4, 2012, 12:55am UTC

My Maggie can be a good hunter, when she wants to be. She's known for bird-watching in the window, but she's a strictly indoor cat. She is a master spider catcher, when she wants to be.

Ashley S. Apr 4, 2012, 2:43pm UTC

Rascal shows the few flies, gnats, moths and mosquitoes that come inside who's boss and eats them, or kills them and leaves it on the bathroom sink edge, or in the bathtub, she loves it when we get crickets in the house, she hunts them down and nabs them from where ever she finds them and takes them into the bathtub to play with and remove their legs one by one, then when they quite moving she just leaves them there. She may be having fun but it looks and sounds more like torture to us.
Rascal doesn't go outside. Buddy is mostly an outdoor cat but when weather calls for it we bring her in, usually when it's too cold at night to leave her outside. Rascal and Buddy don't get along so Rascal gets locked in my bedroom for the night whenever we have to bring Buddy inside. Thankfully we had a mild winter and Buddy could enjoy being out more, which meant more freedom for Rascal.

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My Cats vs Birds

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