Cat lovers will understand Options

[Maizie]

Our cat has a new habit (if 3 times in 8 days constitutes a habit) - she's bringing in a mouse and putting it in the bath!
I think it's so she doesn't have to try and keep it under control to present to us when we get up - it's corralled in the bath so it'll just wait until we wake up. So she's being lazy really (the bath seems to be a relatively recent discovery for her, because our bathroom has spotlights she also gets a really well defined shadow in there [against the white bath] and sometimes when she keeps me company in there she gets in the bath and chases the shadow of her tail...)

[Crotchetymum]

That's very clever of her! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) And of course so much easier for you to catch the mouse and get it outside again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (if it's worth putting outside again, that is...) One of my cats loves drinking bathwater - it doesn't seem to matter how soapy or bubbly, though she doesn't like too many bubbles on her nose and gets cross if the water is too hot for her to drink quickly.

[bassoonista]

Simba, AKA Shouty Man, didn't approve of his lunch yesterday, so he went out, only to reappear minutes later with a dead baby rabbit, which he dropped into his food bowl. That's me told (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Maizie]

And of course so much easier for you to catch the mouse and get it outside again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (if it's worth putting outside again, that is...)

These three have been fully fit and healthy, so I think she is catching them as presents. She does adore her toys and takes every opportunity to kill her orange fluffy ball (which now is neither orange, fluffy, nor particular ball shaped!) and she's always seemed to enjoy playing with her "live toys" in the past - until they break and then she abandons them after a while.
So it's very odd for her to be bringing them in and then not playing with them! Still, the bath does make it very easy to catch and release (she collects them in the back garden, and we release them in the front garden, because otherwise she goes straight out the catflap to the back garden to bring it back in - so I assume it's not the same poor/daft mouse being brought in again and again!)

[corenfa]

mine has now decreased in circumference to look normal (as according to http://www.realage.com/pet-health/fat-cat-obesity-in-cats) and can now go off short rations.

[Maizie]

My cat is enjoying the weather - she's currently crashed out asleep in the greenhouse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[corenfa]

I'd wondered why there was a patch of grass in the garden squashed completely flat - it's the cat's favourite rolling spot. Just saw her see off a rival from next door attempting to claim it

[Aquarelle]

I don't know what to do. We have three cats - much loved and cared for. Each on is a rescue job. Over the past few weeks a fourth has tried to move in. He is half Siamese, not neutered and was thin and very hungry. We don't know where he came from. He took great care to make friends with our cats and dogs in the garden before moving into the kitchen. Then he moved into the rest of the house. He hasn't yet asked to come in at night but we can't keep the doors and windows shut during the day. We can't not feed him - he comes in and steals food anyway.

And as if that isn't enough a second tom has now arrived. This one is all black, extremely thin - really starving. He is timid and so far has only ventured into the kitchen but the other night I left the cat flap on the in only position as we went to bed before one of ours had come in. In the morning she was in and so was the black cat and I cannot describe the mess - he had emptied the dustbins and ripped open a packet of cat biscuits stored high up on top of a cupboard.

We really can't keep five cats. There is no animal refuge anywhere near here and the vet won't take them. Finding homes for cats here is a nighmare - people won't neuter them so every now and again there is a suplus of unwanted animals.

[corenfa]

Oh dear. I hope you manage to find a way around this, unfortunately I guess the survival instinct is so strong that they just go to wherever the nearest food source is.

[maggiemay]

: ( I don't know what to suggest. I'd be worried too. There's no way you can put food away from the house - at the far end of the garden, in an outhouse or something? to dissuade them from getting too 'domesticated'.

[Cyrilla]

Agree with maggie...what a difficult situation, Aquarelle...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Aquarelle]

Well, the update is that this morning as soon as I opened up to let our cats out in came the half Siamese - now dubbed Brynner because of "The King and I". He finished off everyone's breakfast and then went off. He is looking a bit healthier after several days of decent food and having been wormed.

At lunch time, the black one came in through the cat flap. He is so thin you see his ribs and his fur is quite patchy. I'm afraid we fed him and gave him some cat milk. He is timid but very affectionate and although he seems to know about houses and food out of tins and people he is very nervous. He is obviously also very tired and wants to sleep but hasn't the confidence to do so. We wormed him today so that at least what food he is getting is of use to him and not the parasites.

Your suggestion maggiemay would be fine if it weren't for the fact that that we don't really have the possibility of putting food down outside. We have a car port, not a garage and the shed where we keep the lawn tractor etc is no good either. If we left the door open the dogs would eat anything left and if we left only the window open our own cats would do the same. And we might even find ourselves with others turning up - to say nothing of the local wild life.

My partner says we should resign ourselves to keeping the weaker of the two - the black one who obviously can't manage on his own. The we should get the other one neutered, vaccinated and well fed and then take him to another village and dump him in the hope that he will, having had a new start, manage to move in with someone else. I don't really approve of that but haven't come up with anything better yet. As I said, we have no animal sanctuary anywhere near and so far no one I have asked wants to take him on.

I'm not very happy about this and up to my neck in end of term work which doesn't help.

[Crotchetymum]

It's a horrid position to be in, Aquarelle (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

If the half-Siamese is getting stronger, and has good survival instincts, your idea might be the most sensible: if you can give his strength a boost and then take him elsewhere to try his luck in a different neighbourhood that might be the best solution for him - at least you're giving him a fighting chance.

Good luck.