Chicken Killing cat.....Need advice. (WARNING GRAPHIC PICS)

[Chicken.Lytle]

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Forget animal control. They advised feeding a feral cat that was causing predation!

 

[Tala]

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I personally would NOT take this route. Yes I would shoot the cat and treat it as suspect for rabies, especially because it's growling at humans!!!!!! But all my animals are vaxxed (and chickens are not mammals they don't get rabies) so I don't want to risk having a bunch of government bull crap brought down on my property. I've heard of them requiring all your animals to be put down, etc. so no way am I setting myself up for any kind of questioning.
Raccoon sized live trap, cat food/tuna/whatever, and a .22 to the head as humane as possible.

Not true about the Gov't coming in and making you put all your animals down. I had a raccoon kill one of my chickens, I beat her with my bare hands and had to get rabies shots. I have, in addition to chickens, goats, dogs and cats. None of my animals had to be tested, quarantined or put down. The trapping and trip to the State Lab was handled by a local animal control officer.

Just sayin'

I think my local animal control officer hates me. Just sayin'

 

[Teresaann24]

I also Pondered a cat killing my chickens I thought for sure he could not kill and eat that much of a chicken.

So I did get a trap and set it with sardines. I caught nothing....Left the trap out for 2 weeks and put fresh food in.

So one warm summer night while sitting on the porch all chickens were locked up for the night here the cat comes stalking around the cages and sniffing.

Another thing one of my silkie hens died (Unknow reasons) So I set her out to burry her later when I came back she was gone. I thought for sure the cat had gotten her and ate her. I found her drugged under our deck but the cat never ate her or plucked her.

I planned to take a pic of him today but he never came around.

Here is some more pics.

In this pic is of the half eaten one only legs the other is of my show girl roo who was in the side cage who seems to have had a heart attack but no injury signs.

This night also a pullet was missing

Here is another pic of feathers everywhere.

 

[Catstar68]

Is that a hole in the chicken wire???
and the way some of those bones are shredded.....
it has to be a raccoon or opossum.

 

[farmerjan70]

I would have to agree on the raccoon or opossum with the looks of that hole in the chicken wire. But, feral cats can cause alot of problems..... I had one that got 2 turkey poults through the wire of a rabbit cage that I was putting them out during the day to get some grass. I caught it in the act with the second one, but couldn't get the 22 quick enough. It has since disappeared, not by my hand, but I am not sorry that it is gone. I used to let my pet rabbit out to graze some and one evening it got it before I could go out and get it to put it in before dark. I was really p...o.., but said well, it was out loose....but the turkey poults were the pits. They will kill anything that they can if they are really feral. I'd get rid of it, period.

 

[Grim]

you've got a problem all right. but not the cat. i've already told you my thoughts on that. i'm guessing a coon or a fox. if it wasn't the wrong time of the year i'd say one with adolescents. i'm assuming you lost 3 5.5 to 6.5 lb chickens and about 3 to 4 lbs was eaten from each. predators can only hold about maybe 1/4 their body weight. so a big coon (25lbs) could eat 6 lbs. a fox is about 22 lbs. so about 5 lbs of meat. these are large specimens. but those are the usual suspects for the attacks. the typical cat is just too small to eat roughly 10 lbs of meat. i'm betting on a mated pair of foxes.

 

[Teresaann24]

No its not a hole there was a door there I made from a pet taxi to open and close it. I had removed it to use it on another cage when the two inside were killed.

Speaking of the devil I got a pic of him just now.

Here he is staying the distance he always stays and he was growling.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I'm with the others here...I don't think the cat is doing it. I have found that chicken wire as a barrier is pretty much worthless when raccoons, oppossoms, foxes, and dogs come around. However, you don't typically find a cat willing to rip open chicken wire...especially not a cat who is being fed scraps and doesn't look (from the pics) to be starving....

Could you get a game cam just to be sure? I know the cat is causing you worry, but if you can't shoot it, catch it, or get animal control to deal with it, your options otherwise are pretty limited to keeping it. May as well make 100 percent sure it is your killer before you destroy it, if you are going to do so...

Good luck!

 

[Catstar68]

If that cat is a stray then he's in good shape! and if it's a male then he is young or already neutered. Looks like a female to me.
Positive she doesn't belong to anyone? I'm thinking the growling is just a defense mechanism but I'd not try to grab her. If she keeps coming around and lets you get this close then she is probably not totally wild, you may win her over with food. A yard kitty isn't a bad thing to have if it doesn't bother the chickens. I don't think the cat is killing your chickens, obviously.

 

[Cass]

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I have that cat's sister in my back yard all winter....it dissappears in the summer however. I wonder if a "snowbird" lets it loose when they go to FL.

As far as the following you and growling is concerned, it may be the cat's attempt to communicate with you, but it's purr is broken. Buy some cat food. Put it out for the cat. If it stops growling and continues to follow you, you may have the world's best mouser. If you store your feed outside/in the coop, a good mouser would be an asset. It looks to well kept to be feral.