Barn Cats; A Heartwarming Story of 2nd Chances.......

[Slippy]

Last year, I grew weary of my never ending quest of killing mice so I "adopted" 2 Feral Cats from a local Animal Hospital. These cats were adults so my plan to cage them for about 3 weeks figuring they would get used to the surroundings and stick around.

Well, Mrs Slippy, after a few days, decided it was cruel of me to keep them in a cage, so she released them in the barn. They hung around long enough to satisfy Mrs Slippy and the next morning, they were gone! Never to be seen again.

So, I've finally got Mrs S to agree to at least a 3 week acclimation in a cage and later this week I'm off to the Animal Hospital for 2 more.

Question to you knuckleheads; Since I'm already in the Animal Hospital's "System" when they ask me how the other 2 cats are doing, what should I say?

Thanks!:thumb:

[Inor]

"They were delicious!"

[Big Ken]

Same thing you just told us.

[MountainGirl]

Last year, I grew weary of my never ending quest of killing mice so I "adopted" 2 Feral Cats from a local Animal Hospital. These cats were adults so my plan to cage them for about 3 weeks figuring they would get used to the surroundings and stick around.

Well, Mrs Slippy, after a few days, decided it was cruel of me to keep them in a cage, so she released them in the barn. They hung around long enough to satisfy Mrs Slippy and the next morning, they were gone! Never to be seen again.

So, I've finally got Mrs S to agree to at least a 3 week acclimation in a cage and later this week I'm off to the Animal Hospital for 2 more.

Question to you knuckleheads; Since I'm already in the Animal Hospital's "System" when they ask me how the other 2 cats are doing, what should I say?

Thanks!:thumb:

You say "They're doing fine and I'd like 2 or 3 more, please!" You won't get more otherwise.

Regarding your plan though - NOOOO !!!

If the cats truly were feral - then any amount of time in a cage will cause them to bolt, without exception.

Your Best Shot is to not cage them at all. When you bring them home, take them out to the barn, put down a LOT of dry catfood with maybe a can of tuna on top, bucket of fresh water, and leave them be. Ferals don't like humans as a rule. With luck, they'll stick around. Have the food down before you release them. Need to imprint they can always eat there. Even if they take off, leave the food down for a week, bet they'll return. If not after a week, they're gone, having found better pickins elsewhere.

Another (and maybe better) option would be to get a few domestic 6mo-1yo cats, younger ones more inclined to hunt, let them be indoor/outdoor cats, and before long (soon as they decide your home is theirs) they'll probably hunt. Make sure they weren't de-clawed.

You know I hate cats but this is my best suggestion. I volunteered at a Shelter up here before I met Tom, I have more cat knowledge now than I ever wanted. Most up here try to get rid of ferals, they breed faster than rabbits. Good luck.

[Inor]

I just got to thinking...

If you have trouble getting more cats let me know. I told you several times about our crazy neighbor George, down the road. He is the retired geologist with no social skills that lives in a 200 square foot shanty with his dog Yukon and several feral cats outside. His cat population has exploded the last year. He used to have about 35 of them. Now there have to be over 70!

A few weeks ago Mrs Inor and I drug our log splitter up to his place to split some firewood for him. Outside his fence line there was a dead coyote and there were at least 5 or 6 cats eating on it. I do not know if the cats killed the coyote, but it wouldn't surprise me...

So if you need cats, let me know. I can package up 4 or 5 of them in a FedEx box and send them to you. I will be sure to package up a couple extras just to make sure at least 2 or 3 survive the trip.

[MountainGirl]

FedEx the cats. LOL
Navy movers wrap them up inside couches that are plastic wrapped for overseas transfers.
You can fill in the details of that true story.
I've a few felines to donate if Slippy doesn't come to his senses. :bounce:

[Piratesailor]

Mmm...mmmm.. tasty.

[Innkeeper]

Cats skin easy like rabbits......or so they told me in Korea.....and tasty.

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[BucketBack]

Now that I think about it, Ralph's cat came up missing. He was a big fat Tom Cat. Ralph's wife, Hin and her Asian GF's probably fed the cat to us as well as the dog.

[Mad Trapper]

All the farms I've worked at had a collection of barn cats. Some were kind of wild, some were really O.K. with people, the latter were usually ones that grew up on the farm.

I remember one big old boss tomcat. He had lots of scars and half of his ears were chewed off, but he was friendly as a house cat. He'd let you pick him up and sometimes you could get him to purrrr.

One thing to remember about barn cats is you want them all to have their shots. Rabies is a bad disease.

[SOCOM42]

On the grandparents farm there were dozens of barn cats, can't tell how many were friendly, but I think most were.

Being an egg farm with 5,000 chickens, there was tons of grain in that barn to feed them, and the associated rats to feast on it.

You could see a ton of rat tails lying around all the time, the cats were well fed by them.

Myself, I only saw a few rats here and there, but I was never in there at night.

[KnuteFartne]

We had a feral cat we inherited with the new house. He would hangout around my massive avocado tree since that's where the mice are. Not a cat fan but I figured if it kept the mice/rat population down he was earning his keep.

I told Hot Nursey and the kids NO feeding the cat, no petting the cat, no naming the cat, dont even talk to it. I've heard once you do that they'll stop hunting and expect to be taken care of.

Well, one day the cat let it guard down and wasn't paying attention when the dog came out. One of the greatest chases in history took place. Until finally the cat tried to jump the fence and misses *WHACK*. Knocked the cat silly. The dog went up to the downed cat and the cat had just enough energy to swipe her nose. To which she ran crying.

Long story short the cat wasn't the same. It didnt move. Just sat there swaying a little bit. You could poke it with a stick and nothing. It was in a catatonic state. The next day it had moved to the entry to my crawl space and just wouldn't move. Just acted weird. Worried it might have rabies or something else wrong with it I called animal control and they came and took it.

We have a new cat patrolling the trees now. I think this one is smarter. I dont think the dog even knows shes there.

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[Slippy]

We had a feral cat we inherited with the new house. He would hangout around my massive avocado tree since that's where the mice are. Not a cat fan but I figured if it kept the mice/rat population down he was earning his keep.

I told Hot Nursey and the kids NO feeding the cat, no petting the cat, no naming the cat, dont even talk to it. I've heard once you do that they'll stop hunting and expect to be taken care of.

Well, one day the cat let it guard down and wasn't paying attention when the dog came out. One of the greatest chases in history took place. Until finally the cat tried to jump the fence and misses *WHACK*. Knocked the cat silly. The dog went up to the downed cat and the cat had just enough energy to swipe her nose. To which she ran crying.

Long story short the cat wasn't the same. It didnt move. Just sat there swaying a little bit. You could poke it with a stick and nothing. It was in a catatonic state. The next day it had moved to the entry to my crawl space and just wouldn't move. Just acted weird. Worried it might have rabies or something else wrong with it I called animal control and they came and took it.

We have a new cat patrolling the trees now. I think this one is smarter. I dont think the dog even knows shes there.

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Most of the owners of Barn Cats feed them a regular diet of dry cheap cat food but not alot in terms of volume. Their urge to hunt mice and other varmits is usually much greater than just being hungry.

[Prepared One]

Did you know cats sound just like police sirens when you swing them by the tail over your head? :bounce:

[Inor]

Did you know cats sound just like police sirens when you swing them by the tail over your head? :bounce:

And you can make them bark like a dog. Just cover them with gas and hold an open flame near them. They go WOOF! (It only works once though. Or maybe it was a Made in China cat?)

[Slippy]

SUCCESSFUL BARN CAT ACCLIMATION PART 2!

Mrs Slippy somehow became the recipient of 2 kittens a few months ago. I reminded her of our last attempt to acclimate cats to our barn and she took my directive advise like a champ!

She used an old dog crate, built a makeshift enclosure around it and began to feed and nurture these little kittens like they were her own!

After about 6 weeks in their little cage, she let them roam and they are now full fledged members of Slippy Lodge! Haven't seen a mouse in my traps in the past month or so since the cats have had their run of the place. :thumb:

Our red dog, The Beas, loves these cats. And so far the cats tolerate the dog.

One thing we did was also acclimate the kittens to the chickens, putting their little crate in the henhouse for a few days. So far when we let the hens free range, we'll see the cats mingle amongst them.

:trophy:

[Ricekila]

SUCCESSFUL BARN CAT ACCLIMATION PART 2!

Mrs Slippy somehow became the recipient of 2 kittens a few months ago. I reminded her of our last attempt to acclimate cats to our barn and she took my directive advise like a champ!

She used an old dog crate, built a makeshift enclosure around it and began to feed and nurture these little kittens like they were her own!

After about 6 weeks in their little cage, she let them roam and they are now full fledged members of Slippy Lodge! Haven't seen a mouse in my traps in the past month or so since the cats have had their run of the place. :thumb:

Our red dog, The Beas, loves these cats. And so far the cats tolerate the dog.

One thing we did was also acclimate the kittens to the chickens, putting their little crate in the henhouse for a few days. So far when we let the hens free range, we'll see the cats mingle amongst them.

:trophy:

Pic's ?

[Slippy]

Pic's ?

From a few weeks ago, the little bastards are quite a bit larger today.

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[Sparkyprep]

Nice! Best rodent control in the world, Slip. FYI, my barn cats wanted to stalk and hunt my chickens when they were small pullets, but once the chickens got to full-size, the cats showed no more interest in them. They just walk right by each other now, paying each other no mind.


P.S. I'm not sure why cats get a bad wrap. They are sweet, friendly, and darn useful critters to have around the homestead.

[shootbrownelk]

Last year, I grew weary of my never ending quest of killing mice so I "adopted" 2 Feral Cats from a local Animal Hospital. These cats were adults so my plan to cage them for about 3 weeks figuring they would get used to the surroundings and stick around.

Well, Mrs Slippy, after a few days, decided it was cruel of me to keep them in a cage, so she released them in the barn. They hung around long enough to satisfy Mrs Slippy and the next morning, they were gone! Never to be seen again.

So, I've finally got Mrs S to agree to at least a 3 week acclimation in a cage and later this week I'm off to the Animal Hospital for 2 more.

Question to you knuckleheads; Since I'm already in the Animal Hospital's "System" when they ask me how the other 2 cats are doing, what should I say?

Thanks!:thumb:

First check your local Chinese buffet and see if they have them, fattening them up.

[Slippy]

Cats earning their keep. Mrs S reported a fresh kill mice yesterday! Good Kitty's!

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