Do You Love a Murderer?

My cats hunt and kill regularly, but I only know because I see them. They don't leave a scrap. I buy dry food for them, but they use it to supplement their hunting rather than the other way round. There is no defence. There doesn't need to be one. They're cats.

Well, you really got my attention here. My oldest daughter is in prison for murder. I love her. I dont love what she did. I wouldnt want her sleeping down the hall from me when she gets out. I must mention that i did not raise her. Or even if that would have made any difference in what she had done. Considering that she killed a bf that remindered her of her father who did raise her. Anyway back to the dogs and cats. My Kat family are strictly indoor pets. My Miss Kitty has brutally attacked 2 children. On one occasiobn it was right after her kittens were born. When i left the room she attacked the kids head like that alien movie. I never should have left the room. She made a huge gash on the kids head. The second attack was slapping my grandson and iguring his eyelid. Anytime kids come around i lock the cats up ina room. But if Kitty was a dog she would have been put down. I still love her. She has nearly pierced my nose and lip before. Her nickname is Syble

Yes, my cat's a killer. He gets the occasional bird but it's more usually mice. He brings things home alive so I can generally grab and release the birds or "other" before there is too much harm done. He doesn't often get a bird because he only goes out at night. He's an excellent mouser but I wish he would not bring them home. Cats are hunters and my boys father was a feral cat. He's been de-sexed so he's not making babies or fighting . I'd like him to stay even closer to home ...he doesn't go far, but I can't force him. I tried making him an indoor cat for almost 12 months and he was destroying the place and desperate to go out. He won't use the kitty litter unless it's absolute desperation...he hates it. He will go out at 7pm and come back in a few hours and have some food then go back to sleep for a few hours. He quite often comes in to sleep with me and he comes in every morning then sleeps most of the day. A good mouser is valuable here where we get mouse plagues. We also have legal hunters who help control the feral pig and kangaroo population.

sure, my cats have killed a few rats and a mouse, but those rodents came into their space to get killed, since I don't let my animals out... Well, Gabby slips out, but she has trouble catching a catnip mouse!

Oh hell NOOOOOOOOOO...my cats aren't killers!!! They probably would be if I let them outside, but I don't!!! My 2 Labs are killers & YES I love them in spite of that fact!!!! I realize that it is a natural function for them, but it does NOT mean I have to like it!!! There is one squirrel that taunts them daily...going as far as to bounce on a limb so it swags all the way down to the ground & just as they're getting to him, he always manages to be on the upswing. I just know he's going to screw up one of these days & he'll be a goner. My thoughts...he's been BEGGING for it as he's been doing this for over 2 years!!!! My male NEVER bothered a bird, squirrel or cat until I got the female & she taught him how. Now if a bird swoops through my yard, the female jumps straight up & catches it & then offers it as a gift to my male. Much like cats, they don't kill it, but torture it until I can NO longer stand it & take it away from them.

We have two cats. If it was up to me, we would never have gotten them. I am a big fan of native wildlife and cats are an enemy to these great creatures. I was out voted though, so we got kittens. They were very cute and indoors only when they were younger. Now they are just a pain. We kept them as indoor cats for as long as we could, but they just longed to be outside. One of them would pace back and forth at the door looking out for hours. She still does. She thinks of inside as a prison. We never see her much after they are let out in the morning. She only comes back around feeding time. She doesn't give a toss about us until it is food time! The other one is pretty friendly, never strays far and loves human company. I am pretty sure that she does not leave the property. She loves her food more though and is a little plumper. She is no where near as agile as her leaner sister. The only thing I see them kill is small skinks. Little lizards. We used to get a lot of birds in our backyard which was awesome. We used to love watching them, but now they don't come anywhere near the place at ground level!

I've got seven cats, two of them are over 15 years old and now they only dream of killing feathered and furred creatures. However, the others are a different story, one who is about 7 years old was a stray who was living in a friends green house and living by hunting and scrounging food of people before I adopted her. She proved to be an efficient mouser and she also ate her catches leaving only the heads. (Pause for a chorus of Ewwwwws! from the readers) I'm quite often finding the remains of small victims left by the others. I don't mind them killing mice who will get into my food and destroy my supplies if given a chance, and after all, killing mice and rats and thereby protecting food supplies is a cats primary job. However I do not like them going after the birds and I try to scare them off if I see any of them stalking the birds. Unfortunately that does not stop them from catching them from time to time.

hi pikey no I did not and would not let my cat out for just that reason. i loved having the birds in my yard when we had our own house still I had a big garden and lots of trees and loved watching all the various birds come to the bird bath and to my birdseed. sorry was the day when we sold our house and had to live in apartments. sad indeedl. no cat no dog and no birds.now I am here but thats a whole different discussion lol.

My cats are indoor cats, so no... My cat Fluffy, may she RIP, once caught a mockingbird that was annoying her in mid flight.

I love dogs, period....oh ok, I love them because of their loyal & better nature compared to cats that are.....I shall comment no further, hehe!~

My current cats are indoor pets only, but they are still killers. They delight 'hunting' and catching a stray fly or two, and I rarely see spiders or other insects in the house. I feel that most cats who are pets should be kept indoors...only partially because of their instinct to hunt. Other reasons are diseases, pests (fleas & ticks) and safety issues (for the cat). As much as we don't like to see cats killing the neighborhood birds, we have to remember that cats were originally domesticated because of their hunting abilities, not because they look nice on the backs of broomsticks. (Joking there) Rodent control has always been an important 'job' for our feline friends. With the advances being made in genetics, maybe someday we can look forward to cats who hunt pests...but have an aversion to feathers?

Cats and wild dogs especially are hunters. That's part of their life. Occasionally, house dogs are also hunters. They are more casual and don't consider it really necessary. It's more recreation for them. It's not an excuse; it's the way all these animals are made. If I see my cat stalking a bird, I spoil the hunt, but when he's out on his own, he will kill birds, rats, mice, chipmunks, and anything else that would be on the menu if he was feral. I don't keep my cat in at all times, but he seldom stays out longer than twenty or thirty minutes because he prefers the house to outdoors. And no, if a dog killed a bird, rat, mouse, squirrel, or chipmunk, it would not be put down any more than the cat would. If it goes after someone's livestock or a person, that's a different story because it is either endangering a person's life or livelihood.

My cat is a little huntress. She's killed birds and rats and squirrels and more. I think people go awwww over kitties and fear dogs because they don't think that a kitty is going to turn on a person and kill a person, but they fear that a dog that kills will also kill a person as well as whatever animal it killed.

I neither have cats nor dogs, so no question of having a murderer pet, but usually cats kill birds.. thanks for this discussion.. happy posting, cheers kalyani

I do not own a cat. But I do have a Beagle, Buster. He is a killer. He has brought rabbit and squirrel carcasses to me before. So I am one of those that says, Its natural instinct for him. He was bred as a hunter and or hound so he sniffs critters out. And if he is quick/smart eniugh, he earns a treat. So I do not worry about his "killing". I just hate the mess he makes is all. HAHAHAHA! HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB!!~

It's sad, isn't it; I love cats, but I don't like to think of them killing birds, or even mice; in fact, I don't like to think of any animal preying on another. As a Christian, I believe it's in consequence of Sin and the fall of Men; all of Creation has been affected; although animals are not deliberately cruel as such, simply obeying instinct. One day though, the Bible says that the lion shall lie down with the lamb...and cruelty, killing, suffering will cease.

I don't know if any of my strays are killers but I suspect they are. I caught one of them in my back yard this summer and they stare through the fence at the birds eating the seed I put out! My dog Cookie is a murderess for sure. She's fast enough to catch a rabbit and she did several times when we lived in the Southwest. I saw her once--she ran it down and snapped it neck then started chowing down! She catches birds, too, although she hasn't done so for about a year, thank goodness. It's only natural. Sad, but natural. Animals should not be punished for doing what comes instinctively.

There is no defense for my cats, except it IS their nature and animal instinct to do so. Unfortuante as it is. Especially stray cats, who often had to kill birds and mice and rabbits in order to eat. Thank goodness humans aren't like that. But anyway, my 2 cats are known for killing rabbits, mice, and birds - or at least toying with them to the point where they are paralyzed although still alive. I find it very very sad. I am vegan and a big animal person and it makes me sad. But what can you do? My cats are so spoiled/conditioned in going outside whenever they please that I couldn't possibly restrict them to being "indoor-only" cats all of a sudden, when tehy spend so much of their time outside. Grr. I mean, it's sad, but in a way it's "natural selection" so there's not a whole heck of a lot we can do about it.

you said it's just natural, yeah that's true, pet (cat, dog, others) needs to play something, doing something in the around, learns something, and even kills or eats something! i always check my pets, are they hungry, are they had toys, do they need to go around for losing their boring. Anyway, they still eat my fish, some of birds and chicken, or other pets. Lucky, they didn't ever kill any humans.