[lord flynn]

I had an indoor/outdoor cat at one time but have never had a solely outdoor cat before. OH is allergic but I think we can provide a good home for a yard cat-there will be various outbuildings for a cat as well as a hay/feed shed that can be completely closed in, weather proofed with beds etc put in. OH is already allergic to hay and won't go in there if he can help it anyway!. We also have a big 'utility' room which is a basically built conservatory which we have no immediate plans for (in case said cat needs to come in for any reason).

there's a possibility of rehoming one/pair of semi-feral farm cats. I would like the cat(s) to be good mousers as we have the poultry.

anyone done this? got any advice?

[Rosemary]

I think many cats would be suitable for the type of set up you have and would be grateful - well, as grateful as any cat would be for anything 

Cats Protection rehome feral cats - neutered and vaccinated. My chum got two - Ronnie and Reggie  - but they soon became house cats (by the owners' choice).

[Mammyshaz]

If they are semi feral they probably are used to catching  prey. Young cats, regardless of being semi feral, tend to look for toys to chase, rats and mice being ideal 
  All of my cats have been hunters. I have found boys to be more eager but it may just be the temperament of the individuals I've had.
I don't know if it's also the fact my cats have a morning meal and evening meal of cat food but nothing in-between (anything left from meals is free grabs for the dogs ).

You have a great set up for semi ferals which the Cats Protection have difficulty finding homes for.  I'd go for it

[Bramblecot]

Ideal set up for a farm cat .  My two came as 4 month old kittens from a farm.  We nominated a shed next to the chicken houses as their territory and confined them in there for a week - cat beds, litter tray, scratching post and food twice a day.  Then we opened the window and they have been free to come and go ever since.  Has worked well so far (5 years).

Over time they came in the house but are out 95% of the time.  Another cat arrived as a stray and she took up residence in the garage.  We always feed them together in the same place and they have never brought presents into the house - but line them up by the garage .  We also keep a couple of cat beds in the hay store.  None of the cats have ever messed near the hay but they are always on vermin patrol and sleep in there too.
What really amazes me is that they have never attacked any of the free range hens or chicks, even the bantams, but patrol around the houses.

[devonlad]

we rehomed a "feral cat" from Cats Protection about 3 years ago. We, like you were looking for a cat that would cope with living outdoors, sleeping in the barn etc. partly for pest control and partly because our terrier, although fine with the cats outside was not going to accept a cat in the house. We were offered a kitten from a litter that had been found with mum in someone's garage. The mum, though very friendly was accompanied by 5 of the wildest balls of fluff imaginable. As we entered the run where they were being kept the kittens all hung from the wire mesh roof, yowling and hissing in fury.  Slightly more feral than we had planned but we agreed to give a very pretty tabby a go provided we could take mum too. Several weeks later we were the wrong side of £160 in "donations and spaying costs, I had turned up at the vets with blood pouring down my face and half blind as the little bleeder knocked out my last remaining contact lens  and stuck a claw in my eyelid, barely a millimetre from my eye as I tried to catch her to take her to be spayed. mum disappeared the night the little kitten was in being spayed. We then discovered that the cats had actually been found in  village less than 2 miles away from home, which annoyed us as we hadn't been told this before. Mum never reappeared although we drove often through the village looking for her. The little wild cat ( Mouse as we called her) became less savage but still very wary. a couple of months on cats protection rang to see how things were going with her, by then she was more settled and almost tame ( only with us though).
 "oh great" she said.
"we've found it almost impossible to house the others. seeing as you have done so well and obviously lost mum, would you consider another.
 " yes " said I, "
but as we currently have without doubt the most expensive wild moggy in Devon we'd be reluctant to part with more money, but we'll take one if it helps"
She hung up !!,
and although I'm sure cats protection do lots of wonderful work we would never get a cat via that route again. There's charity and there's taking the mick. More recently our very old cat died and we replaced her with a "FREE" cat who was from a more conventional and tame background. although we intended her to join Mouse out in the barn, "Fish" is not a permanent  outdoor cat- she has slowly worked her way into the house and as I'm sat writing this is sat on top of my printer looking at me and purring away. Mouse is gorgeous, 3 years old, totally devoted to us ( she hates "Fish") but scarpers if anyone other than us appears. occasionally she peers in the door curiously but has never set foot indoors. she is the perfect outdoor cat and a fabulous ratter and mouser, and rabbitter.- maybe she was worth £160- but I very much doubt it.

[lord flynn]

thanks everyone


CPL are currently offering a pair for £80-thats jagged, wormed, neutered, flea treated. I could get a 'free' cat but would then have to pay for the aforementioned. not sure I could do that for £80 for one, let alone a pair. Maybe their prices have come down? I could also buy a kitten from Preloved/Gumtree-but would then be encouraging people to not neuter their pets by giving them £40 profit for not health checking/flee treating/worming/jagging their kittens. It's no coincidence the amount of 5/6month old cats for sale on these sites that aren't yet neutered.  so quite prepared to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to paying for animals that have been properly done. we have some building work being done in the new year and will will have to wait until after that and hope nothing else goes wrong with the house lol,  but its quite exiting 

[shygirl]

we had 2 old feral cats from cpl, when we moved first here. we wanted them to sleep in the haybarn but as soon as their lockdown was over they moved into the garage, and hardly moved from their beds for years. i dont think they caught a single mouse tho. 
our 2 shy house cats now sleep in the garage as they couldnt cope with the noise of the children/dogs. they are 18 and 20 and never been ill so it cant be a hard life.

the only thing with feral cats is catching them for the vets etc - one of ours had cancer in his ear canal - so a trip to the vets was a bit of a hassle, plus he needed clipping as he wasnt keeping his coat clean and it got matted, and he wouldnt let us brush him.

our ginger cat was an outside cat but since we got the new kitten, he is inside by choice. he loves the house, whereas the older cats want the peace away from the kids / dogs and dont come near the house at all.

[kaz]

I got two from the Cats Protection League young brothers in September. The CPL had named them both from Shakespeare plays, they are now named Bill & Ben. They were neutered and microchipped and  ready to prowl. I kept them closed up in the barn for two weeks and they have settled in fine. Had a few items of vermin left around the barn floor for inspection, and they sleep all day and disappear at night. Well worth the donation.

[jaykay]

Reading this with interest, as have too many rats about the place!

However. My two house cats are indoor-cats only, for the following reasons:
We re-homed three kittens, from the local animal shelter, two tabby sisters (Kai and Kizzy)and a little black one (Kira) that was the same age so got put in with them - well we couldn't leave her behind as well, could we.

Once they were old enough they were indoor-outdoor cats, with a cat flap into the kitchen. I called them in for food, and they were 'about' all the time, in the house and garden and would come up the fields with me when I went up to the sheep. I loved it.

But despite living on a B4numbers road, (with acres and acres to roam behind the house) the road immediately past my house is straight and the idiots drive it faster than their brains operate and the two tabbies were killed, one after the other  Kira was much more of a homebody and we hoped she'd survive. We rescued two additional kittens, brother and sister (Jethro and Jinx) so that Kira wasn't alone. But before the two kittens were of an age to go outside, Kira was killed too 

So that was it, Jinx and Jethro never did go out. They have the run of a big farmhouse and catch plenty of encroaching wee beasties indoors!

So my worry about barn cats obviously, is that they would also be killed on the road. The dilemma is - would a possibly short, happy life be better than a life in captivity in a shelter

Other than that, I have outbuildings, a conservatory if they needed to come indoors for any period of time....

What do people think? 

And could I get my head round it too?

And if I did go ahead, what do you do about 'hefting' them to your place. Shut them in the barn? For how long? In a cage, or just in the barn (I think an enterprising cat could get out of all my outbuildings). How much contact do you make with them? I tend to 'tame' all my animals to the extent that I can handle them a bit more easily when I need to.

[SallyintNorth]

I suspect you just have to accept a rather high failure rate to get one or two that stay and live.

I can't answer the 'is it better' question - but will be interested to see what others say, as it is one on which I ponder similarly for similar reasons. 

For the moment, there is a cat who says she is our farm cat, and only takes food from us in the worst of weathers, who is very very shy and doesn't like other cats, so I don't need and couldn't get another one at the moment anyway.

Otherwise, jaykay... time for a terrier to add to the pack? 

[lord flynn]

I lost my old cat to an RTA, always said I would get another-that was nearly 20 years ago! we are now 3 miles from the nearest B road, there is obviously a single track road up to us and the neighbouring farm but its pot holey and windy, not a speedy road-although there is always the risk.


I am surrounded by sheep though-anyone know the latest thinking on the risk to sheep from cats?

[goosepimple]

There's a tolerance level of putting any animals with other animals and I don't think a couple of cats would cause a real problem to your sheep health and safety wise. 


I'd get a cat couple or a couple of cats which are related or used to each other so they have someone cosy to snuggle up to and keep themselves warm in the cold nights.  Unrelated cats may cause you sleepless nights singing christmas carole's at your bedroom window.  Feed in the morning so they're hungry at night and hunt more eagerly and don't expect them to be grateful of course, you're the 'staff' -  and not just for christmas 

[Dans]

When we first got our cats we made the decision to let them be indoor/outdoor. We knew there was a risk from cars  but we wanted them to live full lives. Whenever we moved we took proximity to roads into consideration. 4 years later our boy cat was killed in an RTA in broad daylight in a 30mph zone by a park. I was distraught, but he had loved being outside, I thought about keeping his sister inside but she wouldn't hear of it.

We got 2 feral farm kittens from our local rescue, one of them died at neutering and I was glad that she had been able to have little snippets of outside under supervision before her time was up. We ended up getting two more feral farm kittens from the rescue, including one they called Satan that no-one can get near. We intended for them to be very socialised and they have all turned into lapcats, although you still can't pick Satan (Gems) up and she is still flightly sometimes. They all seem to hunt though and we've had lots of presents.

I worry about what will happen when we eventually move to a smallholding if it is a near a road. If Giles, a 4 year old, can be killed in a 30mph zone by a children's park then there's no guarantee of safety for young cats by a national speed limit road. But on the same hand they can die from other things at other times, like the kitten we lost to routine surgery. Are the cats better off taking a chance with us, with access to roads, than living in the rescue? In my opinion they are. The rescue is a great place, but it is stressful for cat to be surrounded by so many others. It also takes up space, preventing cats that are in worse condition, starving, sick and unsheltered, from being taken care of by the rescue. I would say re-home them and give them their chance at life. But again that is my opinion, and  if I lost another to RTA I'll no doubt be caught up in guilt about it for a while like I was with Giles.

Dans

[devonlad]

We live miles from any sizable road but our neighbours tom  cat still got run over. Our usual lovely postman waz on holiday and it was his stand in driving like a fool up our narrow track.  As Child we lost a succession of boys to cars. Our girl lived to be ancient. As a result I always have girls believing them to be more road savvy.  Cats and sheep ? My boss had several ewes abort  in late pregnancy las year. Following tests it was suspected to be cat poo related

[Mammyshaz]

I think it's worth taking the risk with adult feral cats. They don't have the chance of a life otherwise.
We currently have an adult stray semi-feral who is not handled at work. Her destiny is not good come tomorrow as we cannot take the risk of rehoming her to a 'pet' home. She has attacked all staff who get to close but she has no escape route in a cage. I'm sure she would be fine on a farm but we have filled all vacancies several times with past strays. Cat rescues are bursting with unwanted cats so if anybody has space for a feral, give them a chance.
jK it's worth keeping them locked in for 10-14 days so they get to know the sounds and smells of their surroundings and that they have a bed and regular meals so they know where home is. After that time if they are happy with the accommodation they will stay around.