Are they completely deaf? Or....

[henrah]

.... just plain slow? Or do they want to be eaten??

Even though we've put a collar with a bell on it around my cat's neck, he still manages to bring in rabbits and eat them on my bedroom floor, leaving a lot of mess behind. And even when I intentionally leave out food for him over night, he still prefers the rabbit over nice, wet whiskas.

He knows that I don't like it, as every time he does it he knows what my reaction will be, and runs away as soon as he hears my voice. When I do catch him though, I hold him next to the rabbit and tap his forehead with my finger quite hardly many times. It worked for him eating out of my other cat's bowl (of which now only a vocal command is needed for either of them to go back to their own bowl), yet it doesn't for this. It seems that he is almost doing it out of spite.


Can anyone advise me on anything else I can do to stop this? The blood and guts are getting a bit too much for me to handle...

Cheers,
Henrah

[prometheus]

I would say stupid. Rabbits are supposed to be much faster than cats. So they just don't run. Are they actually wild rabbits? Maybe you have some kind of supercat...

As for the cat. Cats kill other creatures. That is their nature. Cats can't be taught otherwise. I doubt he knows, or cares about, that you don't like it. So I don't really know what to do about it. My answer would probably be 'Don't keep pets', which is probably a worthless answer.

[pianolearner]

.... just plain slow? Or do they want to be eaten??

Even though we've put a collar with a bell on it around my cat's neck, he still manages to bring in rabbits and eat them on my bedroom floor, leaving a lot of mess behind. And even when I intentionally leave out food for him over night, he still prefers the rabbit over nice, wet whiskas.

He knows that I don't like it, as every time he does it he knows what my reaction will be, and runs away as soon as he hears my voice. When I do catch him though, I hold him next to the rabbit and tap his forehead with my finger quite hardly many times. It worked for him eating out of my other cat's bowl (of which now only a vocal command is needed for either of them to go back to their own bowl), yet it doesn't for this. It seems that he is almost doing it out of spite.


Can anyone advise me on anything else I can do to stop this? The blood and guts are getting a bit too much for me to handle...

Cheers,
Henrah

I could be completely off the mark but maybe the frequency of the bell is outside the hearing range of the rabbit. If you can hear the bell then chances are it is at the low end of it's hearing range.

https://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html

It specifies the range for a rabbit is 360Hz - 42,000Hz

This is really a wild guess, but interesting nonetheless.

[henrah]

Are they actually wild rabbits? Maybe you have some kind of supercat...

Yes they're wild, and he is pretty hunky for a cat. Pure muscle he is, and a pretty fast runner. Heh, 'don't keep pets' is a worthless answer-- what would I do without my adorabel Dusty and Quinny!!


Both of them have always been catching rabbits, but I thought that giving them a bell will give the rabbits a bit of a warning. But as you (pianolearner) say, the bell might be out of their hearing range. Though I don't think this is the case, as 400hz is an A and I know for sure that the bell sounds higher than that. Maybe they've cottoned on to the fact that it rings when they move, so they might just wait until one gets close enough to be caught without having a chance to run away.

I'm starting to think that we have an infinite number of rabbits in and around our garden, and there will never be a day of no rabbits.


I prefer Quinny catching a rabbit over Dusty catching one, as Quinny usually keeps them alive just plays with them, meaning I can intervene and release it back outside. She even bought one into the sitting room a few days ago and it was completely motionless other than it's nose and chest from breathing really heavily. I think it must have been in complete shock or was paralysed because when I picked it up by the ears it didn't squirm like previous rabbits had. Do rabbits know about 'playing dead'?

My previous cat killed and ate them purely outside.... which was nice....


Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated
Henrah

[prometheus]

Maybe you should try to spend a free morning or afternoon trying to be able to observe your cat catching a rabbit. I mean if you are both interested in your pet and you want to know how yo prevent it from catching rabbits this may help.

[abell88]

Cats can learn to move without letting their bells ring.

[henrah]

Ooo, I could put a collar with a bell on each and every rabbit that comes into my garden, so they'll run away from their own movement! That solves the problem but will cost a lot, and will take a hell of a lot of time... or maybe a cat flap that electrocutes the cats or does something else they don't like whenever they bring an animal through it. Wonder if that's possible...

Prometheus, you said it just in time. I don't have a lesson at school until midday on friday, so I'll try and do just that. It'll be quite hard though cos I don't have any binoculars, and I'm certainly alot louder than the cats are

[Bob]

Try another bell.

Maybe something reflective that will catch the sunlight.

Put out your own rabbits for him -- Kill them yourself I guess -- and put lots of spice or tabacco sauce on them.  Let the cats eat that and see if they want to keep catching rabbits.

Keep your door shut so they can't go in your room.

[henrah]

Yeah me and my sis are thinking of getting a bunch of bells and putting them all on him.

Could get him a chrome coat ehehe, a silver metallic cat, imagine such a sight!

That's actually not a bad idea! Though catching a rabbit will be quite hard. I'll definately keep it in mind the next time they bring in a live one. That'll teach em ehehehe

I sometimes do keep my door closed, but when they want to sleep with me I simply can't refuse - they're so cute!! They both make really cute sounds (completely different to a pur or miaow) when I stroke them whilst they are asleep and are just so adorable!
Henrah


You know what's really odd? Some nights Dusty will go to bed with me, and when I wake up he's magically transformed into Quinny! Makes me think I'm in a dream, very confusing....

[pianistimo]

if this was a creative writing competion, i'd say you all won.  the one with the bell out of the rabbits hearing range was quite compelling.  i'd never heard of training a cat not to do things by tapping their forehead (MANY TIMES?) maybe the cat feels like you have abused him and it is therefore his right to annoy you back.  perhaps he is doing this out of spite.  maybe you should just give him a few rabbits for dinner - and he'll start relying on you instead of getting his own (he'd be too fat by then).  slowly start withdrawing the rabbits from his plate and giving him back cat food.

ps  i'm like you and actually try to save the rabbits.  once my cat caught a little bunny and was just messing with it.  i took the bunny and put it in a box and took care of it (saying 'bad kitty bad kitty' so she would develop some kind of complex over biting bunnies).  then, took the bunny back out in the desert for the coyotes to eat (though i hid it in the bushes). 

[gilad]

your cat owns you henrah, thats a cats attitude. they're the king of the jungle.
they dont live in our houses, we live in theirs .

[galonia]

I don't see what the problem is.  In my country, rabbits are pests.  If I ever owned a cat, I'd be proud that it killed rabbits.  Farmers spend ridiculous amounts of money trying to get rid of the stupid things, and governments invest hugely in scientific research to find new viruses and other ways to kill rabbits.  Your cat seems to be doing a good job!

[annoying_airhead]

lol, You're an Aussie right?

[henrah]

The problem is the guts and brains everywhere, not the killing! In fact I adore the fact that my cats are fast and fit enough to catch and kill rabbits, it makes them really sexy. Don't worry, I'm not into beastiality but they do look nicer than my friends cats who stay indoors and eat Whiskas all day, and are really 'sloppy' cats if you know what I mean. I like a cat to have shape, not be skinny but fat.

We just got 6 new bells, so we're gonna think about how we'll attach them to their collars as they didn't come with an attachment. So hopefully there won't be any more rabbit bits to nearly step on!

Can you guys think of a way of stopping them from bringing the rabbits inside? It's fine if they chow down on them outside, but when you get the entire contents of it's intestines - with something else thrown in - in the laundry room, it's not very nice I tell thee.

[prometheus]

Assuming he is Australian, isn't it strange to say there is no problem in killing all rabbits because the Australian ecosystem is messed up, by humans.


Actually, this is very stupid. The Australian immigrants weren't able to appriciate the local fauna so they got some rabbits from Europe. The same with birds. You have got to laugh at that when you see some indigenous  australian birds.

[henrah]

I want to take a frog to Australia, imagine the uproar

[prometheus]

They already have frogs. Frogs are much older than mammals. They originate from before the landmasses being split.

[henrah]

Still, uproar


If there won't be one, I'll make one

[Bob]

A small entrance/exit that they would have to squeeze though (without a rabbit hopefully).

Or a high entrance that they would have jump up to -- where a rabbit would make the jump difficult.

Let them in and out yourself so you can check for other creatures.

Fence up the yard.  Keep rabbits out.  Keep the cats in.  They still get some exercise that way.

Tie a huge cowbell on them.  Pretty picture.  If it's big enough they wouldn't catch a rabbit, let alone walk easily.

I heard of shooting a cat with a squirt gun when they did something bad.

[henrah]

Ah yes a squirt gun! My mum has adopted that idea for the two jack russels she has, and it's seemed to work on them. So yes, thankyou Bob-Bobby-Jim-son!

As for letting them in and out myself, I think that's a very bad idea. The good thing about having a cat flap is that you needn't worry about them wanting to go out and not being able to, thus crapping inside. Or wanting to come in and you not hearing them through other noise around the house and them being stuck outside in the cold and rain. I'd be constantly paranoid that they're either crapping/vomiting inside or that they're stuck outside, and that would be a terrible life for me.

Any kind of entrance/exit that they can fit through will allow a rabbit to fit through, regardless of whether it comes in with them or they push it through first. And the same will go for it being quite high up, and that will also come with the problem of us finding the exact limits of our two cats reach, which will undoubtdly be different and thus when Quinny can just reach it, Dusty will be surely able to reach it.

But the water squirting is a great idea, and I'll keep it in mind.

Cheers,
Henrah

[Bob]

Maybe they just want meat.  Give them scraps from the butcher.  Or actual hamburger.  Get them off the rabbit and get them hooked on the cow man.

[henrah]

For sure!!