It’s four in the morning and I have just saved a mouse from a certain but slow death at the hands of my cat’s hunting skills. The mouse was hiding between two walking boots. I could hear the squeaks. This was an easy mouse rescue. I took the mouse outside and released him.
My cat did not mind that I’d stolen his prey. He had a sniff at the vacant spot and went outside again looking for another one which he duly found within 20 minutes and returned with it in his mouth.
About 5 minutes later, under my bed, I hear the dreaded crunch, crunch of a cat eating a mouse starting at the head. Within 60 seconds there was no mouse except for the gall bladder and a bit of blood which will need to be cleaned up later.
My cat then nibbles on some dry cat food (Hills Oral) and proceeds to venture outside again for some more hunting.
I am waiting for him to return with his third mouse in a hour. Of course it is the season for mice. These poor little blighters are being born one minute and killed the next by a monstrous tabby cat.
It is a short life of a few weeks or whatever. The mice look young. What don’t I like about it? I don’t like having to find and catch mice in the house. It is difficult because mice move fast and hide well. I don’t like hearing their terrified screams as they face off with a massive tabby. He’s not that big but he is bloody enormous for a mouse.
I don’t like having to clean up the mess and I have to find it first. There is not much left but it is not nice.
And what about the birds? Is it worse when a cat kills and eats a bird? Not long ago he brought in a robin. Yes, it was two in the morning, so it appears that he had attacked a sleeping robin, returned home with it and partially eaten it under my bed. The picture is testament to that.
People think it is worse when cats kill birds. They rate birds as more valuable than mice. Well, I call that speciesism. They are all God’s creatures.
And you know what, my cat is the classic crepuscular killer. He is on my bed sometimes until about 3:30 am when he gets up and goes out to find and kill. He knows the mice will have woken up and are active in the early dawn. Time to hunt.
He has no shame or concern. It is all normal and instinctive. He can switch from warm, just-killed mouse to cooked prawns in seconds. From warm raw to chilled cooked without blinking a eye. We can’t do that, can we?
P.S. Some domestic cats are far more interested in hunting and killing than others. We are better off living with the non-hunters. And I know that the ones who read this will say, “keep him inside!”.
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Cats are born hunters and we should appreciate their rodent hunting skills. Most cats do not do well against birds in my opinion. Cats can climb trees, but do not do well in getting back down. Most likely the cat finds a bird that is sick, old, injured, or very young that fell.
Most species loss is likely due to loss of habitat from mankind’s selfish expansion.