So our cats are going crazy on the populations of mice and birds. It's like they think it is their job to exterminate them ALL. 
Our cats have always been good hunters, and we would occasionally find the spoils out in the yard or garage or something. Not great, but we could live with it. However, in the past couple years now, the cats realized they could bring things inside through their little cat door. Jack loves to kill and eat anything he kills, and Marvie feels the need to bring things in (always at 3 or 4am) and meow in a way that Jack must understand perfectly because he always just leaps off the bed toward the meowing Marvie to see what she has. And, frankly, I am trained to this sound too, her other meows don't wake me at all, and this one gets me flying out of bed as fast as Jack. The reason it gets me flying out of bed is because often, the thing she has in her mouth that she wants to give us, be it squirrel, mouse, rat, or bird, is often still quite alive. I come out of the room hoping my human words will for once be understood saying in as loud a whisper as is possible at 4am... "DON'T DROP IT!" right as she drops it and the thing starts running or flying for dear life. Then, Marvie doesn't really care about it anymore, because she has deposited her present for me, and begins licking her paws to clean up after the hunt. Jack, however, never thinks the game is over until it's really over, and he starts leaping all over to catch the whatever it is. While I am generally not afraid of any of the mentioned animals, I don't love thinking of them running over my bare feet in the middle of the night. And rats are truly disgusting and kind of scary, so I end up getting a little worked up. So then I am basically rooting Jack on, following him trying to point at where I think it went, hoping he will catch the thing so that I can just catch him and throw him out with his prize, that I then have to make sure he doesn't bring back in to eat. I mean, their cat food isn't even inside the house, why must they use our clothes closet as their preferred eating area? Feathers form the birds are the worst, and finding the liver and kidneys of a poor little mouse on my bedroom floor is not fun either. This scenario didn't happen very often in the past. It was annoying, but what's a dead mouse in the house every now and then? No big deal. For some reason though, this spring, the cats are on a killing rampage. For the past few weeks, it has been at least one animal a day. One day, Marvie brought in two mice and a bird just by herself. Last night, she brought in a live bird, a little one which I somehow caught and put outside, and then only about 2 hours later, I had just finished feeding jeff and was coming down the stairs when I saw it: another bird, this one was a big one, sans head, and there were a fair amount of feathers surrounding it. She must not have called out with her little "I killed something for you" meow because she knew I was busy or something. Argghh. Jack just wants to show off his prizes by leaving only what he won't eat, so I wake up to him crunching bones. It is really gross and frustrating. I don't understand why cats who are fed well would be hunting so much they could easily survive on it! Weird. I also don't understand why cats who seem so clumsy (for example, falling off the chair on which they are sleeping or hitting their head while jumping up on to something) could be so coordinated to catch living things that are small and fast, especially birds! I mean, they can FLY! Anyway, I am buying them some new collars today that at least have a bell on them. Maybe a bell the size of those at Notre Dame Cathedral. Heck, I would be happy if the collar just played a heavy metal song all the time. Maybe it would help give the poor little critters a chance. 
Our cats have always been good hunters, and we would occasionally find the spoils out in the yard or garage or something. Not great, but we could live with it. However, in the past couple years now, the cats realized they could bring things inside through their little cat door. Jack loves to kill and eat anything he kills, and Marvie feels the need to bring things in (always at 3 or 4am) and meow in a way that Jack must understand perfectly because he always just leaps off the bed toward the meowing Marvie to see what she has. And, frankly, I am trained to this sound too, her other meows don't wake me at all, and this one gets me flying out of bed as fast as Jack. The reason it gets me flying out of bed is because often, the thing she has in her mouth that she wants to give us, be it squirrel, mouse, rat, or bird, is often still quite alive. I come out of the room hoping my human words will for once be understood saying in as loud a whisper as is possible at 4am... "DON'T DROP IT!" right as she drops it and the thing starts running or flying for dear life. Then, Marvie doesn't really care about it anymore, because she has deposited her present for me, and begins licking her paws to clean up after the hunt. Jack, however, never thinks the game is over until it's really over, and he starts leaping all over to catch the whatever it is. While I am generally not afraid of any of the mentioned animals, I don't love thinking of them running over my bare feet in the middle of the night. And rats are truly disgusting and kind of scary, so I end up getting a little worked up. So then I am basically rooting Jack on, following him trying to point at where I think it went, hoping he will catch the thing so that I can just catch him and throw him out with his prize, that I then have to make sure he doesn't bring back in to eat. I mean, their cat food isn't even inside the house, why must they use our clothes closet as their preferred eating area? Feathers form the birds are the worst, and finding the liver and kidneys of a poor little mouse on my bedroom floor is not fun either. This scenario didn't happen very often in the past. It was annoying, but what's a dead mouse in the house every now and then? No big deal. For some reason though, this spring, the cats are on a killing rampage. For the past few weeks, it has been at least one animal a day. One day, Marvie brought in two mice and a bird just by herself. Last night, she brought in a live bird, a little one which I somehow caught and put outside, and then only about 2 hours later, I had just finished feeding jeff and was coming down the stairs when I saw it: another bird, this one was a big one, sans head, and there were a fair amount of feathers surrounding it. She must not have called out with her little "I killed something for you" meow because she knew I was busy or something. Argghh. Jack just wants to show off his prizes by leaving only what he won't eat, so I wake up to him crunching bones. It is really gross and frustrating. I don't understand why cats who are fed well would be hunting so much they could easily survive on it! Weird. I also don't understand why cats who seem so clumsy (for example, falling off the chair on which they are sleeping or hitting their head while jumping up on to something) could be so coordinated to catch living things that are small and fast, especially birds! I mean, they can FLY! Anyway, I am buying them some new collars today that at least have a bell on them. Maybe a bell the size of those at Notre Dame Cathedral. Heck, I would be happy if the collar just played a heavy metal song all the time. Maybe it would help give the poor little critters a chance. 
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Oh, the joys of being a pet "momma."
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