Despite domestication, household cats nowadays still retain certain traits of their wild ancestors and the desire to hunt is easily among the most notable ones. The availability of food has nothing with the prey drive, your adorable companion would hunt even if its feeding bowl is filled to the brim. As a result, every once a while, cats could bring back a couple of "gifts" into the house which is not exactly a nice sight. Things might get worse if your fluffy hunter capture live or partially alive preys and then release them by mistake. Unsurprisingly, "what to do when your cat catches a mouse" is a topic often discussed by first-time pet owners.
Want to stop your cat from placing its prey under your couch but have no idea how to do it? In that case, you have come to the right place. This article could tell you everything you must know about the hunting instinct of cats and what to do when your cat catches a mouse. Generally speaking, it's much easier for you to improve the situation once you get a hang of the fundamentals. So take a look at the information below and figure out the best way to discourage your pet from using the house to store food.
Why Your Cat Catches Mouse And Then Bring It Back
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To Teach You Hunting Skills
Every once in a while, female cats bring back a dead or injured mouse and proceed to consume it in the presence of their kittens. In theory, such a practice allows inexperienced kittens to become familiar with the process of pouncing as well as stalking. To the mothers, hunting is the only way to acquire much-needed nutrients which makes it an essential skill. As a result, cats have to make sure that every member of their family, you included, knows how to hunt. So if your fluffy friend suddenly drops a mouse at your feet, there is a chance that it wants you to hone your hunting skill.
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To Share You Some Foods
While some cats act rather selfishly, others are quite generous to the point that they are willing to share precious foods including freshly captured preys. As with teaching hunting skills/tactics, the sharing behavior is more common in female cats compared to their male counterparts. One morning, you wake up just to see a dead mouse lying on the floor? It's highly likely that your pet simply wants you to have an early breakfast. So you promptly scoop up the unfortunate creature and toss it into the trash bin. After your cat see that the mouse it left is gone, it would assume that you take care of it and decide to bring more.
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To Relieve Pent Up Stress
Hunting carries its fair share of tension so cats tend to play with captured preys in order to relieve stress. You could think of it as a way that your pet uses to prolong the victory celebration along with bragging his/her accomplishment to you. In most of the case, the prey is in a state of shock so it would have trouble escaping the reach of your fluffy hunter. However, your cat could always slip and the next thing you know, you would have a rodent roaming around as if it owns the place.
Important Note: Occasionally, the average cats might capture a mouse only to do nothing with it for a few moments. As mentioned above, most cats go on hunting because they have the desire to hunt, not because they feel hungry. There would be times that your pet gets its pawns on a stubborn prey after extensive chasing but don't know what to do next. In the case you happen to catch your cat in the midst of that, you could distract the cat and get rid of the mouse. Of course, you have to do it in a sensible manner in order to avoid meeting resistance from your pet.
Is It Dangerous To Allow Your Cat To Catches Mouse
When it comes to "what to do when your cat catches a mouse", people often consider that the captured preys present nothing but mere nuisances. Some owners even claim that as long as their pets don't bring back more preys then it's fine. In reality, you need to keep in mind that mouse and rodents, in general, carry numerous diseases along with parasites. Therefore, by letting your cat freely chase after preys, you would leave it and yourself expose to severe health risks. For most of the time, it's strongly recommended that you prevent your cat from hunting rodent as it pleases.
Check us out for further detailed cat health guide!
How To Solve The Situation
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Get A Collar With Bells
Hunting requires a stealthy approach and that means your cat could not get a jump on unsuspected preys if it has a collar with bells. Needless to say, ensure the collar is neither too tight or too loose, you don't want the collar to cause discomfort or get stuck. There are several purpose design collars on the market for cats that tear open when they got caught by bushes or branches to prevent strangulation.
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Play With Your Cat Regularly
Cats hunt in order to relieve stress and accumulated energy so if they fail to hunt repeatedly, you need to do something with the anxiety. The most sensible solution is to play with your adorable pet as frequent as possible.
Aside from that, you could buy special toys that resemble mouse to safely satisfy the hunting desire of your cat.
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Keep Your Fluffy Friend Inside
In the case your cat somehow manages to capture preys anyway, the only thing left for you to do is to remove all hunting opportunities. Among the answer to the question of "what to do when your cat catches a mouse", locking your cat indoors is the most effective one. You are going to need to distract your cat by other forms of activities so it would not feel stressed.
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