Perhaps not the wildlife photograph of the year......

Two of our four cats are hunters and prone to bringing mice in thro the cat flap in our lounge door, surprising how fast you can elevate yourself from an armchair when you see a mouse dangling from a cats mouth, the objective is to get to the cat before he lets the mouse go and you can relieve him of it, and if live let it go again somewhere in the garden, if dead make sure it goes in the dustbin. Came into the lounge the other evening to find three cats lined up along the front of the sideboard, all peering intently under the sideboard, instantly I knew that one had brought in a mouse and let it go, there I was full length on the floor reaching under to catch the mouse, success caught him and released him in the garden to fight another day. Dave W

Best show the mice re-runs of Tom & Jerry before releasing them. It might give them cat-outwitting ideas.

We have one old (11yrs) female cat who is a prolific hunter. Our younger male does not hunt at all. The female will catch squirrels, rabbits (all sizes) and every version/size of mouse/vole/bird (including pigeons) whatever. The rabbits are caught at least 100 metres (but more like 150-200) from the house and are dragged through a wire mesh fence, 80 yards up a steep garden and if not eaten on the patio are somehow dragged through the cat flap into the garage. In some cases they are dead before coming through the cat flap, in others very much alive. If the kitchen door is open she will bring dead ones in and eat on the bathroom floor. If still alive she will release in the hall and then case around the house after it. The weird thing is she eats the head complete with skull, but occasionally leaves one ear, then she will dig into the body cavity for the heart and liver. To look at her you would think butter would not melt in her mouth. When she has dragged a rabbit home she is absolutely worn out.

Colin

Trouble is they usually end up getting worms from eating their catch, we had a neighbour once whose cat was either vomiting hair worms or had tape worms on it's backside or sometimes both. It was a friendly cat that spent time around us. They never bothered to treat the cat so we got some tablets and sorted the poor thing out ourselves.

Both cats are regularly wormed and de-flea'd.

One of our cats has recently become a successful hunter of pork chops....

Nicholas, which area of the UK has free ranging pork chops? 😳. Dave W

I have great admiration for anyone who can get a worming tablet down a cat.

Our cat has emergency exit ports that form in his cheeks when required. That's 'required' by him, not by us.

At his recent annual check-up, the vet successfully got a worming tablet down him but, several years ago, even the senior vet needed several attempts and even then had to call for a second tablet after the first one got lost on the consulting room floor.

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Edited By Swarf, Mostly! on 11/08/2022 19:11:15

We had a similar cat many years ago, when in the vets and any tablets had to be administered it was out with the thick leather gauntlets and she became a fearsome monster, at home as placid as could be and very loving. Dave W

Hi, reading a post in the current water thread, Derek Hall 1 mentioned Denver Sluice on the river Great Ouse, which reminded me of these two photos I took during the time we were installing an eel pass for the firm I was working for in 2010.

Apparently these birds normally made their nests in rushes, reeds or clumps of grass and mostly made of dry reeds, but they did choose a spot above the water line at least.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 13/08/2022 23:08:50

LOL indeed. I had a device like a ball-point pen with a spring-loaded claw on the end that held the pill and fired it down the cat's throat at the push of the button on t'other end. Simples in theory. But holding the cat's mouth open and getting the "gun" in behind his tongue for a straight shot down the gullet, well a different story! Especially without losing any skin or raising blood (mine).

And he got cunning enough to hold the pill in his mouth for very many minutes before discreetly depositing it behind the couch after the fuss was all over.

Edited By Hopper on 14/08/2022 11:04:44