Barn Cats

[2manyrocks]

The vets are charging the local animal shelter more for spay/neuter than the shelter's adoption fee today.

 

[2515R Dude]

If you were a bit further east in the state I know a lady who could fix you up. She does rescues.
She has helped me and others. Usually no charge for a vaccinated and fixed cat.

How far east?

 

[deserteagle71]

I've had multiple feral cats move into my barn over the years and I like having them around for rodent control. Unfortunately the cats don't last long...too many coyotes prowling around.

 

[ponytug]

Interesting, I can't find any barn cats locally. We have locally two Humane Society but they don't offer any. Only house cats. They are pretty expensive and my concern they would not fare well in my barns. I'm in west ky.

Try starting with these folks, who may know others closer to you;

Feral Cats & TNR

Spay / Neuter Rabies Vaccination FVRCP Vaccination Dose of Revolution Ear Tip

www.hopespayneuter.org

Or do an internet search for organizations in your area doing "TNR", Trap, Neuter, Release".

All the best,

Peter

 

[BackRoad]

Ours will get an occasional song bird...but 20 mice or voles for every bird is not going to decimate the local bird population...

I have a video of the male cat sneaking on a flock of 16 wild turkeys in the yard. Huge fun watching the cat in a crouch, slow stepping towards the turkeys, tail twitching in slow motion...

Once the Tom came over to investigate, the hunt was called off!!!

 

[ponytug]

View attachment 3240548

This is my so called barn cat. She insists on being out in barn all day, but has finally agreed to come indoors at night. Gets along with house cat and my dog. Had her chipped and spayed. Have chip operated cat door in tackroom to allow her to have some safety if she stays out all night.

No mice or other rodents in barn.

Follows me and dog everywheres i go during the day. If i open my shop….zoom, she in the shop. I have to leave door open until she decides to leave. She is on the hunt for mice. Looks everywheres in any shop she enters.

What make/model of door do you have?

But what about the songbirds?

I am only partially kidding. This is a huge discussion point on my neighborhood FB group about outdoor cats, about how they decimate the populations of songbirds. I get both sides of the argument. I hate to see any animal population negatively impacted due to human actions. But I get the need for rodent control. Do you outdoor barn cat people see a lot of songbird attrition due to your little killing machines? I was never raised a cat person but I would probably have an outdoor cat if my wife wasn't highly allergic to them. She refuses to allow it, it is just a war I am not willing to wage.

Around here for the cats we have, their impact is near zero, or perhaps positive, I.e. we have tons of song birds, and many that forage on the ground. I almost never find feathers. As the cats seem to go after mice and snakes, who are known to eat birds eggs and chicks on occasion, that might actually help the reproduction, but I don't have any particular evidence for that. I do watch for dead birds and feathers as we have had West Nile virus outbreaks, and corvids tend to be the leading indicators of an outbreak.

However, this isn't suburbia with a cat home every hundred feet or so, and limited habitat for birds. We are the opposite. Other than our nearest neighbor who has a house cat, the next non-feral cat is miles away.

All the best,

Peter

 

[DieselnHooters]

We have 7 Akita's right now. we lock the dogs in the house,

View attachment 3240956

we had 6 dogs in the house...

Like living in a kennel.....I go crazy with just a couple of flies in the house

 

[masseyrider]

Like living in a kennel.....I go crazy with just a couple of flies in the house

Explains a few things.

 

[mike69440]

I've had multiple feral cats move into my barn over the years and I like having them around for rodent control. Unfortunately the cats don't last long...too many coyotes prowling around.

View attachment 3241273

We still have a Ginny Hen named Lucky. Of the 40 hens we had for tick control, he is only one left. All were gone in a season. He has been around now for 3 years. How he has made it past the coyotes, foxes, racoons, fisher cats, dogs beats me? Hangs out with wild turkeys, geese, ducks and feral chickens that don't bed down in the hen house.

 

[grsthegreat]

What make/model of door do you have?

Around here for the cats we have, their impact is near zero, or perhaps positive, I.e. we have tons of song birds, and many that forage on the ground. I almost never find feathers. As the cats seem to go after mice and snakes, who are known to eat birds eggs and chicks on occasion, that might actually help the reproduction, but I don't have any particular evidence for that. I do watch for dead birds and feathers as we have had West Nile virus outbreaks, and corvids tend to be the leading indicators of an outbreak.

However, this isn't suburbia with a cat home every hundred feet or so, and limited habitat for birds. We are the opposite. Other than our nearest neighbor who has a house cat, the next non-feral cat is miles away.

All the best,

Peter

I got this one off of amazon. Works great. Cat learned to use it in 1 day.