My Roommate's Cat Just Killed a Bird

[Chas]

Cats are crazy and will kill for pleasure regardless if they are going to eat it or toy with it. Love cats! I saw a Discovery channel episode once that listed the cat as the most dangerous predator alive, or something to that effect, and I almost started laughing until it explained how many birds, mice and everything else they kill annually and most of the time just to watch them poor suckers die.

No, they don't 'kill for pleasure'. It is simply their evolved behavior - they are predators.

[Cyberman]

Every cat's wettest dream:

[ShaMan]

But what if your bird's cat had killed your roommate?

[LastPoet]

They are clever enough to get to our vaunted human feelings. They just purrr alot to get to your weak side. Evil, they are. Or clever, whatever suits your purposes on this convo,

[Cyberman]

No, not evil. Just cat. For instance, they only use their meow, apparently, to communicate with us, mimicking human baby cries. They don't do it amongst themselves. They're very good with the bigeyes, “look how cute I am“ stuff. And we fall for it!

[naimless]

I was just outside, enjoying the cool evening, and listening to this close-to-annoying-but-not-close-enough-to-lack-cuteness bird singing it's little heart out, when I realized it sounded different.

Then my roommate's cat (the sweet one) hopped the fence with the poor thing in his mouth.

I started yelling at him, he was like, "but Auntie Becca- I brought you a present!" and meanwhile this bird was screaming in pain. He dropped it; it hopped under the fence; and he went back over the fence to finish the job. I was so relieved when the cries stopped.

I'm not sure what to do. We have two cats, and while the boy cat would probably be content if we didn't let him go outside, my cat would literally tear the house to shreds. My cat doesn't kill things, though. We also have a young dog who's used to going in and out through the doggy/kitty door, and I think she too would tear the house apart if she didn't have the access. She's a sneaky one.

I'm not sure if I'm looking for advice. I'm just sad about the bird, and my roommate's sleeping. Thanks for reading

This is delusional. You may not have seen your cat kill things but it does. Contrary to popular lolcatz beliefs, these animals are more comfortable murdering than manicuring. It's a general fault of modern humanity to assume ownership and domestication of the mini-tiger. Shame on us for forgetting it pounces.

[Autumnlicious]

Birds shit on my car, the walk, and sometimes me. They also nest under my air conditioner making a terrible racket most of the time.

If a bird can't avoid a cat, tough luck.

I once saw a squashed pigeon at a bus stop.

I started laughing - a master of three dimensions got steamrolled by a retard stuck moving in two.

I have cats and I enjoy watching them.

Something is really funny about their behavior when you realize most of their little brains are devoted to visual processing.

[Broseph Ballin]

Then my roommate's cat (the sweet one) hopped the fence with the poor thing in his mouth.

I started yelling at him, he was like, "but Auntie Becca- I brought you a present!" and meanwhile this bird was screaming in pain. He dropped it; it hopped under the fence; and he went back over the fence to finish the job. I was so relieved when the cries stopped.

Dang, that sounds pretty sad. The way I see cats are as two sided creatures. There's the sweet, innocent side, which is what everyone loves about them, this includes their good looks and funny behaviours. On the other side, you have an evil, sadistic murderer that kills without remorse, and probably takes a lot of pleasure in doing so. Cats are very weird :p

[Tonus]

I'm not sure what to do. We have two cats, and while the boy cat would probably be content if we didn't let him go outside, my cat would literally tear the house to shreds. My cat doesn't kill things, though.

Don't be too sure.

Okay, that probably doesn't ease your mind. Look at it this way-- the cute birdie is in heav... no wait, that won't work either. Shit.

---

That's kind of funny, because my wife and I feed a group of strays that live nearby, a regular group of about four that always show up, and they've been joined by a mama raccoon who comes around and helps herself, too. The cats never bother the raccoon. She's just one of the gang.

As I understand it, raccoons can be pretty nasty customers. Bad attitude and the tools and ingenuity to back it up. The cats probably realize they're a few links further down the chain.

[JuliaL]

Sure cats kill because they want to. Think gun nut but with teeth.
In a typical ecosystem, not skewed by humans, the cycles of population growth and decline keep both the predators and prey in balance. Too many predators? The prey population declines and the predators starve. Too few predators? The prey population grows allowing the predators to also increase.
The bad news for birds is that people think cats are cute and feed them so they don't starve when the numbers of prey decline. If you like birds and must keep cats, keep them indoors. Or let them starve when they've killed all the birds in the vicinity.