One option for shelter is to put a small cat house in a protected area, such as your back porch. Since this article was first written, I’ve received a lot of questions from people who live in the country and have had stray cats show up, and they don’t have a barn. And if they’re that good at their job, you want them to stick around. If they’re doing their job, there shouldn’t be many mice or rats around your farm. Plus, your cats are more likely to go to the neighbors’ houses looking for food, if you’re not feeding them - and getting in fights with other cats along the way. I’ve met people who say that you shouldn’t feed barn cats at all because they’ll be better hunters, but that has not been our experience at all. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive food at the pet store, but please don’t buy the cheapest generic stuff out there and assume that the cats can catch enough mice and rats to keep themselves healthy. Feed your barn cats a good quality food.Plus, this cat, who had been very friendly in the past, bit my daughter as soon as she tried to pick him up. He had obviously been in a fight, but we had no idea if he’d been fighting because he and another male cat simply had a disagreement or if this cat had picked a fight because he was rabid. Before you accuse us of being paranoid, I should tell you that this cat looked like he could have had rabies. A rabies vaccine for the cat would have been much cheaper and less stressful. Although insurance covered our daughter’s emergency room visit, we had to pay the $100+ to get the cat tested for rabies. The cat’s brain had to be examined to figure out if he had rabies, which means he had to be put down. We learned this one the hard way after an injured cat bit our daughter, and she had to get started on rabies shots while the cat was sent away to be tested for rabies. I make a point of always getting males because neutering usually costs about half as much as spaying. Plus you will wind up with lots of kittens, and if a cat is having kittens twice a year, it will take a toll on her health. If you have an intact male cat, he will go looking for girlfriends, and he will get into fights, which can wind up with one of the cats dead or nearly dead. If you have an intact female cat, she will stray when she is in heat, and she will attract males to your farm. It will also give you a chance to watch them and be sure they’re healthy. ![]() If you have a building or a stall where you can keep them locked up for a month, that will acclimate them to their new home so that they know where they’re fed.Although most shelters will not adopt a cat to anyone who says the cat will be kept outside, some feral cat programs might do so.They are accustomed to living outside, and their mother has already taught them to hunt and eat rodents. The kittens should be from other farms.Older cats may be more likely to leave and try to return to their former home. It didn’t take us long to figure out why their cats were not around for very long. They wanted cats on their farms to help with rodent problems, but they were not convinced that the cats would be around long enough to spend any money on them. You didn’t get vaccines for them or get them spayed or neutered. Most of the people who lived out here had a strict set of ideals when it came to barn cats.
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