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.