Prey instinct is it a bad thing?

[bellabear27]

Hey all haven't posted in a long time but yesterday we had a little issue
With Bruin. My wife happened to look outside yesterday morning and saw a small
Cat (kitten) outside on the ground, he was very obviously deceased. Anyway she left it alone for the say until I got off work to dispose of it. Here is where the problem lies when I got home I could see the cats back was obviously broken which essentially points to being shaken by either Bella or Bruin. We are assuming bruin because he is the bigger and more prey driven of the two and he has been known to be a shaker while playing with toys. Our question is should we be worried? Is this something that we should be watching for with other dogs or an isolated incident? Any of you guys have a similar experience? The cat was a stray so no families lost a beloved pet, thank goodness. Thoughts or advice?

[christina chow mum]

Oh dear, how familiar, know exactly how you feel folks! Been there, got the t-shirt to prove it I am ashamed to admit that like many, many Chows, my Ming is a cat/kitten/furry critter murderer!! I did do a post on this subject but it got lost in here somewhere. Anyways, you are lucky it happened in your garden cos if it had happened outside over here in Greece you would have been lynched for sure, which is strange cos 75% (my guess) of the population here are cruel & indifferent to any kind of animal, [humans as well..ho hum] let alone a big chow lion/bear with an English “foreigner” lady on the end of its lead...sigh. So, here we go... What either one of your chows did is perfectly natural, an inbred “ground-hunting”, very cunning instinct which all chows inherently possess. Some chows may never "attack" while in others it's simply a matter of time before they "kill" at some time in their lives. During his 7 years of “natural-born killing” (LOL) Ming has killed a couple of kittens, a young cat, a rabbit, two mice and a rat during our walks which he achieves by suddenly lunging at them on the end of his lead without warning (Ouch! My arthritis!) getting them in his jaws, snapping them in half, shaking what's left of any life out of them, then throwing them up in the air only to completely ignore them when they “get dead”. Unfortunately for both of us, Greece abounds with stray dogs and cats of every kind, waiting hopefully outside tavernas and supermarkets for scraps of food. Birds, babies and other humans are totally ignored (LOL!) . This “killing” is a really cruel, shocking, gruesome, pitiful act, the squealing still haunts me especially as chows don't kill for food nor do they leave their "kills" on the doormat like cats do, as a gift to their owners. Though I have scolded him like a tyrant during these acts, there is always the chance that he will do it again and again even though he is on a lead so I watch him very carefully when we are walking because "natural instinct will out...". Chinese emperors had hundreds of chows just for the purpose of ground hunting/pagoda guarding which doesn’t really do US any favours in our 2013 Dynasty Lately though, as we stroll past a host of cat parents and all their stray kittens (about 20 of them) staked out by the railway lines every day,nearby, he has suddenly stopped lunging at them, leaves them alone and consequently get lots of “Bravos” "Good Boy!" and pats on the head from me. It has also helped with me being on the alert well in advance to any furry thing hiding or suddenly crossing our path up ahead thereby pulling in his lead to a "short" one, especially as we do the same walk every day. Maybe it’s just a question of familiarisation? Maybe it’s just a question of any cheeky furry thing invading your garden and their own space and domain? Let’s hope it’s just a one-off but at least you are now in the know.... and can act/react accordingly. Short leads my dears, short leads. Take care!!

[Juniper]

It is sad when chows kill other animals but such is life and nature. Glad it wasn’t a neighbor’s pet. However, anything in your yard is fair game for a chow. The only thing I would worry about is catching something from the prey to make your chow ill. I check out my yard before and after my chow goes in it and pick up any feces from my chow and from other animals. I make sure no dead birds are outside and bag them up immediately when I find any since we have a problem with West Nile Virus here in California. So, I would check Bella and Bruin for any blood, cuts, and/or scratches if this happens to occur again. With it being a kitten, chances are it was healthy. I would just be cautious when your chows are around small animals. Sheena was on leash in a park when she met a Chihuahua who was barking frantically at her-luckily she ignored it and her prey instinct didn’t kick in so I knew we could go to a no-leash dog park then.

My Sheena was a hunter and ate her prey whole…birds, squirrels and maybe even cats. I saw her periodically walking aimlessly in the street for 1 year and 3 months and when she was very ill I was able to capture her. I needed to treat her monthly for roundworms from all the prey she ate in our backyard so I put her on worm preventative monthly…it was cheaper than the medication to treat roundworms. For about one year I used a pronged choke collar to control her prey instinct when we went for walks and then was able to switch to a gentle leader harness. At around eleven years old she appeared to just enjoy watching the birds, instead of catching and eating them. But maybe she’s just realized she lost the ability to sprint fast enough to capture them.

I capture homeless cats when they come onto my property and find them a home if I can tame them or have them euthanized if they are too wild to tame. When the cat was in the bathroom behind a closed door Sheena would tear up the wood to get at them when I was away at work. I guess she wouldn’t need to sprint to catch them-easy prey. Or maybe she thought I would serve them up for dinner! All the prior cats were female. However, in January of this year there was a very small male cream colored kitten, about 7 months young, which I had captured in my front yard and while I was away at work the kitten had somehow managed to open the bathroom door and was loose in the house with my Sheena! I was frantic when I got home and saw the bathroom door opened! Suddenly, the shy kitten appeared under the dining room table and Sheena had not harmed him! In fact they appeared to be somewhat friendly towards each other! So now I have a cat that keeps Sheena amused in her old age.

So Sheena has changed; maybe it’s from age, maybe it’s from wisdom and being secure and content. She watches the squirrels and birds eat seeds in our yard when they are only 2 feet away from her and lets the cat swipe her with his paws and one time I actually caught them playing chase with each other in the house! But I think her favorite pastime is snitching on Pookie the cat when he climbs in the house where he is not supposed to. She definitely is barking more as a result of Pookie! I may leash train the cat so he can go outside with me and Sheena.

[Laura]

Ugh that is a fear of mine but I don't think it is anything to worry about other than its just sad and I know traumatic for you. Chloe caught and killed several birds and a baby possum in my yard between the ages of maybe 1-3 years. I was not happy but what can you do? I just wrote it off as prey instinct and hope it never happens again. I told her if she ever killed a cat she would have to move out...lol. Shugs greatest wish in life is to catch a squirrel but they mostly avoid our yard and are too fast for him. I'm sorry it happened to you and the poor kitty but it's just part of nature I think.

[Bilbo'sMom]

My first chow was a sweet but very big chow named Blackie. His bestie was a yorkie whose owner left him off leash to roam the neighborhood and they loved each other and played together in my yard where the yorkie would somehow end up, shared food dishes etc., until...
Chows play hard, that shaking thing they do from side to side is instinct. I was mortified, even though my sweet boy never hurt anyone else (died of old age) and it wasn't his fault the yorkie's owner's were irresponsible.

[kitten1426]

EVER dog does the shake thing...our Collie does it our Airedale does it...and of course our chows...its not a CHOW thing....now our chows we have live with 6 cats..yes they were brought up with them so im sure thats why they do plus we taught them to be gentle with them as pups...as far if an stray one comes in our Yard im not sure what will happen...with 4 dogs...i sure wouldnt want to be any animal or person...to try to step foot in our yard/house...