Neighbor cat leaving presents

I have this grey cat that waltzes through my yard sometimes. Sometimes he'll get right up on my back patio and drive my cats nuts as they look out through the back door and watch him.

Now my cats are totally indoor cats. Some of the predatory instinct is still there, but generally they take it out on stuffed cat toys. Piper will take a new toy, pin it down, and pull all the feathers out of it. Then he'll walk around proudly with his tail up and the cat toy in his mouth, as if it were his kill, and he'll even growl at the other cats if they come near his prey.

Last night or this morning some time, Mr. Grey (don't know his real name) did it for real on my back patio. I came out to find the remains of a bird in front of my back door today. Not killed gratuitously. He did lunch on it.

I was thinking that having a predator patrolling my yard might help keep the critters away, although I wish Mr. Grey had dined on one of the varmints killing my plants. The birds may eat earthworms, but other than that they don't harm my plants.

Well, this is the circle of life. This is the way things are. But I have to wonder why Mr. Grey left his trophy at my back door. Usually cats bring trophies to their own humans. I can't even get near this cat. I make gentle clucking noises at him when I see him, but I'm not even going to try to make friends because I think outdoor cats should be afraid of humans. We're way more predatory than they are, and cats are sometimes a human's prey.

I wonder if he did that because I have five cats that sit inside and watch him? (Although usually only 2 or 3 are visible at one time.)

Maybe he thinks if he brings you enough "presents", he can up the indoor cat number to six. LOL I call it cattitude.

My daughter's cat is mostly an inside cat. The first few times she got out, we panicked and got really upset. She always comes back and never goes far. We let her out now if she wants to go. A few nights ago, I stepped out and let her in, only to see a dead mouse on the stoop. I called to my daughter and asked her who's cat Princess is. Of course she told me it was her cat. So I responded with "Good. Then that present is for you.". LOL I let her dispose of the gift.

LOL, you are indeed a fast thinker!! Years ago before all my cats became indoor habitants, my Seal Point used to bring me presents all the time. Like a little pair of bunny feet with no bunny attached. Ewww. Never birds. Mice and voles. He waited to be thanked, too.

Here's my only hunter now, she managed to kill this all by herself, and anyone knows Athletic Socks are the toughest to capture.

LOL! And look at how proudly she holds that tail!

Yes, for all her innocent appearance, she has the heart of a hit man.

I've got to stop this, I'm hijacking this thread!!

If I could, I'd provide a picture of Mr. Gray. But he's too fast for me.

I wonder, though, why he left a trophy at MY doorstep? As a gift for me? Or just because he wanted to tease my cats?

WH~ he may have already adopted you. He sounds rather wild, unlike one that might belong to a neighbor. Might have needed the bird for food? You may get to adopt and keep an outdoor cat?

We've got a Mr. Grey at our place. We call him Tuxedo ('cause that is his coloration). The first year we'd
see him patrolling the fields but never near the house. Then he started coming closer & closer - sometimes
staying in the barn overnight, sometimes coming to the house for food. I sat on the deck near the food
many hours 'til he started eating w/me nearby. I'm able to pet him now though he's very skiddish. Last week
I finally caught him and got him to the vet. He's now fixed & has all his shots. He's not so happy with me
now - I am supposed to put drops in his ears but he won't let me grab him yet.

Our Tuxedo is not a hunter though. Thankfully we have Rosie to catch the mice, rabbits & voles stalking the
flower beds. (She's a rather prickley beauty that prefers to live outside on her own terms. She came with the
property).

I definitely think Mr. Grey is trying to woo you into adopting him.

Tam

We have two of Mr. Grey's relatives living near us. They come to taunt our indoor cats. They are not strays, and are not very well liked in the neighborhood. They kill, birds, squirrels, and chipmunks for the fun of it. Leaving bits and pieces around and not eating them.

It sound's like your Mr. Grey is looking for a home and offering gift's to woo you. You should try Tammy's approach to see if he is interested. We take in strays as well and the hardest part is that first visit to the vet.

Yes, those sound like "offerings" and a tentative hello. Do your inside cats get agitated when he's out there? My big guys used to scream and fly into a fury, attacking the patio door when the little barn cat from across the way came up on the deck. He hasn't been around for a long long time, so I think a car might have gotten him. I see another cat from time to time but it doesn't come near the house. If yours aren't disturbed by the visitor, and he turns out to be free of disease, etc. you might well be adding him to your family.

Yes, I think maybe you've already been adopted, and it was his way of saying he's got the outside covered.

Yes WH, maybe to keep him around as an outside cat. Even me 88 yo mum keeps a cat food bowl and water out. I said Mom do you have a cat? "Oh no, but there's one that stays around here." She likes him as he mouses and lets her pet him. A outside cat could be assistance when gardening. Help you dig, fertilize, wrap around your legs.... : ))

I thought I'd share a pic of our adopted cats. They will hopefully be good mousers. The one on the left came first a few weeks ago. I got him out of the ditch across the street and no one knew he he belonged to. He was quite tiny, lethargic and thin when I found him. A few days ago, the same ditch owner brought us two more. One was not quite right but we let him stay as he was friendly too. Night before last he was under my mower and I didn't know it. :( The girls have become very attached to them but we have an understanding that they will be outside cats. Now we just have to convince the little male named Wilt (on the left). LOL They call the girl Cookie. They have two nice big barns to play in.

They are so cute.

They are charming, kittens always are... Is it Wilt as in Chambelain or Wilt (ed) like a flower? Cute names...

LOL Wilt is a character from a show the kids watch. We decided the little female looked like cookies and cream ice cream. The third one was named Oreo as he was black on the top and white on the bottom with a bit of other pattern on him. I am still very upset about his demise. It would have been worse if he had been here longer than two days but it was still awful. ;( They are delightful in the garden so far and are enjoying their life here. Wilt is a spoiled rotten baby and has to come in at night but we are forcing him outside longer and longer each day.

They are adorable! How could you not want them to curl up on your bed at night.

About Mr. Gray, I've been thinking about keeping a bowl of water and one of kibble outside for him. He doesn't seem to be afraid of my cats, but I think he knows that they're behind the screen/glass and can't get at him. I think he comes up to the door to tease them.

He is a very pretty cat. All solid grey. And dang it! I've already named him!

I wouldn't mind having a guard for my garden.

Way to go W_H!

Snicker. Giggle.....cats always seem to get their way don't they? LOL

I learned long ago you never have to go looking for a cat. Just step outside, and let the Universe know. You can even specify the color.

I hadn't seen another cat besides mine in the neighborhood until last night, and a big old ginger tom was trying to woo my Miss Magnolia. He'd have been surprised had she given up her virtue to him as mine are all... ahem... gender neutral. He wouldn't let me pet him, but I'm happy enough to have him in the back yard.

since when does gender neutral mean there's no interest?

True enough -- my getting spayed didn't get rid of that... hmmm...

But seriously, I don't know if he was attracted to her -- she surely wasn't sending out any "musk" -- or they were just discussing territorial boundaries. She just looked a little confused.

And I hope Soferdig's right about composting "poo" -- especially with an outside resident -- as those brand new raised beds look like Four Season litter boxes even to me!

What was the poo conversation? I've always heard that the poo of domestic animals is a no no in gardening. I know cat poo can be dangerous to a pregnant woman.

It's in the "soil and composting" forum. Cat poo can be very dangerous, but only if the cat actually has toxioplasmosis, which most don't. Better for pregnant women not to handle the stuff anyway, of course.

Upshot of the use-in-the-garden discussion is that if you do hot composting, poo should be fine for the plants. I'm no expert, and I'm still not dumping the litter box into the compost bin, but some of them do it and it works fine. Check out that forum -- you'll see the thread.

Ah ha! Thank you. ;)

Meezers, the hijack was worth it! Can't decide which photo is funnier!

Aawww Badseed!

White Hydrangia, keep him if you can. Adopted feral cats are my favorites. DH built insulated cat boxes with plexiglass windows for the ferals that stayed here. It was so funny to see them look out the window.

He's got water already. It rained, and I've still got two buckets full.

And he's got catnip. He nipped my little volunteer down to a nub. Yet he was graceful enough not to step on the broccoli beside it.

Maybe if I put a shoebox and a rug out there for winter....

DH also formed wire into a cat cozy and covered it to cut the wind. A nice little blanket and most cats can stay warm.

W_H ~ There is your answer! The catnip plant. It is like a mark of distinction on your home to a cat. The hobos used to mark the home of kind people who would feed or help them. The cats look at the catnip plant in the same manner... How can we not like someone who likes a cat... : ))) pod

We've actually rigged up heat lamps & a shelf for the cats in the barn. They've got
their own beds w/blankets under the heat lamps. My DH even made a little set of
steps to help Annie (who we just had to put to sleep at 20yrs old) get up there.

Our Tuxedo Cat aka Mr. Grey has very comfortable accomodations.

Tam

So sorry about Annie ~ We had Luvenia who made it to 20. You know how special people are when you see how they treat their loved pets.

It occurred to me, though--the squirrels dig up my squash seeds for snacks and raid the bird feeder. If I put out kibble, they'd just raid it, too. Any squirrel baffle would be a cat baffle, too.

Hmm. A conundrum.

When my Poppy died I never wanted another cat. We have 2 small inside dogs and that was enough for us. Then about 6 mos. ago I looked out on the carport ont night and lo and behold there was a large grey cat eating from the coon dish. I tried for several nights to get him to come to me but he would not. Then we put out our live trap and trapped him. Since we already had a covered outside dogcage we put him in there. After a couple of days, I was able to pet him when I fed him. He is still our outside cat and says in the covered pen at night in his own bed. We had him fixed before he started spraying so don't have that to worry about. He still tries, but nothing. You can tell he was well cared for, accustomed to being inside, betting petted and loved, used to a potty box (when he is inside and has to go he goes to one of our bathrooms), mostly eats dry cat food but wants a dish of warm milk at night and a vienna sausage when the dogs get theirs of a morning. My husband put a potty box in the pen because that is what Harry (we named him that) was used to one. He follows my husband and the dogs when they go for a walk in the morning or evening. When I am weeding or working in the garden he is right there with me. We have a little golfcart that looks like a 57 chevy and he will now go for rides with us. He sits right on the seat with us and the dogs. I detest people who throw out animals. I consider them to be one step below some of the savages on earth. Liz

Liz - sounds like Harry is one lucky cat!

The people who dump animals are actually a step below whale manure!

Seeing as this is a grey cat thread ; ), this guy wasn't a dumpee intentionally. We found him on the porch at work, just yowling. He was wearing a harness for a leash and was poor looking (skinny). It was between hurricanes last Sept. We took him in and tried to find his family. When we couldn't, I had him fixed and vaxed. He stays at work as he hates other cats. I know he is missed as he is the best mannered guy, we named him Scraps (someones leftovers...)

Since this is a cat thread, orphan Zoe.

And orphan Petey.

They were all sent to you because you would love them and care for them. Shame shame shame on those heartless rotten people who left them to fend for themselves.

This handsome boy was a matte-finish, wire-haired, starving displaced feral when we trapped him late September last year. All of the shelters and rescue groups said he was not adoptable and would have to be put down since he was wild and couldn't be handled. (He was in a cat playpen in the garage for two months before I could get him comfortable with humans close by and with being touched). The feral cat groups said I should just neuter, vaccinate and return him to the outside. I couldn't see any sign of a colony near our home......and I certainly was not going to let a black cat outside near Halloween. It was a long road for him. We're proud of how far he's come. He's turned into quite the snuggler. Still gets a few time outs alone in the back bedroom if he gets too aggressive with his foster mom and brother, but overall he is doing very well.

WH, forgot to mention, your new companion has probably been noticing how warm and happy your other cats are and has been bringing presents to all of you in the hopes he will be accepted as part of the pride.