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Elite Veteran
Posts: 705
 
Location: Weatherford, TX | We board our horses, but between our neighbor and us we have 4 cats. We have a dog too, but our neighbor has just the 2 cats. I have a Tom and a female, both of my neighbors are females. They are all spayed/neutered. They all have been drop-offs or ferals.
My Tom and female are both aggressive. The female I think was a drop-off at about 8-10 weeks old. I say that because she was way to used to people and loves to come inside. The Tom was a feral,I think. He was friendly later and does not want to come in at all...I have tried. They are both big cats...the female is about 11-12lbs. full grown and the Tom is 17lbs. at about 10mos old. He is huge, especially for his age. Big bones and not fat at all. He looks like a Scottish Wildcat. He has the flat head and smaller ears pointing to the side and he is huge. They both eat really very well and really still 'hunt'. They both will take on literally anything...dogs, other cats, mice, big birds and all they have had a chance is field rats. Now, the Tom will 'patrol' usually during the day. He gets into fights. But, he left on Saturday night. He came home in the morning when I was out at about 4:30am covered from his head to his shoulders in wet/dried saliva. He had a good sized cut at the base of his left ear. No puncture wounds. He was really sore and it took about 36 hours of staying home/cared for before we was back to his normal self. We think it had to be a coyote or dog that got a hold of him by the head. He's back 'on patrol' this morning. My female stays close, but that Tom is different.
My neighbor's cats (one feral and one drop-off) are both stay at home and scared of a lot...not hunters.
Our county animal shelter has a barn cat program where they select what they think will make good barn cats. They also have a trap-nueter-return program for ferals for free if you want to keep a feral. They spay/neuter, rabies and give medical attention for free if want you to keep them. It is a wonderful shelter.
You really have to 'judge' the cat and whether they have the "killer" instinct. Now, as big as our Tom is, our female will still 'flatten' him. They are both are fierce 'killers'. I have heard too that Manx or "Bob Tails" are great hunters.
Edited by Gator Bug 2019-01-08 9:45 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | My "barn" cat is not a hunter... she was a rescue from where we used to rent and when we bought and moved we felt bad and brought her. Shes an outdoor cat (whom my mom has just recently started let sleep in the mud room) but shes just not a hunter. My cattle dog on the other hand hunts anything. We had a mouse in the house. Yep found dead on the floor. Any bugs? kills them |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
 
Location: Arkansas | Racer4eva - 2019-01-08 8:03 PM
My "barn" cat is not a hunter... she was a rescue from where we used to rent and when we bought and moved we felt bad and brought her. Shes an outdoor cat (whom my mom has just recently started let sleep in the mud room) but shes just not a hunter. My cattle dog on the other hand hunts anything. We had a mouse in the house. Yep found dead on the floor. Any bugs? kills them
My last cat (Bitsy) died 4 years ago this month, but she was a good mouser. My Siberian (Luca), on the other hand, is a rat killin machine! I have a picture of the two of them hunting in the living room together right before Bits died. (Luc was "pushing" the mouse towards her!) Guess I just really told on myself for having mice in my house, didn't I  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | Chandler's Mom - 2019-01-08 9:31 PM
Racer4eva - 2019-01-08 8:03 PM
My "barn" cat is not a hunter... she was a rescue from where we used to rent and when we bought and moved we felt bad and brought her. Shes an outdoor cat (whom my mom has just recently started let sleep in the mud room) but shes just not a hunter. My cattle dog on the other hand hunts anything. We had a mouse in the house. Yep found dead on the floor. Any bugs? kills them
My last cat (Bitsy ) died 4 years ago this month, but she was a good mouser. My Siberian (Luca ), on the other hand, is a rat killin machine! I have a picture of the two of them hunting in the living room together right before Bits died. (Luc was "pushing" the mouse towards her! ) Guess I just really told on myself for having mice in my house, didn't I
Think it comes with the territory of living in the country!! We had 2 mice. One the dog got and the other ended up on a sticky trap. |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Racer4eva - 2019-01-08 8:51 PM
Chandler's Mom - 2019-01-08 9:31 PM
Racer4eva - 2019-01-08 8:03 PM
My "barn" cat is not a hunter... she was a rescue from where we used to rent and when we bought and moved we felt bad and brought her. Shes an outdoor cat (whom my mom has just recently started let sleep in the mud room) but shes just not a hunter. My cattle dog on the other hand hunts anything. We had a mouse in the house. Yep found dead on the floor. Any bugs? kills them
My last cat (Bitsy ) died 4 years ago this month, but she was a good mouser. My Siberian (Luca ), on the other hand, is a rat killin machine! I have a picture of the two of them hunting in the living room together right before Bits died. (Luc was "pushing" the mouse towards her! ) Guess I just really told on myself for having mice in my house, didn't I
Think it comes with the territory of living in the country!! We had 2 mice. One the dog got and the other ended up on a sticky trap.
Ohhhh to only have 2 mice!!!! I will say that this winter they haven't been as bad as usual. (Probably wake up to 38 on the counter in the am since I said that. . . ) |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Is it just me or do mice scare others? I freak out if I see one scurrying lol! I will no longer stick my hand into a feed bag or barrel without a bright light and inspecting it first! Ugh you can probably imagine why ..... |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | want2chase3 - 2019-01-09 8:13 AM Is it just me or do mice scare others? I freak out if I see one scurrying lol! I will no longer stick my hand into a feed bag or barrel without a bright light and inspecting it first! Ugh you can probably imagine why .....
Nawww, mice dont scare me if I see them first, but if I stick my hand in a bag of feed and one runs up my arm then you will hear me squeal, lol, had that happen a few times, its the unknown that scares me, ha ha ha ha.. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| Gads - we play sick games with the mice we trap (live trap). We give them to the cat/s to play with and kill. I know we're sick pups . . |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | lonely va barrelxr - 2019-01-09 10:47 AM
Gads - we play sick games with the mice we trap (live trap). We give them to the cat/s to play with and kill. I know we're sick pups . .
Luc found one in my tub (I can't believe I'm telling y'all these things!!) and I "rewarded" him with it. It didn't suffer. . . . |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| I use this live trap. Works well. I hd to just buy another because I caught a small opossum and it broke it. So it's not indestructible unfortunately, but I'd still review it good.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0154F09I8?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_tit...
Edited by cn1705 2019-01-10 10:32 AM
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