Confident and capable domestic cat brings in his kill: a squirrel

Domestic cat catches and kills squirrel. Screenshot.

It is hard for a domestic cat to catch and kill a squirrel as they are more agile than the cat which is saying something. It happens as we can see in this video clip but my bet is that most domestic cats allowed outside don't succeed in catching one. And perhaps if they do, they get bitten in the process. This boy was determined to bring his kill all the way into his den; the family home. I am sure he just dumped it down and looked at it. I'd almost guarantee that he made no attempt to eat it. The cat's name is Flint we are told. I don't know where it happened but somewhere in the UK judging by the woman's accent.

A study found that domestic cats get about 90% of the nutrition from commercial food provided by their caregiver even when they go outside to hunt. It is instinctive and a form of storing food for the future. But most of these prey animals are not eaten. Mice will often be eaten as they are tasty meal containing all the nutrients a domestic cat needs. I am sure that man domestic cats don't even bother to hunt. I feel that the estimates of domestic cats killing birds are exaggerated. They are estimates after all. It is guesswork really. I don't think cat owners believe the ornithologists when the paint a picture of bird Armageddon. 

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Black-footed cats are the deadliest

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Montage: MikeB

The video says that they are the smallest cat species. This is incorrect. That accolade goes to the rusty-spotted cat. But the black-footed cat has been declared the deadliest of all cat species in terms of animals killed in 24 hours, commitment, success rate etc.

Black-footed cats are described as being "outstandingly active and successful hunters, making roughly 1 hunting attempt every 30 minutes, with a 60% success rate. One male was seen to catch 12 rodents in 3 1/2 hours."

It said that in a typical night's hunting one cat would kill a mammal or a bird every 15 minutes on average. They kill between 10 and 14 small birds and rodents a night. This is a large amount of food for a cat to eat on a daily basis. It represents about 20% of the cat's body weight. Large cats such as tigers also typically eat about 20% of their bodyweight in one night when feeding on a large kill but they then go for several days between kills without eating. Not so the black-footed cat. They do it every night. Ref: Wild Cats of the World.

Yes, they are exceptional hunters. They are the best hunters of all the wild cats. As you can see, they are diminutive and they look not dissimilar to domestic cats.

Do hungry domestic cats hunt more than well fed ones?

There is or was a belief that a domestic cat's desire to hunt is divorced from his hunger or lack of it. In other words whether a cat is well fed or not does not affect his desire to hunt prey animals as the desire or motivation to hunt in innate. It is instinctive and the feline will always do it when the prey is available.

This article refers to a study on cat food ingredients and hunting desire but before you read that it has to be common sense that a hungry cat will be a more committed hunter for the simple reason they need to eat to survive. They will kill and eat what they need to survive.

And on the other side of the coin a well-fed cat is less likely to hunt provided the food is balanced and contains all the nutrients but a fed cat will still hunt instinctively with the caveat that each cat has their own desire to hunt. Some cats just don't want to do it. I lived with a female cat who was disinterested for instance.

High quality wet cat food which is grain-free plus play will curb your cat's desire to hunt. Graphic provided by the scientist conducting the study. 

There is no doubt that there is some truth in this but a recent study  might be considered to undermine the theory or perhaps it supports the theory? The scientists found that complete diet cat food as described i.e. wet cat food which is considered by the manufacturers to totally complete, might not be quite so complete as expected as it might be omitting some micronutrients (unspecified). Domestic cats instinctively sense this and hunt mice to make up the deficit.

The scientists decided this because when they fed cats grain-free wet cat food their hunting behaviour diminished by 36 percent. Playing with your cat can reduce hunting by 25 percent.

Martina Cecchetti, a PhD student also of Exeter University who conducted the trial said: 

"Some cat foods contain protein from plant sources and it is possible these foods leave some cats deficient in one or more micronutrients, prompting them to hunt."

So there is some potential deficiency in 'complete cat food' which contains grain. Perhaps the presence of the grain in some of these foods triggers a message in the brain of cats to tell them that the food is not quite up to scratch and drives them to hunt for the real thing: a small rodent, their preferred prey animal.

Play also helps to deter feline hunting. This indicates that when a cat has hunted he pauses because he has satisfied his desire to hunt. This is the likely conclusion because playing with a domestic cat is a hunting substitute for the cat. All cat play is play-hunting.

Most cat owners who allow their cats free access to the outside would wish to curb their cat's hunting. Some find it disgusting, others accept it but dislike it. Here are two things that can be done to curb it. Select grain-free wet cat food and play with your cat a lot more.

Click here to read the study.