How do you stop Cats killing birds and small mammals?

[GuyBoden]

Any ideas how to stop the neighbour's cats from killing birds and small mammals?

A newish neighbour has four cats another neighbour has two cats. The blackbirds that nest in our garden every year have all been killed yet again by cats. Three cats sat near the hedge and killed the non-flying baby fledglings as they left the nest, I arrived too late to intervene.

My wife asked the neighbour very nicely if they could keep their Cats indoors until the Baby Blackbirds could fly, this takes the fledglings about a week from leaving their nest , but obviously this was too much trouble for the neighbour.

I like cats, but there seems to be too many, so small mammal wildlife seems to be depleting every year.

 

[welsh dragon]

You can't. Cats kill anything that moves. My neighbour had 4 when they moved here and the cats killed just about everything.

You can try various options and gizmos but unless you are there 24/7 they will come into your garden and hunt.

 

[MontyVeda]

solar cat repeller

 

[slowmotion]

Aversion therapy. Powerful jets of water are reasonably effective at securing the perimeter.

 

[Sterlo]

Kill the cat?

 

[slowmotion]

Kill the cat?

Certainly effective but unfortunately illegal. I suppose that you could argue that the cat was worrying your livestock.

 

[fossyant]

Four cats here. All indoor/cat run. Very good at killing flies.

 

[PK99]

Kill the cat.

 

[Baldy]

.22 rifle.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Agree with @slowmotion
Water - doesn't even need to be powerful. Jets, sprinklers and sprays set up to operate when a movement detector is triggered is the way to go. Also you can do target practice with water shooter things from windows which overlook the garden. Aversion treatment does work and the cat will find somewhere else to hunt - the neighbour on the other side perhaps - but it's not a quick solution or one that can be switched off once the cat is hunting elsewhere. You always need to be one step ahead of the cat!

 

[Kingfisher101]

My cats once disturbed a rats nest in the garden and they were bringing me rats over, I'd kill them with the spade and they would go and get another. Like terriers would do. Theres not much you can do, one of mine was indoor until he came here. Hes had loads of mice and rats and even birds when he was walked on a harness.

 

[figbat]

Y’know birds aren’t mammals, right?

 

[slowmotion]

Agree with @slowmotion
Water - doesn't even need to be powerful. Jets, sprinklers and sprays set up to operate when a movement detector is triggered is the way to go. Also you can do target practice with water shooter things from windows which overlook the garden. Aversion treatment does work and the cat will find somewhere else to hunt - the neighbour on the other side perhaps - but it's not a quick solution or one that can be switched off once the cat is hunting elsewhere. You always need to be one step ahead of the cat!

As a bonus, add some washing up liquid to your squirting water. It tastes utterly vile, and cats do like to lick themselves.

 

[kayakerles]

Y’know birds aren’t mammals, right?

True, Figgy, But I think everyone get the gist… other small living creatures… 😆

However, I read more on that just for kicks and came across this interesting info on https://a-z-animals.com/ (below) shared for everyone's enlightenment…

Birds are not mammals, but avians. Unlike mammals, they do not have fur or hair — instead, they have feathers, though sometimes they possess bristles on their heads or faces that resemble hair. They are not mammals even though they are warm-blooded, breathe air, and possess vertebrae, which are other mammalian characteristics. They’re not mammals even though some species gather in flocks for foraging, hunting, childrearing, and protection the way mammals do in herds.

Birds exclusively lay eggs. Some, like chickens, can even lay eggs without a male, but those eggs are infertile. No bird gives live birth. Many are intensely protective of their young, but (and this is the big thing) no bird nurses its young with milk the way mammals do.

Nature's really cool!

On another note, we used to have quite a few birdfeeders for hummingbirds outside our house. We had to give them away to a neighbor quite a ways from our house because our kitties would sit outside, study the hummingbirds patterns, and swap them out of the sky when they did their bottom loop of a figure 8. Can’t stop them, it’s in their nature! Couldn’t talk the hummers into flying higher, either.

 

[Mike_P]

There is a line of thought that neutering cats before they have littered is delaying their evolution and hence their need to hunt remains rather than realising a human will feed them. There is the odd cat that shows some understanding; a former neighbour had shouted at their cat for dragging some creature home, and again the next day for dragging a carrier bag in - could not help thinking the cat had given it some thought what to gift its owner.