# First Barn Cat



## Stacykins (Jul 24, 2015)

I've never kept a barn cat, so this is new territory for me. 

Though all feed is kept in metal bins, I am noticing mice and mouse droppings around. Traps work, sometimes. I am never going to put down poison, so that won't be a method of control. 
I am bringing home a kitten August 4th, when she is eight weeks old. I already have her booked for her first appointment with the vet to start vaccines, on August 5th. 

The plan is to have a spoiled barn cat. She'll eat the same high quality grain free dry food my house cat does, with wet food each day too (better hydration with wet food). She'll be vaccinated, spayed, and microchipped. I may have her ear tipped when she is spayed, if she ever does wander, so people will know she is altered. 

She is the daughter of a very good mouser, and currently lives outside with her mother. Hopefully eight weeks is enough time to learn from her mother. Though if it isn't, I will get frozen mice from the pet store (the kind used to feed snakes) offer those as things to play with/whole prey. That way, she can learn the smell of mice, that they are tasty and also good toys. 

Part of me worries that she will be so young when she comes home. I am setting up a crate in the barn for her, with litterbox, soft stuff, food, and water. But I almost think at night she will be a bit lonely. It'll be a while I think until she can actually roam. Would it break her of being an outdoor cat if I brought her in for the night while she is still quite young? Then, as she ages, revert back to getting closed into the barn at night (night time is when coyotes are more likely to eat cats, so I'd rather not take that chance)? It could help socialize her to the dogs, and my indoor only cat. 

In the picture, she is the one on the right. One girl, two boys. I am told girls are almost always better at mousing. Name will be determined once I pick her up! They're all handled daily, so she won't be feral


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## tressa27884 (Jul 24, 2015)

I think you'd be better off with two - but I know NOTHING about barn cats.


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## cjc (Jul 24, 2015)

I agree, I would get two : We had a barn cat that lived in our barn for years. We never purchased her she actually came with the property when we purchased it. She did always want to come in the house though.

We adopted two barn cats from a local shelter two years ago. We got them beds and a litter box. Fed them for a week in the barn and tried to reassure them. As soon as we left the barn door open to give them access to the outdoors they were gone and never to be seen again


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## babsbag (Jul 24, 2015)

I have always had cats, but not barn cats per say. But as a kids our cats were indoor/outdoor and they caught mice with no problems. They would wander around outdoors all day and come in to eat and sleep at night.  Right now I have 4 indoor only cats and one indoor/outdoor kitty that showed up at our door a while back. She eats in the house, sleeps in at night when I can catch her (most of the time) but hunts all day. I see her with mice and lizards frequently. She loves it outside, goes out every morning, but comes in when it is wet, hot, or just because. The best of both worlds.


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## Poka_Doodle (Jul 25, 2015)

I have barn cats, one is sick and the other has a bad hairball problem, something you will waver to watch out for. Also, have her in the house when it is really snowing, and for a bit when she is young, that's all, she will flit sure be very spoiled


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## Stacykins (Jul 25, 2015)

Alas, two barn cats are not in the cards. I hope with sufficient attention, one should do OK. I worry about the initial transition period the most. 

Those I live with are not cat people. My indoor cat is tolerated because she is a Siamese mix who acts just like a dog.


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## Goat Whisperer (Jul 25, 2015)

We have an indoor/outdoor cat here too. She never wanders, she is the best cat we have had and the best cat I have been around. Never once has she hissed, growled, bitten etc. A few weeks ago she came up to me with a nasty cut on her leg, I could pull her skin up and see all the muscle ... She let me clean her and fix her up and took it in a stride. With something that bad most cats would need to be muzzled/restrained.

I am NOT a cat person AT ALL, but she acts more like a dog then a cat. That is probably why I like her so much 

She is a great hunter, someone had dumped the poor girl and she got caught in the neighbors raccoon trap. She was the first cat in 30 years that he caught that wasn't feral. She was very thin when we got her but put on weight quickly and in return she is a great mouser! She will dig up moles in the ground, and get the wild birds if she feels the need to do so. She has never missed with our day old chicks that hatch and come out of the woods. In one weeks she had caught 3 squirrels that were bigger then her! 

However she likes to drop dead mice on my feet  

Like the others said, I would try to get her somewhat used to the house. We have to bring ours in when bad weather hits because she is short haired.


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## Poka_Doodle (Aug 1, 2015)

I have been very busy, although I have a spare second now to say I lost one of my barn cats to feline leukemia, I found out on Sunday of last week that he had be put to rest two days before.


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