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 Midget Lover
     
Location: Kentucky | We just built a barn and now ready for some barn cats.
We've been told to get at least two kittens, but to not go through a Humane Society because they don't like to adopt if you don't keep the cats in the house. Is that true?
Also - how do you get the cats to stick around the barn? We do have a tack room, but it's fully enclosed when the door is shut, so there is no way for the cats to go in and out as they please. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| the local newspaper usually has tons of ads for free kittens. I would get at least two if not more because unfortunately they can disappear fast. Lock them up for a few days and then let them out and only lock them up at night. After a couple weeks you can leave them out. Usually they'll stick around where they feel safe. |
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | The humane Society around here won't adopt out unless you sign your life away and promise only indoor living. Usually you can find kittens on Craigslist or the local newspaper. We used to have tons of cats. Mama's are the best, Toms are a POS. We lost 2 of our old mama's to old age so now having a heck of a time getting cats to stay around. Someone mentioned we need to get a pregnant cat so she has the babies at your place. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | We've been getting 3 at a time and have lost one from each set. I used my big dog crate for about a week and they learned quick that the barn is food and safety. All mine are boys. Didn't plan it that way, just happened. But all of them are good hunters and bring me lots of presents. |
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 IMA No Hair Style Gal
Posts: 2594
| Trust me....cats and kittens will find you.
I have only paid for spay/neuter for cats that have been dumped.
I take them in as barn cats and keep them.
But-over time I have also had people contact me with their older cats...(say one, two, three years old) needing to find them homes.
I take them-because then I don't have to pay to spay or neuter them-and cat food is inexpensive, and shots are pretty cheap too.
So my advice would be to post a wanted add somewhere (unless you really want kittens). I have six cats now! They all stick around. I have an open barn. If I am worried I keep them in the house for a few days-or crate them outside for a few days with food, water, litter box-and every time I am in the barn I take them out and pet them and hold them. As they get more adjusted I let them out of the crate in the morning and put them in the crate at night. Then from there I take the crate away.
I only had one cat run off. She ended up at a neighboring barn six months later!
I guess my point is spayed and neutered cats with shots are so easy to come across for free! I have never once needed to adopt one. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 170
Location: up to my waist in you know what | Craigslist is a great place to find cats, lots of times you will find them already fixed, of course you can really only confirm on male cats by looking if it's true. Lock them up for a week or so they know where their safe place and food is and they normally stick around. Good luck! |
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 Underestimated Underdog
Posts: 3971
Location: Minnesota | I took in a stray that was pregnant and she had 4 kittens. One kitten passed away after a week but the other 3 are now 7 months. I handled them from the time they were a few weeks old and they follow me everywhere. They know where their food is and where its warm so they don't stray. Half the time they follow me when I'm riding. Momma has been gone since Thanksgiving so I'm not sure she made it through the winter. She was not born at my place so she would wander but the kittens only know my place so they stick close.
From left to right - Mouse, Cali and Tink.
Edited by Ctrygirl14 2014-02-26 10:12 AM
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| All of my barn cats, five of them to be exact, are stray/feral. Just as soon as you feed them once they are kind of prone to sticking around where the easy food comes from. At least, I haven't had a problem with losing any of mine. I think getting them to stay around a barn is easier than people getting them to stay around their houses. My sister in law is a cat lover and has several but occasionally one just leaves her house. Mine tend to stay at my barn for years on end. I lost one to a cow dog once when she let her guard down and got caught. :( |
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 Member
Posts: 45
Location: Missouri | Check your vet clinics. They always have free kittens posted to give away. I got lucky & got a free kitten from my vet, already spayed! |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | We have been here three years, and I thought someone would dump cats or dogs, or we would see some cats, but we haven't, not one! We had one that would eat leftover grain if the horses dropped it in the pasture, but I think something may have gotten it because we haven't seen it in months. I'll check Craigslist. I need to get a big cage too to put them in at first. |
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 The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | I wouldn't get kittens. I would get "teenagers" (9+ months old) or adults. For the most part, I prefer SPAYED females. Toms can be nasty and they pee on EVERYTHING. Neutered males can be OK too. (Though some of the worst fighters we have had were neutered males.) But I like the girls. I WOULD check out the animal shelter. Sure you have to PAY for the animal. But they are already spayed/neutered and have their shots. (And it can be CHEAPER to get one from a shelter than get a FREE one from the paper or craigslist then have to PAY to have it "fixed" and get it's shots.) Not all of them require you to sign your life away. And lets be honest, they won't KNOW they are going to be barn cats if you don't TELL them! And you would be saving a life. The best cat I've ever had I got from a shelter when she was about 9 to 12 months old.
Edited by RacingQH 2014-02-26 10:28 AM
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The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | You don't HAVE to get a cage if you don't want to. You could just put them in the tack room with food/water and a litter box. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1100
Location: Southeastern Idaho | Like others, all my cats showed up as feral cats and ended up staying. I now have 8 permanent residents in the barn and I get visitors. All are spayed and neutered so I have no spraying issues. I feed them just enough for all that show up in the morning to eat. If I leave a pan out I get skunks and raccoons so I try to just put enough out that they clean it up. No mice in site and they occasionally get a stupid pigeon. I took the door off a medium sized dog crate, put an old towel in it, litter box in the corner, then put out a pan of food and water when I wanted to train a couple of kittens I had before to stay in my barn. Worked like a charm. I could leave the tack door open after a week and they stuck around. |
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Regular
Posts: 84
| just post it on fb and someone will give you a couple/ yes spayed or neutered is right.. teenagers, not little bitty babies.... keep them in feed room for a week, then put a kitty door in the feed room door so they can go in and out....they don't run away. trust me..they will feel safe in feed room, put something really tall like shelves or something they can get way up on. you will never have any mice, snakes, bugs, etc.... well you might have some dead ones they bring up... ha..... male cats pee on stuff and it stinks bad, so get yours spayed or neutered...... oh some people want to give you declawed cats but ive never had one outside, they need their claws to climb... |
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Location: South Dakota | CYA Ranch - 2014-02-26 9:47 AM The humane Society around here won't adopt out unless you sign your life away and promise only indoor living. Usually you can find kittens on Craigslist or the local newspaper. We used to have tons of cats. Mama's are the best, Toms are a POS. We lost 2 of our old mama's to old age so now having a heck of a time getting cats to stay around. Someone mentioned we need to get a pregnant cat so she has the babies at your place.
I can supply you with a pregnant mama cat...How does the first of May or so sound to you? Will have to limit you to no more than 10 though..LOL |
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 Veteran
Posts: 242
Location: Tennessee | I have two neutered males now. They came at different times, the first thing I did was have them fixed. I got two feral kittens at the same time from a neighbor, male and female. The female had something a little off about her. Anyways I kept them in a huge dog cage at night and during the day for a little while. I handled them for a while and then started letting them out while I was there and putting them up when I left. Once they were big enough and handled enough I let them free. I had them fixed and they were great. Something ended up getting the female I think, she couldn't run and jump as well as a normal cat. They both would follow me to the arena and watch me ride. My males get along great and keep my barn dog company. We keep the cat food on the top of a large dog crate so that wandering dogs can't eat it. The younger male made our older male much more friendly and we see him so much more now that he has a buddy. |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | luvropin - 2014-02-26 10:41 AM
Like others, all my cats showed up as feral cats and ended up staying. I now have 8 permanent residents in the barn and I get visitors. All are spayed and neutered so I have no spraying issues. I feed them just enough for all that show up in the morning to eat. If I leave a pan out I get skunks and raccoons so I try to just put enough out that they clean it up. No mice in site and they occasionally get a stupid pigeon. I took the door off a medium sized dog crate, put an old towel in it, litter box in the corner, then put out a pan of food and water when I wanted to train a couple of kittens I had before to stay in my barn. Worked like a charm. I could leave the tack door open after a week and they stuck around.
Between my neighbours and I ... We used to have 28 cats. It was crazy, we woke up to a box of kittens on the end of our driveway once and would see new cats show up all the time. Our one local vet helped us out a lot because she knew our area was bad for drop offs and would fix one for $50 (a steal because regularily it was $200 for a male and 250+for a female). She would only charge us for the drugs they used basically. We now have 3 barn cats (used to have 7 at mine all the time but a few disappeared over the past 10 years), 2 indoor at my house, and 5 at my moms. There are some at my neighbours and some of the kittens we caught and gave away or had to take to the humane society. We feed twice a day and the outside ones come to the deck like clockwork at dinner time.
I'm surprised you haven't seen any, I agree there are always free cats available on Craigslist or the local paper. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 552
Location: Off to a barrel race... | We have 5 currently. All of them are males and only one is neutered. They make "beds" in the round bales and know where the food is. One of them wandered into the barn, not sure where from. One comes and goes for long periods of time. The other 3 were acquired from friends, family, and neighbors. |
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Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | They will most def be spayed and neutered.... I don't want any surprises or contribute to the amount of kittens! |
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 I'm not opinionated
Posts: 4597
Location: Online | We have a momma cat, a neutered male and 3 of her kittens that stays here. We just have a doggy door into the shed where they eat and sleep. The momma gets knocked up by the stray cats that come around so we have a litter about twice a year. Out of 9 kittens she's had, we only have 3 left. They either just disappear or we have given a couple away. One drowned in the water trough. I would suggest getting 3 or 4, because the law of averages say you will have 1 or 2 left by the time they are old enough to fend for themselves. Gray or black are the best because they are camouflage. We are going to have some in a few weeks, come and get them when they are ready. LOL!
ETA: We have NO MICE! Went from mouse hell when we moved here to nothing, I love my kitties.
Edited by rodeomom13 2014-02-26 11:09 AM
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