General Chat

There is a cat who lives next door but one.

He patrols our garden and is a real character but come nesting time he is a pain.

Is it normal cat behaviour to take eggs from birds nest, manage to make a tiny hole in the shell and suck out the contents without breaking it?

I have asked all my cat owing friends and they said their cats had not done this before to their knowledge.

May be its a tallent that Earnie alone has in the cat world.

Any thoughts on this?

Teresa

Are you sure this is what is happening? I have never heard of it and would like you to be able to say you have actually seen it, before I can accept it.
No, I'm not accusing you of telling fibs - I just think there may be another explanation.
Cats are meat eaters and would go for the chicks in the nest, but not in the eggs. If they were cunning enough to know the chicks are in the eggs, they would break the egg - but I've never known of that to happen either.

Hi Berona,

I caught him in the act last year!!

My Daughter OH and I looked out of the window and Ernie had somthing in his mouth.

At first we thought he was choking on a small toy ball so went out and he started swishing his tail.

We saw somthing blue and clearly he wasnt choking so left him alone.

We watched from the window and after a little while he wandered off and we went out and found a small blue bird egg not cracked but with a puncture hole.in it.

He was shinning up the trees all through spring last year and his owner said she had several eggs delivered to her doorstep in that state.

Very strange.

The thing is he will get voles mice etc and kill them leave them where they are and not eat them, or take them home

His owner is at a loss why he does it and has kept cats for years.

Teresa

Oh dear..... Jethro again.

He loves raw egg, and knows they are in an egg box and in a shell... and will attempt to pierce the shell with a claw..... he has managed it once to my knowledge, when I saw him, although there may have been a crack in the shell to start him off.... but he *helps* me to unpack my shopping... and asks for egg and milk when he has finished... I know he is a clever cat, but I didn't think it was that unusual.

I have left the shopping a couple of times for one reason or another... to find him sat with an open eggbox, and a cracked shell, happily scooping ithe egg into his mouth with his paw... he eats a lot of his Treat foods with his paw....

Love

Daff xxxx

Ops, double posted!! Sorry


Love

Daff xxxx

Lol Daff

Ernie is a cleaver cat too, a ginger ball of fluff.

Oh put part of a new roof on the shed as the old one was in danger of collapsing with Ernies weight when he was sunbathing.

Ernie wasnt happy and sat on the side of the roof which had not been repared!!

Glad to know he is not the only egg fan. I will let his mum know.

I am severly allergic to cats but like them so Ernie and his house mate Tom keep me amused with their antics (except egg steeling) in our garden

Teresa

oh iv never heard of that either, altho stray loves scrambled egg if i have it, altho she likes lots of things if i have it haha xxx

Lol Stray... I don't let him have egg very often... but I did read that cats in the wild will eat eggs without ill effect. There is a toxin in the white, but cooking kills that.... however, even with raw egg, a cat will have to eat it for every meal, with nothing else.... and Jethro likes his grub too much, lol.... he has proper cat milk, too, not *ordinary* milk. The other cats rarely have either, but he goes mad for it!!

Teresa, he sounds a real character... we have five!!

Love

Daff xxxx

Cats most certainly do raid nests and take eggs. We had a problem a few years ago with some feral cats and they played absolute havoc with the ground nesting birds until we got them sorted out. I've actually watched cats take eggs from nests, although I've never seen them suck the insides out.

My young black cat ( Lunar ) came scampering across the garden the other day , looking much like a mongoose with a pigeon egg in her mouth , she had been up the Leylandii at the end of the garden to get it out of the nest . She did crack the top of it and eat the contents as well .
I've had cats all my life but not to my knowledge had a nest raider before .

Jethro, to my knowledge, doesn't raid nests... he raids the shopping bags..... I am not sure if that makes him dumber or more clever? lolol

Love

Daff xxxx

This generation of cats are getting more clever by the minute.

Jethro must be leading the pack as he doesnt even need to go up the tree. lol

Teresa

Lol Teresa.... mmmmm!! That's my boy!! He is named after Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS....... not the comedian, by the way, lolol!

Eldrick, I imagine that would cause havoc!

Love

Daff xxxx

Daff.....Jetho sounds like a very naughty boy .....lol

We had one years ago " Tinker " , he liked to destroy egg boxes( the cardboard type ) , he wasn't the least bit interested in the eggs themselves , just the box.....lol .......he has a dozen eggs off the table once in one of his frenzies !

Dont know who Earnie is named after. Maybe the fastest milkman in the west.

His house catmate is called Tom. A really good name but Tom is a she????

Teresa

Our Hamish loves a raw egg beaten up, he also loves strong cheese, and so does Lizzie! They are strictly rationed by me as its not cheap!