Do Cats Eat/kill Squirels

[Mocha]

Hi everyone! At my sister’s house, we grow tomatoes, and the squirels always eat them as soon as they are ready to pick. She was wondering if getting a cat (from the shelter) would help. It would be mid age and most cats at my local shelter were picked up of the streets.

Her questions are:

– Do cats attack and kill the squirels?

– Is it safe for them? The cat would always be up to date on shots, but what if the squirel was sick?

– Would that cat know to come back inside at night?

– Are cats (who kill small animals) okay to live with rabbits (with an x-pen blocking direct contact)?

Thanks for any advice!

[BrunosMama]

I wouldn’t suggest letting a cat purposely fight with a squirrel. They are nasty nasty fighters and can do serious damage to the cat, like shredding ears/face etc. Same with things like groundhogs and possums. Yes, they can kill them, but its very risky.

The cat may come inside at night. But if its a previous street cat, it may revert back to those habits and prefer to stay out all the time. Also, cats who get in the habit of killing for food, like squirrels, would be more prone to looking at an inside bun as food where as a fat lazy always-been-indoors cat might not care.

If the squirrels are eating your tomatoes, you may try giving them something else to eat, like corn? Or maybe keep cages around the tomatoes or netting.

Hope that helped!

[Stickerbunny]

Instead of a cat to eat them, why not put up some repellents for them? Or a mesh you can latch/unlatch to protect the plants?

If you got an outdoor very high prey drive cat it would kill some of them. But, I doubt it would keep them all away ( we have cats around here and squirrels still are frequent, my mom has 7 cats and she still has squirrels). And it would likely view any rabbits as prey as well and they can jump over an x-pen. At the least, it would likely scare the bunnies acting like it wants to eat them. And it can give cats worms and other parasites and such to eat wild animals. Not to mention it would terrorize the local birds as well. And no, a cat that hunts and lives outdoors doesn’t always come back in. My mom allows hers to go out and they hunt and since they do not require food from her, she might not see them for weeks at a time (she has a doggy door so they are free to come and go).

[LBJ10]

I don’t believe in allowing a cat roam around outside. They kill birds and other wildlife and they poop in flower beds and gardens. They can really be a nuisance, especially if they are doing these things in the neighbors’ yards. I know some people allow their cats outside and that is their business. I just personally wouldn’t do it. An outdoor cat has a considerably shorter life expectancy because so many things could happen to them outside (dogs, wild animals, cars, getting caught in something, etc).

Do cats kill and eat squirrels? If the cat has a high prey drive and the squirrel is within striking distance (i.e. not clear up a tree), then yes they can.

Is it safe for them? Squirrels tend to not have diseases like rabies. They can have parasites though, which a vaccine would not protect against.

Would that cat know to come back inside at night? Well, cats have minds of their own. They may or may not want to come back in. If they are hungry and they are fed inside, then they will come in. If they are eating squirrels and it’s nice outside, they may not. Depends, I suppose.

Are cats okay to live with rabbits? There are people here on BB with cats that live around bunnies with no problems. If a cat had a high prey drive though, how are they to know that those bunnies are not something to attack? My childhood cat snatched a gerbil from a cage in my bedroom that I was “baby-sitting”. Luckily I say him trotting down the hallway with his prize and was able to get him to drop it.

To be honest, I think there are probably better solutions than getting a cat to kill the squirrels. You could get a live trap to catch them. Or you could enclose the tomato plants with rabbit fencing (like a cage over them) to keep the squirrels out.

[Hazel]

I don’t think it’s a good idea, for the many reasons already mentioned. Also, I doubt any shelter would let your sister adopt a cat if they knew what she wanted it for. They want to find a safe home for those cats, not one where they will be put outside most of the time to fight with local wildlife.

[Stickerbunny]

LBJ does have a good point about lifespan. On average, an outdoor cat only lives about 7 years. They often end up with injuries from fighting with other animals, abscesses, etc. Many rescues prefer cats be indoor pets to adopt them out to owners.

And to add to neighbor annoyance – they shred open garbage bags, spook skunks and shred outdoor lawn furniture. We have a large cat that half the time spends his nights under our porch (not sure who he belongs to, none of the neighbors keep dogs or cats indoors) and we constantly have to clean up after him. And some nights he gets under there and just yowls until I go outside to see what the fuss is and he runs away. And they can dig at flowerbeds they use as litterboxes and people are willing to shoot annoyance cats or poison them in a lot of cases.

[Eepster]

Your average house cat will not kill a squirrel.

Occasionally especially large tough unlazy cats will go after squirrels. However, if you do happen to find sucha beast, it is as likely to bring the squirrel home alive and let it go in the livingroom as kill it. Cats generally are very concerned that us humans need to be educated and taught how to hunt, so they bring us tired out prey to practice with. This is how my next door neighbors, who did have an extra large rough cat, learned how to get a scared hiding squirrel out of an old fashioned TV set.

Don’t get a cat unless you want a cat, not a garden guard.

[Mocha]

Thanks everyone. She wanted a cat, because she loves cats and always wanted one, but was wondering if it would also kill a few squirels.

She ended up getting this adorable 10 pound longhair named “Minnie” at the shelter.

We got the Havaheart squirel trap and we’ve caught and released in the mountains about 10 squirels so far!

I got 4 baby chicks, I put the 2 big ones in their coop, only to come back and see that a squirel had “bullied” the chicks to the corner of the cage and was eating their food! Damn squirel! I put that bird netting all around the coop and the chicks have been taunting the squirels

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