On my most recent two-week sit, I found four or five dead baby birds in the yard or on the front doorstep. I’m not sure whether it was the cat I was sitting or the neighbors’ cats, but there wasn’t a cat flap — I let her in and out. She was a very sweet cat, so I preferred to pretend that it wasn’t her. I used dog poop bags to pick up and dispose of the bird remains. Not fun, but part of sitting. If it freaks you out, you might want to sit only indoor cats.
Thanks everyone for your answers.
I am willing to put up with it although I don’t like it. It’s nicer for me to see the cats enjoy their freedom, rather than keeping a cat indoors - I do wish that I could protect these poor animals who become prey, but you can’t always get what you want, can you?
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I can totally understand why you’d feel like this. It’s for this very reason that I now only look after indoor cats as I just cannot cope with the rodent carnage any more.
I was on a sit last year enjoying the sunshine in the garden when the cat came to join me. He then got distracted by a rat and chased it right around the garden. I tried to distract the cat with treats in the hopes that the rat would be able to make a getaway but I’m afraid the cat was in full on hunting mode. Let’s just say it didn’t end well for the rat. I decided from then on, indoor cats only for me.
It’s a tricky one, because the cat who killed the bird is super sweet to me and a real friend and companion. It’s an interesting life lesson, having to accept the parts of a four legged friend that I really don’t like and continue to love them… the same thing applies to human friends, of course.
(I might sound like a self-help book now but that’s the though that came to me, hehe)
I will never forget my neighbor calling me and screaming into the phone “come down here quick”. I got there and she told me to look under the dining room table. When I did I found the head of a small snake. Her kitty must have killed in the yard and yanked off the head to bring in the house for future feasting. We both almost had heart attacks.
@Debbie-L
Horrendous! I didn’t know that cats could catch snakes.
In Europe thankfully snakes are pretty rare and not poisonous.
They are great snake catchers @andrealovesanimals 
We had an HO who out little collars with bells on their cats so the pretty birds were forewarned (& the mice population needed culling anyway) - you could travel with mini collars as you sit? 
A cat I brought home from living in Saudi for 5 years then caught a rabbit within 3 days of moving to Dorset having never laid eyes on one in the desert 
Nature is amazing.
I looked after a cat that wanted to impress me I guess by bringing in a snake, a bird and a mouse all within the span of a few days. I tried hard to take it as a compliment
There was a time this would have freaked me out but living in a rural area tends to quickly cure you of that.
The occurrence of cats bringing in dead animals can pose a significant nuisance. Dealing with this becomes particularly unpleasant, as it necessitates extra cleaning efforts, especially when these incidents happen on carpets. Throughout more than 30 + of cat-sits, we’ve encountered this scenario three times, wherein the cats brought in deceased creatures that we promptly disposed of. One thing to keep in mind is that this behavior could potentially escalate to being hazardous, particularly if any rats/mice captured by the cats have ingested rat poison. 
During a cat-sit in Sydney, we had an interesting experience where these cats actually brought live mice into the house and released them. Observing their amusement as we attempted to chase down these mice throughout the house was quite entertaining. 
As our pet-sitting assignment drew to a close, we had to take the step of closing their cat flaps to avoid dealing with additional mice while we were in the midst of packing and cleaning up.
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In the beginning of this summer, my next door neighbor’s outdoor cat started sleeping and taking naps in our outdoor furniture whenever we covered it to protect from the rain.
A couple of months ago when we were getting ready to have some guests over, we uncovered the murder scene of a pigeon. There was nothing left but blood and feathers all over our cream colored cushions. I was horrified. Our neighbors did offer to pay for our furniture, but we were able to get the stains out… probably had just happened the day before.
Luckily it hasn’t happen again, but I think I would have been traumatized if I saw the cat killing the pigeon (not my favorite bird in the city).
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Our ex Saudi cat brought in a kit (small rabbit) after 3 days living in Dorset in the UK, having just moved from the desert and never seen a rabbit in her life 
It was impressive if traumatic for the poor bunny.
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The cat I wrote about brought a bird into the kitchen. I think he intended the bird as a present for me and when he saw that I was horrified, he carried the bird out again and ate it there. There were blood and feathers on the kitchen floor. It was quite gory, but I cleaned it up and forgave the cat, because he was very loving and sweet otherwise. That’s the only time it happened. Perhaps the cat was sensitive enough to notice that I didn’t appreciate his generous gift.
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Oh my! I will be catsitting in Australia soon and I am anxious as it is about visiting Australia and it doesn’t help that posts abt snakes in houses there keeps popping up on IG and now this. 
Where in Australia?
If you’re in a city, I don’t think there will be too many issues.
I don’t live in Australia, but visited once for 6 weeks and didn’t see a single dangerous animal.
If you like true crime here is a story of a birdwatcher in Galveston Texas and his trial for killing a cat.