Can A Cat Be Trained Not To Kill?

jefferd18

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This may sound like an odd question considering we are talking about cats, but I am having a problem with one of my cats killing smaller animals. Last summer he managed to kill both of my parakeets. I have two cockatoos, which, because of their size, he leaves strictly alone. I know cats have the predator instinct but that is not one of their traits that endear them to me. Plus, none of my other cats kill, in fact, I haven't had a killer cat
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for quite some while. Is there any way to train them to not kill, will my two year old cat eventually grow out of it? He is well fed, he kills for no reason. I hate to have to give him up.
 
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susanm9006

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No, I am sorry but I don’t think there is, although if you start when they are very young you may be able to get a cat and a smaller pet to coexist. But otherwise their natural instinct is to hunt and kill and you can’t train them out of that. You just need to keep your birds caged, or at least when the cat is loose.
 
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jefferd18

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No, I am sorry but I didn’t not think there is, although if you start when they are very young you may be able to get a cat and a smaller pet to coexist. But otherwise their natural instinct is to hunt and kill and you can’t train them out of that. You just need to keep your birds caged, or at least when the cat is loose.

Thank you for replying.

The birds were caged but he knock it down and got them. I haven't had one that killed in a long time, in fact, my other six cats just ignore the birds. This one was so determine to get the parakeets that when I squirted him with water to chase him away from their cage, he would just double back by going around me . Nothing deters him.
 
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jefferd18

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Now that is an interesting idea that not even the parrot site I belong to came up with. Thank you, I will try that. I don't want to get rid of Figaro.
 
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jefferd18

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Or you could put the smaller cage in the larger one and let the cockatoos make the larger cage their cage. That would let the birds
visit with each other.

Thank you for the suggestion. Bandit, my Bare Eye Cockatoo might enjoy that because he is kind of lonely for a birdie companion.

Now Fred, my Umbrella Cockatoo won't go for it because he doesn't know he is a bird, he thinks he is a little feather human.View attachment 292263
 

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Libby.

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Some cats are just natural hunters. Of all my cats, I've only had two that were. One was Bogart. He was a rescue that lived on the street for a while, I'm not sure how many years. The other was Bounder, we got him as a kitten and he learned how to hunt somehow. Maybe watching the stray/feral cats in the subdivision. But he was very good at hunting. He even brought down a woodpecker once. He also kept the house mouse free.
 

Kflowers

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prey choice may depend on what's available or the cat. Mine only brought down mice, shrews, voles, insects including flies, and snakes. They watched birds but never attempted to get them.
 

Talien

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You can't train instinct out of an animal, some act on it more than others and there really isn't anything you can do about it.

Pretty much all of my Cats have been Mousers, but none of them ever went outside so I don't know what they'd have done with Birds. I did have one that kept trying to get my Frog so I had to give him up after his terrarium ended up on the floor a couple times. Thankfully it never opened, at least.
 

danteshuman

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I would say all cats are ‘micro panthers’ (or mini tigers or mini lions.) Their prey drive is insanely high. Some cats prey drive is higher than others. Some cats were taught how to properly hunt and others (like mine) are city cats.... completely clueless about how to hunt but desperately wanting to hunt! Their hunting/wild side is why we love cats.

My advice? Build a catio and get lots of bird feeders outside. Kick your cat out into his catio the same time everyday (for 2 hours 4 hours max.) Let your pretty birds run free while your boy is ‘outside.’ Also your kitty needs play sessions every morning and night. Just to be safe I would lick him out of the room the birds are in when you are gone.
 
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jefferd18

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Some cats are just natural hunters. Of all my cats, I've only had two that were. One was Bogart. He was a rescue that lived on the street for a while, I'm not sure how many years. The other was Bounder, we got him as a kitten and he learned how to hunt somehow. Maybe watching the stray/feral cats in the subdivision. But he was very good at hunting. He even brought down a woodpecker once. He also kept the house mouse free.
Thank you for replying. I know, most people actually enjoy having a pest free home and yard. I am probably the only person who runs behind my cats yelling "drop it, drop it!" :)

Bogart probably had to hunt just to survive and I wonder if Bounder's mom had shown him how to hunt. I surprised that both of your males were hunters, I had always thought of the females as hunters because of having kittens, kind of like a lioness. Just goes to show you, that even though I have had cats all of my life, I am still a student when it comes to mysterious little felines
 

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I think the chase is instinct, but most of the time mom has to teach
them how to make the kill blow. One of ours caught a mouse in the
house and put it in his food dish. It climbed out. he was shocked. he did the pounce and that was that. Mice have no business in a house
with 8 cats. And being city cats, ours had a lot of practice with roaches and flies.

City pigeons were about the same size as the cats. The hawks scared everyone, pigeons, cats, dogs, and some people.
 
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jefferd18

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prey choice may depend on what's available or the cat. Mine only brought down mice, shrews, voles, insects including flies, and snakes. They watched birds but never attempted to get them.
Thank you for replying to my thread, Kflowers.

Most cats don't go for birds because birds not only can fly away but have the added advantage of having eyes on the side of their heads, hence making it harder for them to be caught by a cat. It is simply much easier for a cat to catch a ground animal than a bird and a predator will always go for what is easier. That is why I get a little put out when I hear of 'bird people' accusing feral and stray cats of wiping out the bird population.
 
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jefferd18

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I think the chase is instinct, but most of the time mom has to teach
them how to make the kill blow. One of ours caught a mouse in the
house and put it in his food dish. It climbed out. he was shocked. he did the pounce and that was that. Mice have no business in a house
with 8 cats. And being city cats, ours had a lot of practice with roaches and flies.

City pigeons were about the same size as the cats. The hawks scared everyone, pigeons, cats, dogs, and some people.
Hawks scare me and I will not take Fred out whenever I see one flying around.

Apparently Figaro's mom taught him that. He was picked up by animal control when he was three months old, I guess that was plenty of time for him to learn

I understand, but I did end up rescuing a baby mouse the other day. :)
 

Kflowers

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You're right only a foolish predator would go for the difficult prey rather than the one that would take fewer calories to get.

I think human over population and pollution are what is doing in the birds, but to say that would mean having to do something about it. it's much easier for them to blame cats.
 

Kflowers

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yep, we rescued a mouse when it got away from our current cat in the house. We told it to tell it's friends there was a cat in here and not to come in. He seems to have done that.
 
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jefferd18

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You're right only a foolish predator would go for the difficult prey rather than the one that would take fewer calories to get.

I think human over population and pollution are what is doing in the birds, but to say that would mean having to do something about it. it's much easier for them to blame cats.

You nailed it. I have told people over on the parrot sites that MAN, not CAT, is the one responsible for destroying the bird species, as well as other species.
 
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jefferd18

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yep, we rescued a mouse when it got away from our current cat in the house. We told it to tell it's friends there was a cat in here and not to come in. He seems to have done that.

LOL!

 
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