"Feral" Barn Cats
Say hello to Alvin and Brother. We adopted these two from a wonderful organization called SPOT -Saving Pets One at a Time. They are a decentralized (much like Steemit and the blockchain) non-euthanization adoption agency. Individuals volunteer to be Foster Parents for the animals until a home is found. One of the programs is for feral cats best utilized at barn cats. These feral cats are caught, spayed or neutered and "re-purposed" as barn cats to keep your rodent population down. They are perfect for those of us out in the country. The only requirement is that you have a sheltered place outside for them to sleep, like a barn :)
How does it work? When you find the cats you want, the foster parent brings it/them over to your place with a cage. You keep them in the cage for about 2 weeks at which time you feed and water them (of course!) and clean out the litter box. After about two weeks you open the door to the cage and keep food in there. More times than not, by then the cats will realize this is where there new home is and is a safe place with food. After a month or two the feedings are limited to once a day and then once every other day. Their natural instinct takes over and they begin hunting their food (watch out for low lying bird feeders in the area!). These cats are not intended to be pets as they come from a feral upbringing, but as you can see, sometimes they turn in to real lovers.
Since having barn cats our rodent problem has been nearly non-existent! They do great work and in return they get a second chance at life and a sheltered safe place to sleep. It is a real win-win!
Here is a link to the organizations web page S.P.O.T.
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
People used to drop cats off at my dad's farm all the time. They're definitely excellent exterminators. Only issue we had is over the years the new litters started to get birth defects from inbreeding. Sorry to go off on that weird tangent. Alvin and Brother are great. Thanks for the post.
Tangents are good :) That is one of the best parts about this organization. They spay and neuter for free.
I'm glad an organization like this exists. My mom and I had a bad experience with our city shelter. We adopted a cat from them that turned out to be feral. He was a good cat, very loving, but would lapse into violent episodes. Ultimately, we had to put the poor guy down. The vet said that he had already been marked as feral by animal control (they cut a notch in their ear and release them), and he never should have been put up for adoption in the first place. The real kicker is that we live in a rural area, and if there was a program like this in place, sending him to live on a farm could have been more than just a metaphor.
This summer we lost a wonderful cat (Nomie) whom we received years ago as a rescue. He was semi-feral and it took years before he became friendly but he was allowed indoor-outdoor privileges and actually got to be cuddly (as long as you didn't touch him while he was 'cuddling'!) He was an excellent mouser, birder, moler, and dragonflyer. When he was gone we ended up adopting another semi-feral. They will never be city, indoor only cats but they are tough and lead the most interesting lives. Our mouse overpopulation that had happened right after Nomie died is once again wiped out.
I'm crazy happy that there are now organizations that are willing to put the kind of cat that makes us happy into the kind of home/barn that will make it happy.
Great post Jon. I adore animals. Bringing these cats in for such a sybiotic relationship is perfect. Bringing opportunities like this to light is wonderful.