Our cat of 17 years was a hunter to the end of his days. He brought us birds, snakes, bunnies, mice, all alive, mostly during early summer. We got very good at corralling them and setting them free in the woods behind our house. As far as we could tell, all were more traumatized than physically injured. We try to be gentle with other critters, safely moving spiders, flies and other visitors out of the house without injuring them. I wish Oscar wouldn’t have been such a hunter, but we loved him, and that was just part of who he was. He would have been miserable as an indoor-only cat. I’m sure there are lots of cats like that.
But there are also lots of indoor-outdoor cats who don’t bring their humans presents. In over 50 sits, I’ve cared for many cats, and none have ever brought me gifts. There’s a good chance, @Mokina, that you won’t see any “souvenirs” during your stay.
I’ve had that happen, when the cat brought a mouse “gift” through the cat door. I dealt with it - honestly it could have been made into a hilarious video, sadly - but if a cat is prone to do that, I’d ask the Homeowner in advance: if it happens do you have a neighbor I could ask for help if that happens? Usually there is one.
Well, I’ll tell you the other side of the coin, as all your ‘gifts’ seems to either be dead or alive enough to escape. I wish this was always the case.
We were brought a gift once, a half-dead baby bird. It wasn’t dead, but neither of us could bring ourselves to kill it. So we put it outside under the tree, hoping something would come and save it from its misery, but alas, the cat lost interest and nothing else came along. The poor bird sat there for a whole day - I ended up taking water out, I felt so sorry for it. It was absolutely horrible. How on earth would you deal with that???
I think @Mokina has had some good responses here and, as I’ve already said, would be good to hear what she thinks and is going to do about this upcoming sit.
Thank you all for your messages and for sharing your stories. Apologies for getting back to you all only now.
The pet sitting went very well. I had an open conversation with the PP who said that their cats have never brought home any “present” in 7 years that they have been living with them.
Also, the two cats who don’t get on well together, they separated themselves so there was not so much that I had to do after all.
In the end, there was nothing to worry about
