cat eating his prey...risky?

[silkiemum]

Advice, please--

We recently moved from the city to a semi-rural 5 acre property, and our cat (half-Siamese) has become a wildlife killing machine. He has caught and consumed birds, rats, field mice, even a wild rabbit--all in the past week. We're considering getting him a bell for his collar, but my main question is: is he at risk from eating these animals, and are my girls at risk too? He does try and bring his kills home to eat (yuck) but we've been able to catch him and clean up/get rid of the prey pretty quickly. Any zoonotic ickies I should be concerned about?

Thanks in advance,

Andrea in WA with the girlies (1.5 and 3.5) and Smudge the destroyer of flesh and fowl

[Jemmind]

Cats can get/carry toxoplasmosis from eating stuff like that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis

[willowsmom]

He's getting a nice raw diet, in my opinion. Obviously have good hand-washing and whatnot...but...no. I wouldn't be worried. I'd enjoy not having to spend as much money on food.

[Nicole915]

The most immediate danger to your cat is mice / rodents that have consumed Decon and have not yet died. The drug is active in the prey, it can kill your cat. Mice are known to have a very large home radius, which seems counter intuitive to me, but I'll leave that to the wildlife biologists. That said, knowing that you or your immediate neighbors don't use decon will not ensure that the cat is immune from contact with an affected animal.

As far as birds and other small mammals go, there is a risk of other parasites/ pathogenic bacteria that are zoonotic (will transfer to humans) in the food chain. I can't find my client education handout about them on my computer right now, but I'll look at work. Some of the bacteria / parasites are shed in the feces, which means that the litter box, places the cat walks, the cats body and grooming tools should all be out of contact with anyone who would not want to contract these zoonotic parasites/bacteria. This population includes most sane people, but also infants, children and the immune compromised.

What most people end up doing is getting a bell collar, the break away type in case he gets stuck. This gives the prey more of a fighting chance, but will not preclude the cat from catching the rodents treated with decon... as in many cases those creatures are of diminished capacity. Domesticated cats are also known to be the largest (by quantity) predator of song birds, which are in peril these days, so if you've got a soft spot for birds the bell will assuage some of that concern, too.

(I'm not your vet, and this isn't medical advice)

[nd_deadhead]

If you live in the plains, your cat could bring home fleas carrying the Plague (yes, THAT Plague, yersinia pestis).

[phatchristy]

The previous posters have already given you a good start, also there are certain worms which are transmissable to humans that cats can carry. Plus, make sure kitty is vaccinated for rabies as they can get it from eating an infected animal.

[gingerstar]

I'm not here to scare-monger, but my neighbor's cat died after eating a bird and its bone ruptured the cat's intestine.
(I know it was not rawfed, and maybe the cat didn't know how to eat it? I don't know, but the neighbor is very sad.)

[grahamsmom98]

What previous posters have stated is all true.

I don't know if your cat ever leaves your property (it seems every cat owner denies their cats ever leave their property), but it is also at risk from your neighbors if, like us, do not appreciate someone else's pets on their property.

We have neighbors on the property up the hill from our home. They have a huge barn and lots of alpacas. But, their cats always come down to our area as we have bird feeders.

No amount of complaints to the neighbors worked. We finally had it and took the matter into our own hands (and, continue to do so). SSS.

Build it a kennel and keep it (and the native wildlife) safe.

Bell collar or no bell collar doesn't make any difference. Cats can move with such stealth, the bell is silent. A friend of mine has an outdoor cat that killed 45 hummingbirds in one Summer (she found and counted their beaks on her patio over the course of the season). She keeps hummingbird feeders because she loves attracting the little jeweled wonders. And her cat loves eating them.

He's getting a nice raw diet, in my opinion. Obviously have good hand-washing and whatnot...but...no. I wouldn't be worried. I'd enjoy not having to spend as much money on food.

: It is a domesticated PET. It is not part of the natural eco-system. Wildlife has enough hardships to fight without having to deal with uncaring humans and their pets. If you have a pet, be responsible and purchase whatever diet it requires. Allowing it to kill wildlife so you can save money is totally callous.

[angie7]

I have an outside cat that has killed a few birds that we know about and kills the mice we get in our basement. My only concern would be parasites but she doesn't live indoors at all (her choice, she was stray that wandered up) so I'm not concerned about my family getting sick. We are getting ready to move to 9 acres and I'm looking forward to her taking care of the mice out there for us. FTR, we still do feed her cat food...

[silkiemum]

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I moved from a no-poison kinda place recently, so I hadn't even thought about the rodent-poison issue. It seems like a bell is the way to go, plus increased handwashing. He is already up-to-date on his shots, etc. We already feed him lots of very high quality kibble, so he's doing it recreationally--not because we're skimping on food! ANd FWIW, cats aren't technically domesticated; there is a technical word for their status which totally eludes me for the moment.
Off to find a safe (for the cat AND the birds) bell collar combo.

--Andrea in WA

[Jemmind]

Originally Posted by silkiemum

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I moved from a no-poison kinda place recently, so I hadn't even thought about the rodent-poison issue. It seems like a bell is the way to go, plus increased handwashing. He is already up-to-date on his shots, etc. We already feed him lots of very high quality kibble, so he's doing it recreationally--not because we're skimping on food! ANd FWIW, cats aren't technically domesticated; there is a technical word for their status which totally eludes me for the moment.
Off to find a safe (for the cat AND the birds) bell collar combo.

--Andrea in WA

I've never heard cats arent domesticated. They can be feral, but your pet cat is most definitely not feral.

[Girl In The Fire]

Domesticated or not they do not belong in the local ecosystem. At best they would be considered an alien or invasive species.

If I owned a cat disease would be the least of my concerns; coyotes, neighbors that dont like cats, and cars would be at the top of my list. We live in the suburbs but I know a lot of people that make cats that come on their property "disappear". Years ago we used to have lots of outside and feral cats in the area. Once the coyotes moved back into the area the cats disappeared in a matter of months and it is pretty uncommon to see stray cats. The coyotes here are some of the fattest fittest coyotes I have ever seen. Coincidence, I think not.... HTH

[BaBaBa]

Yes, it's true. An outdoor cat in a rural area tends to use up it's 9 lives pretty quickly. We have had 3 barn cats on our property and only one made it longer than a year. It's just a question of time before the predator becomes the prey.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Don't forget west nile. We had a friend who's cat died after eating an infected bird. FWIW, you can get a fine in most places from animal control from having your cat outside, especially if he is caught eating threatened species, such as song birds.