My Ragdoll Cat Adventures Part Three

12 Nov 2024 Blog Post 257 Killer Cat and Tragedy

I have stopped feeding the pigeons in my garden. (I am still putting monkey nuts out for the squirrels though.) It was getting ridiculous as I often had about 20 pigeons on my roof waiting for food and all the poo and the feathers all over was getting intolerable. Boyfriend has been telling me for months to stop feeding them as they are causing so much trouble. I said I blamed him for my ‘feeder’ habit as before we were in a relationship, I never used to go for nature walks or take much interest in the nature in the garden. I had named some of the pigeons and was getting attached to them. The boys liked watching them through the patio doors. The final straw came on Sunday when me and boyfriend came back from our walk to find a dying pigeon on the patio. It was awful. It had clearly been attacked probably by a cat as it had a chunk missing out of its neck and its head was flopping over. It was still flapping about though and trying to get up. The boys were watching this all unfold from the patio door. There was pigeon blood and feathers all over the patio. I did not want the boys being exposed to the blood and guts. Me and boyfriend cleaned it all up and boyfriend euthanised the pigeon (I won’t tell you the details.) It was horrible and left us feeling sick. I felt so bad as it was my fault, I encouraged the pigeons in my garden feeding off the ground where they were more likely to be attacked. So I decided no more. It has been two days and so far there are less pigeons but they are still visiting my garden and sitting on the roof (and nesting under the solar panels.) I am hoping over the next week or so they will eventually go. There will be less birds for the boys to watch. There are still the squirrels to watch though, and the magpies have been taking some of the monkey nuts from the squirrel feeders as well. 

Also, I think I found the killer today. There was a new cat in my garden I had not seen before. It looked a lot like a Bengal. It was watching a pigeon that was on the garage roof and you could see it really wanted to get it. I went outside and chased it off. Although it is useful that there is a threat that will scare the pigeons off, I don’t want another cat spraying and marking my garden which will upset the boys. And I don’t want any more dead pigeons! Charlie was watching this Bengal cat and he looked very angry, swishing his tail back and forth. We will be keeping an eye out for this cat in the future.