Yeah 'instincts' are in real world just enough external pressure and death to keep the equilibrium going, whatever grisly happens behind the curtains.

Hunters hunt as much as they can. Wolves regularly kill 10 or 20 sheep while eating one if they get the chance. Foxes do similar stuff with chickens. Nature is brutal and without empathy.

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cestith 13 hours ago | parent [-]

Housecats let outdoors often don’t even eat what they hunt, because they have a steady supply of their favorite food in the house. They just hunt and kill because they are furry little murder machines. They really shouldn’t be let outside unsupervised.

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embedding-shape 9 hours ago | parent [-]

> They really shouldn’t be let outside unsupervised.

Alternatively, get them a collar with a little bell, and let them try (and always fail) to hunt.

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cestith 9 hours ago | parent [-]

I guess the odd deaf squirrel wasn’t likely to last long anyway. A bell could work to keep them from stalking. They can still run, leap, and ambush. It seems a bell should at least greatly mitigate the issue. I might say usually rather than always. To be fair, though, supervision won’t stop them every time either.

	▲	embedding-shape 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> They can still run, leap, and ambush. Whenever they do, there is a little tingle tingle, whatever tiny little movement they're trying to do. They end up unable to catch anything basically, I literally never witnessed one of our cats catching anything growing up, nor them bringing any "gifts".