Barn Cats – Meowsic to my ears! How to keep them on your farm.

Integrating barn cats on your farm….

I’ll be completely up front: I am a cat lover [sucker]! I think they are hilarious, make excellent companions, and are good farm chore supervisors. I have both inside cats and barn cats, and they are all very much loved – even if sometimes the love is only one-sided from the humans 😉
Cuteness aside, there are several practical reasons to have cats on your farm. Our barn cats have become true farm workers by helping keep the rodent population down. Livestock on the farm = animal feed on the farm = a serious attractant of rodents & wildlife of all kinds. Feed for our animals is one of the largest costs on our farm, and we really can’t afford to have rodents or wildlife getting at it. I rest easier now knowing that at some point the cats will take care of the rodents so they don’t spoil the feed!

I have barn cats that both showed up at our farm, and some that I “transplanted” here from various unhealthy situations. The ones that show up unannounced and start eating our cat food are handled differently than the ones that I bring in.
I get both friendly and non-friendly strays at least several times a year here. The friendly ones I’m usually suspicious of it being a pet, or dumped feline around my property. Sadly that is often the case. Most times I find these cats at feeding time as they follow the rest of my crew to food. Even the friendly ones can be skiddish at first. They have learned not to trust humans. Then it becomes a matter of gaining trust, but hopefully quickly. There are so many bad things that can happen to dumped housecats…they simply don’t know how to fend for themselves. It’s an untruth that cats just “know” how to live on their own, and a once spoiled inside cat is fine if left outside. They aren’t ok – they generally starve. Or get killed by cars, or by coyotes. Or oftentimes are bullied by the resident cats wherever they show up, causing injury or infection. It’s not a good situation, and certainly isn’t fun for me to find these poor abandoned cats hoping for a meal by us.

If the new stray cat is able to be handled I will immediately kennel the cat and get it all it needs: food, water, a heated bed if it’s winter, and a litter box. I use these amazing “Iris” kennels from Amazon that have 3 large shelves. The top shelf is the bed area and for food, middle shelf is water, and bottom of the kennel is litter.

The cats that can be handled get a once over by me and see if there is anything obviously wrong. I also can sex cats so I see what I’ve got. Generally it’s an unfixed male that comes to us who was looking for a girlfriend, or was forced out of another colony. Sometimes we get unfixed males that are ridiculously friendly, which tells me they might have been spraying at their old home and were tossed out. Unfixed males are trouble waiting to happen, indoors or out. Their hormones take over their brains!

Once I give the cat a good once-over, I cover the top of the cage with a blanket long enough to cover where the bed is. The cats feel more secure that way in their little cave, and it allows them to calm down.

If I get a non-friendly mystery cat in my barn it’s a little more complicated. I have to trap the cat in a live trap for both their safety and mine. I do this by feeding all my own cats first, and make sure they eat everything. Then I will set a live trap- raccoon size- and bait it with canned cat food or sardines. I almost always trap my own cats a few times when doing this (**sigh, usually the less smart ones of the group**) but patience pays off. Eventually the stray, who is presumably hungry, goes into the trap. Then I have to get the unfriendly cat into the larger kennel. Again, the kennels I have from Amazon are amazing. There are three doors on it. I undo the top door and put the trap up to the door with as little space between the cages as possible. Sometimes the cat will walk right in. The lure of a “cave like space” when there is a blanket over the top of the kennel is very helpful! If that doesn’t work a little nudge with a small stick on the cat’s back end gets it to move –
READ: not a poke! You don’t want a ticked off unfriendly!!
Assuming you get the cat in the kennel it needs all the same things as the friendlies, minus the inspection. The blanket over the top of the kennel is critical for these guys because they are highly stressed. They like the cave feel a blanket gives them and it calms them down.

Sometimes you get cats that are what I call true “chainsaws.” A Chainsaw is a super feral, ie- “stick your hand in that kennel and it will get chainsawed off!” They want nothing to do with humans, and will fight to the death – yours OR theirs- out of pure fear. They aren’t mean cats, they are just terrified. And if they are in my barn I know they are desperate for food or shelter. It’s a sad state for them to be in and sometimes disturbing to see. It’s certainly NOT a fun thing to deal with as the barn owner. Even these cats though need help, and I follow the steps above for getting them some help. I am the poster child of what NOT to do in catching a feral….do NOT get gloves on and just grab it.
**Full disclosure, I’ve done some dumb things. This was one of them. Trust me, gloves mean nothing to a feral cat. They will bite right through them, and then you’re bleeding like a stuck pig while the already scared cat freaks out and leaves you there with nothing to show but an injury. It’s hard to start all over and hope the cat comes back to eat. Save the time, and your blood, and trap them.

The next thing I do is try to secure an appointment with a local TNR organization. TNR is Trap, Neuter, Return. I am a BIG SUPPORTER of TNR for several reasons. Neutering the cat will help lower it’s aggression, and it becomes less of a target for other males when the hormones are lowered. Females that get spayed are going to have healthier lives not having countless litters of kittens. And kittens, while I love them and they are freaking cute, don’t make it too often as an outdoor cat unless someone cares for them.
Let’s be honest: there are millions of unwanted cats in the country. It’s only fair to help stop the overbreeding on your own farm by TNR. Finally, it maybe the only vet care some cats get in their lives. Any bit helps.
I might be lucky, but I do have one TNR non-profit group that helps cats out in my area. I am always hopeful that more of these groups get organized, and allow people like myself to get the cats fixed for a reasonable cost. So I’m blogging with the assumption, and hope, that you have this available to you.

Usually the TNR surgery is scheduled a few weeks out. This is OK! This gives you some time to give a good diet to the cat you trapped and add some weight. Sometimes I get cats that are disturbingly skinny. The cat also has an opportunity to safely get used to your daily farm routine, acclimate to your voice, and it slowly starts to feel like home. Feral cats need at least two weeks in a safe and secure kennel to acclimate to a new location. This will help ensure the cat will stay at your farm when you’re ready to release them.
I’ve even found that the cats who I trapped that I thought were feral were really just scared sweethearts. It takes that calming down time in the kennel to find this out.

The TNR group that you choose to go through will give you instructions about how they want the cat brought in, when to stop feeding prior to surgery, etc. Usually they want the cats brought in to them in a trap.
The day of the surgery the cat will be checked for a microchip, spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and distemper, and given flea treatment if needed. If you really interested in the actual TNR process, I posted about the opportunity I got in late winter to geek out a a TNR event on our Facebook page.
You can see it here:

When you get your cat home follow the instructions you get from the TNR organization. For male felines I recommend that you keep them kenneled for an additional two days to ensure they are healing well. For spayed females I usually give them a week. Both sexes need to be kept warm after surgery as anesthesia messes with their ability to regulate their body temperature. I use heated beds with their blanket around the kennel. If it’s REALLY cold outside, I’ll move them to a smaller barn room in the kennel (it has wheels) and put a space heater in there.

So you’ve kept your cat kenneled for at least two weeks, had it vetted, and you can now release it! I usually just casually leave the middle door to the kennel open the day I decide to release. I leave everything else the same, and leave the kennel with food, water, litter even after the cat leaves. Some cats come back to the kennels to feed because they are used to the food there. I’ve had some that go back to the heated bed, because, well, HEATED BED!!
If you don’t see your cat for a bit don’t panic. They have a lot to explore, and if you have other cats they have to figure out who is going to be a friend or not.

The cats that I’ve brought in from unhealthy situations follow the same process I’ve described. I am sometimes asked to take in cats for a rescue, or maybe someone who has outside cats that need to relocate. In these cases I always insist that the cats be fixed before coming to me. Once here I still kennel them for at least two weeks, whether friendly or not, and release them the same way.
I have cats here that were victims of attempted poisoning and were rescued. Several cats came to me from a larger city farther away that the colony was going to be euthanized because their caretaker died. One cat was getting beat up by other cats at his old home and needed to be relocated. Another cat was getting shot at by a local constable and a concerned neighbor trapped it and it came to me through a cat rescue. One showed up starving and was just bones late last fall. I get all kinds of situations.

I try to keep a daily routine on my farm for all my animals. It comes in handy with my cats because they know when feeding time is. I feed my barn cats free choice dry food all the time. I choose to feed small amounts of canned food twice a day. I do this so that all of my cats come in to feed while I’m there, and I can see how everyone is. I can check for injuries or illness, and see who shows up. This is for my own peace of mind, but you can do what you like 🙂
I’ve found that with a routine, even the most feral cats tame down just enough that they come close. Maybe there is still a NO TOUCH rule with them, but at least you can get close. Food is a powerful motivator, and trust is always the most important.

At my place the cats have several water sources they can drink from. Most often the cats drink from the goat or llama water. These are cleaned regularly, and in winter are kept from freezing. If you don’t have other animals on your farm to do it like this, heated water bowls are cheap additions for your cats. Cats need the water, especially in winter to help regulate body temp. It helps to keep it out of the wind in cold areas. Here it gets below zero regularly in winter, so checking the water is important.

Finally, the cats need shelter offered year round. We have a barn that our cats use. Usually there are several hundred bales of hay that they can hang out on, but ours are extra spoiled so I go beyond that. I provide heated animal beds for them in the winter they can choose to utilize. Being in Wisconsin it can get REALLY COLD, so they take full advantage of the heated beds! I also put out folded blankets that are large enough to accomodate a couple cats at a time. I’ve found that they often curl up together to stay warm.
Another option for outside cats is a cat shelter. My husband built one a few years ago that is insulated on the inside with foam board insulation. I also used straw as a bedding material. It’s important to not use blankets or hay inside these shelters because once they get wet they lose any insulating properties. Straw stays dry and generally doesn’t mold.
I’ve even seen cat shelters made out of rubbermaid tubs with a small cat door cut in one side. Pinterest has some seriously cool ideas!

I find “gifts” of dead rodents left for me on my walkway sometimes. Or maybe just what’s left of it -icky But it’s satisfying knowing that the cats are taking care of what could be a big problem on our farm.
Plus, did I mention how cute they are?!

What tips do you have to care for barn/outside cats?