Cats are natural born hunters, and some seem to love the hunt more than others. Many cat owners never have to deal with removing a dead mouse off the floor or helping a live bird back out the window. Other cat owners can find numerous victims each day, especially in the spring and summer. Cats hunt a wide variety of animals, such as mice, voles, birds and even rabbits being targeted daily. Is there anything you can to do prevent a cat from hunting? Here are a few tips that can help reduce or solve the problem.
5 Tips to Stop Cats Hunting
- 1.Keep your cat stimulated in the home or the garden. Provide toys that help to recreate the hunting experience (cat toys on poles, red dot toys and so on) and spend time playing with your cat when they’re at their most energetic.
- 2.Start making your cat work harder for their food. Hide the food in different places or introduce feeding gadgets that require the cat to think and move to gain access to their favourite meals.
- 3.Stop feeding all the food at set meal times. Mix things up a bit and spread out the food throughout the day and evening.
- 4.Use toys that release treats when the cat plays with it. You can even make your own by placing dry cat food treats inside a plastic bottle that has small holes cut into the sides.
- 5.Stop giving your cat complete free access to the outdoors. Use a cat containment system or cat fencing to limit the amount of hunting your cat can perform.
The natural hunting instinct is too high in cats to stop it from happening entirely. The tips above are designed to restrict the amount of hunting that is possible and also channel the hunting behaviour elsewhere. Do you have any other tips on how to stop cats from hunting? We’d love to hear them over on our Facebook page.