Barn Cat birth control

[CalG]

You really only need to neuter the one male that runs the place.

He will keep the the lesser males in their place (dead), and still keep the gals for looking around .

It's the only way to effectively control feral cats.

 

[ustmd]

You really only need to neuter the one male that runs the place.

He will keep the the lesser males in their place (dead), and still keep the gals for looking around .

It's the only way to effectively control feral cats.

Actually, it is the females that will control the males coming in.


We just went through this our barn. Get a live trap and start catching them. Once you get a critical mass fixed (3-4), especially if they are the dominant ones, they will start pushing out the other breeding females.

 

[TheMan419]

Ok so I may be a bit sick, but I googled cat birth control. Here is the link Cat Birth Control Options Beyond Spaying and Neutering

So it would appear you can give a Tom a vasectomy rather than neuter. He will still have intercourse with the female cats. This will cause their heat cycle to stop, but they will, of course, not get pregnant.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I'll start on the non-PC response...
.22 shells are cheap...


But i caught alot of flak in a different thread over hypothetical dogs chasing my horses too...

I could let you borrow my BIL, he has no qualms about thinning out your cat population.

When I was in college, I spent several of my Summers working for a farmer. He had cats all over the place, and he directed his son and me to implement the very control method of which you speak. I will just say that it turned out to be a very distasteful solution, although it was reasonably quick and efficient. The memory of that day...ca. 1960-1961...is still with me, and just as distasteful today as it was then.

 

[Weedy Fields]

We had a large tom cat that kept all others away.
Had a neighbor that fed the feral cats. She had 13 the best she could count. Till the feline leukemia kicked in. Now she has none.

Nature will fix the over population. If its not fast enough a .22 is.

 

[jack707]

A 223 put down cats real nice

 

[dieselcrawler]

When I was in college, I spent several of my Summers working for a farmer. He had cats all over the place, and he directed his son and me to implement the very control method of which you speak. I will just say that it turned out to be a very distasteful solution, although it was reasonably quick and efficient. The memory of that day...ca. 1960-1961...is still with me, and just as distasteful today as it was then.

Effective... Yes. Didnt say pleasant.

We have been lucky, the stray or two that helps themselves to our barn cat food dont cause trouble and i leave them alone. Except for one about a year ago that came in fighting. Went out fighting. Then suddenly stopped. Dont have to like it to do it.

 

[KennyG]

A lot of interesting suggestions here. I wouldn't do anything too quickly. Our experience on the farm (years ago) was that the problem would take care of itself. The cat population seemed to cycle between 2 and 10 by natural causes. If you are feeding them, reduce rations when there are too many and they will move on.

 

[STx]

I'd trap, neuter and release them. If you can get the kittens and find homes for them, so much the better. I'd suggest charging a small fee though, $10 or so, just to weed out the people that use them for training fighting dogs or feed them to snakes (yes, there are really people that do that).

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Effective... Yes. Didnt say pleasant.

We have been lucky, the stray or two that helps themselves to our barn cat food dont cause trouble and i leave them alone. Except for one about a year ago that came in fighting. Went out fighting. Then suddenly stopped. Dont have to like it to do it.

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not trying to be critical. I happen to know that was the solution of choice everywhere in that community at the time. Country folk who make pets out of all of their animals won't make it for very long.