Cats and rabbits

[micky 3,325]

I went out sunday morning to check some traps and snares i had laid in the grounds of the local hall,as i was going over the style i heard a rabbit squeal, i looked down and saw a rabbit laying on its side with its head slightly raised, as i was looking a cat sprang from nowhere and just seemed to touch the rabbit on the neck ,and was gone in a instant. The rabbit lay there twitching as if it had just been shot,i picked the rabbit up and it seemed to be more shocked than injured,though on closer inspection it had a deep cut over, and in, the left eye.Further down the bank i had my next rabbit,it was the same size as the first ,3/4 grown,and had been caught in a wire by the back leg.I had 3 more old does in snares, and 5 youngsters in fenns.when i arrived home i dressed the two 3/4 grown ones and found that the one the cat had ,had,had ,two small puncture wounds to the neck ,and the cut to the head and eye ,the rabbit caught by the leg [Who was happily hiding in some Coltsfoot and did not want to come home with me] was scratched all over its belly and back legs and a deep bite to the thigh.Now common sense tells me the cat done it as they were only ten yards apart,put why did it not make a better job of it.

[woodga 170]

feral cats are worse than foxes they will kill and eat rabbits caught in snares usually eating from the neck along the back,if i catch any they dont get a second chance they cause so much damage to wildlife every one i kill is a bounus

[Dawn B 212]

Cats will usually only taken small kittens, tey dont often take a bigger Rabbit, or not that I have seen, many Myxi ones though. I have a Belgian Hare here, I keep him as I dont want the Terriers chasing or persuing Rabbits. That aside, one of my cats will stalk the Rabbit, and "trip" him up like a Cheetah or big Cat would an Antelope, he then jumps on his back and holds the Rabbit by the back of its neck. The cat NEVER harms the Rabbit but it appears to be immobilised almost instantly and doesnt move untill the Cat gets off. Perhaps the Cat you saw is just playing with a "toy" that cant escape and has no interest in killing or eating it.

[micky 3,325]

Cats will usually only taken small kittens, tey dont often take a bigger Rabbit, or not that I have seen, many Myxi ones though. I have a Belgian Hare here, I keep him as I dont want the Terriers chasing or persuing Rabbits. That aside, one of my cats will stalk the Rabbit, and "trip" him up like a Cheetah or big Cat would an Antelope, he then jumps on his back and holds the Rabbit by the back of its neck. The cat NEVER harms the Rabbit but it appears to be immobilised almost instantly and doesnt move untill the Cat gets off. Perhaps the Cat you saw is just playing with a "toy" that cant escape and has no interest in killing or eating it.

Dawn, the cat had already dealt the death blow,when i picked the rabbit up it was in deep shock and dying.I live on a small lane in Leicestershire and this time of the year its allways alive with rabbits,next doors cat is allways bringing them home,big ones ,small ones,she takes on all comers last year she killed a well grown leveret.

Micky

[Dawn B 212]

Blimey, not used to seeing that here!! It was when you said it was more in shock than injured that made me think the Cat wasnt intending to kill it. I had a cat that only ever caught and killed Squirrels, same thing you describe, two holes on the neck, nothing else. The cats I have now are all confined to my property alone.

[scothunter 12,609]

I had the same prob mate.Then one day i came across a big tabby in a rabbit snare.Spitting and hissing like a king cobra.You ever tried getting a cat out a snare.I haven't

[snareman 3]

feral cats are worse than foxes they will kill and eat rabbits caught in snares usually eating from the neck along the back,if i catch any they dont get a second chance they cause so much damage to wildlife every one i kill is a bounus

cats kill full grown rabbits with relative ease, one winter morning i had eight full grown rabbits killed and half eaten all from the back of the head down, as woodga says, the following morning , there were two culprits waiting for me in the wires , the problem that arises with a feral cat working the location is that it keeps the rabbits in, and the catch rate is lower until the rascal is caught . another morning when dispatching rabbits in snares out in a grass field fifty yards out from woodland , there was a comotion behind me in the rhododendrum bushes at the edge of the wood , next minute a full grown cock pheasant broke out through the fenceline, with a large feral cat in hot pursuit , as the bird flew up the the cat leapt up and tried to claw it out of the air , they are worse than a fox as they are also great climbers . and just a bloody menace to wildlife in general.

[bagforthebadgers 0]

Very true, they are one of the worst pests to birds and wildlife in our country I reckon.

[comanche 3,298]

Cats are quite clever at not being pecked bitten , kicked or clawed by their victims. One of the reasons cats sometimes seem to be playing with prey is to avoid injury .They tend to knock the victim about and claw at it in order to disorientate and disable it before the coup-de -grace with a well-placed bite.

[Phil Lloyd 10,739]

Edited October 3, 2008 by CHALKWARREN