A few times now Cat has returned home and presented me with a mouse or on one occasion a dead bird. Sometimes I see him flicking a mouse about the garden until it finally succumbs.
I’m told and read that this is all part of a cats’ nature and I understand that when it happens. It’s still very sad when it does happen. Especially when Cat has plenty of food provided for his sustenance.
Today after being let out in the early afternoon he was back within a minute with a sparrow in his mouth. He then dropped it on the doormat in the hall. With my ever ready retrieval glove I scooped it up. I thought it might be dead but there was some movement. The only place I could put him safely was the half filled garden waste bin. If I’d left him in a bush he would no doubt have dropped to the floor only for Cat to retrieve him later. So the bin it was.
After putting him in the bin, on his side, I noticed his left eye was open but his right had been damaged probably when Cat caught him. He was still breathing and had only lost a couple of feathers. I left him alone with the bin lid ajar by a couple of cms or so.
A short time later I checked and he was upright and perched on a small twig in the bin. A bit later and I saw he had moved to the edge of the bin and was drinking water from a leaf.
So I put a small tray with water in so he could easily drink if needed. I then opened the lid and secured it to have a gap of about 25 cms.
Returning a short time later I saw he was sitting on the edge of the bin having jumped or flown a good 75 cms to get to the rim. I made a few checks and saw him sitting on the rim with his head facing out. A bit later I noticed he had gone. I checked the area and inside the bin but couldn’t see him.
I’m hoping he’s recovered enough to have flown into a nearby bush or tree to be able to roost. Even with only one eye he has at least got a fighting chance and hopefully will be able to survive and keep away from cats. Just in case I’ve left the bin lid ajar with some water inside just in case he returns.
Update 2/8/21
During the night Cat went outside for 3 hours but didn’t come back with any presents when he returned at 11:30pm. So this morning I went outside and checked that the bird wasn’t on the ground anywhere. I then let Cat out for his morning constitutional and noticed after he’d been around the back and front gardens that he set off as usual to check other peoples gardens.
An hour or so he returned at speed with what I thought was a bat dangling from his mouth. After getting him to drop it I picked it up (I was wearing nitrile gloves expecting a delivery) and saw it was the poor bird from the previous day.
He was still moving about so again I placed him in the garden bin as before with the bin lid just ajar. During this operation Cat was in the house and didn’t see where the bird went.
After a while I’d let Cat out again and saw this…
And later this…
He sat and lay there for ages. I can only think that he heard the bird chirrup or could smell him.
I picked up Cat and brought him inside and went through the same procedure as before. With the bird perching on a twig inside I opened the lid wider. Then after a few hours I checked and the bird had gone. I hope this time it’s gone far away or high up in a tree!
I know the suggestion is usually to fit the cat with a collar carrying a bell. Cat is getting friendlier and I can handle him to some extent. But I don’t think he’s ready to let me fit him with a collar yet. I don’t want to spoil the trust we’ve built up by scaring him. He/was after all a stray. Also he climbs and wanders a lot so I’d be concerned about him catching the collar in a tree, bush or fence and strangling himself. Plus a bell jangling 24/7 might drive him, and me, insane.
