Bat House Forum

[Ricket24]

Okay, so maybe our cat isn't on an altruistic mission, but he is brining in 3-4 live bats each night. He goes outside and within minutes comes back in with a live bat in his mouth. He releases it, we spend hours trying to catch them (as softly as possible) and then take them outisde. He's not damaging them, but they are scared and the bats certainly could be using their time better. The worst is when we don't know they are there and find them roosting in the kitchen in the morning. We then have to disrupt their sleep to take them outside and they need to find a roosting place during the day. (And for the sake of discussion, let's assume the cat MUST be let outside. I tried locking him in only to find four large piles of poop in my living room. Not sure which issue is worse with our little baby crawling around. And he can't be locked outdoors because there are predators around.)

A couple questions...
1. Any idea how my cat is catching these bats? I've read that bats fly between 3-6 meters above the gournd. He catches them very quickly upon exiting the house. The cat has a bell and limps badly because of his arthritis.
2. Does the fact that he is catching them in such large volume mean there is likely a colony nearby? Are these likely the babies?
3. Any ideas on how to prevent a cat from hunting bats? The bell certainly doens't appear to work.
4. If I set up a bat house(s) in our yard, would this just bring more bats within possible harm from my cat?
5. In the Seattle, WA area, when do bats typically leave to hibernate for the winter? This only started within the last three weeks and I'm wondering what changed and when it might stop.
6. Any other suggestions for dealing with the issue or helping the bats?

Thanks a bunch!!

bat.jpg (52.17 KiB) Viewed 550 times

[Terry Lobdell]

Wow! I've never heard of such a thing.......the bats are probably juveniles........I'm not sure how the cat would be catching them............There probably is a colony nearby..........Dave Miller is from Washington and probably can give you better advice than I can......He has a lot of posts on here you could read for more info!

[Dave Miller]

Your cat has probably found where the bats are roosting. Does your cat get up on your roof? Or do you have an outbuilding or large dead/dying trees nearby? Do you have cedar shake siding, or lap siding that has gaps underneath? Do you see bats flying around your house/yard in the evenings? Perhaps you can follow them (or your cat) to see where the cat is finding them. If the cat is only gone for a few minutes then it must be finding bats very close by.

It is possible that these are juveniles who cannot fly too well, but I think the juveniles should be pretty good at flying by now.

The bats in western Washington usually head off to hibernate in late October. So the bats will be gone soon. But they will be back in June, and no doubt your cat will discover them again.

Let me know the answers to my questions above and we can progress from there.

[David McLeod]

Wow, this one is going to ring some bells. As a wildlife professional you need to stop the cat from doing this right now! Domestic felines are the number one species for contracting bat strain rabies, mostly due to being the most likely to find a sick bat. Odds are though that the cat has not come into contact with a sick bat due to the very low percentage of bats that actually do have the virus (it kills them off too so it is not widespread in the population). If the cat is not current on vaccination get it so yesterday (from the date of the original post it is probably already to late if not).
Next you absolutely must verify that no person has come into contact with a bat while sleeping, you state that you have an infant in the house. Protocol for me when an infant or disabled person and bats are found in the same structure to assume the worst if for no other reason than it is better to over react than under when dealing with even the slightest possibility of exposure to an always fatal (without treatment) virus. Again the odds are extremely low of this eventuality but better safe than sorry. I am not a medical professional so I can not advise on which course to take but if it were me in your situation I would consult my physician for advise.

Now that said, I would think that it is very likely that you have a colony roosting either within or in very close proximity to your home. Unless you are familiar with locating and excluding bat colonies I would recommend consulting a professional WCO (Wildlife Control Operator). The first place to look for one should be on the NWCOA (National Wildlife Control Operators Association) site, these folks are professional members of which I am one as well as the state rep for Georgia. Again to ring some bells but I would avoid the listings on the BCI site as I know the list for my state and it is populated by some folks (over half) that are bat killers and not excluders. Note that my name is not on that site and will not be until I see the list cleaned up. Good luck.