Can anyone advise me on keeping ferrel cats!!!

C

canteron

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 October 2008
Messages
4,216
Location
Cloud Cockoo Land
Visit site
We are a very soppy animal minded family, but had decided to get a couple of ferrel cats to keep the rats and mice under control. My husband is allergic to cats so we are going to have to be tough and keep them in the stables (arghh)

A few questions to anyone who can be bothered to help (thanks!!)

1. Does it work - and do the cats still carry on being good ratters as they get older?

2. Do you just leave bowls of dried cat food around, or how do you feed them?

3. Are they happy sleeping in the hay barn?

4. Do they kill a lot of birds?

5. Any other advice.

Thanks!
 
Hi we have 2 feral cats - both boys and had them since kittens- they are 2. have both been neutered but that just so they dont get our neighbours cats!!

1. Does it work - and do the cats still carry on being good ratters as they get older?

to be honest with ours its more the jack russell who does the ratting

2. Do you just leave bowls of dried cat food around, or how do you feed them?

we have a bowl of food, left out on top of our dog kennel where they know where it is and easy to get to - they come and go when they want and we fill it up when empty. its normally 2-3 days

3. Are they happy sleeping in the hay barn?

they like it in there - prefebly on a rug :rolleyes: or they sleep on top of kennel as its warmer

4. Do they kill a lot of birds?

not really!

5. Any other advice.

we kept them in for a week longer than recommended - and we still couldnt properly touch them after being in (cant remember how long this is)! - when it came to letting them out they stood on the back door step for a week

if you have dogs, introduce them as soon as, as our kittens were scary at first they are best friends with one of our labs, however the JR has a yap every now an then

hope this helps!!
 
canteron said:
We are a very soppy animal minded family, but had decided to get a couple of ferrel cats to keep the rats and mice under control. My husband is allergic to cats so we are going to have to be tough and keep them in the stables (arghh)

A few questions to anyone who can be bothered to help (thanks!!)

1. Does it work - and do the cats still carry on being good ratters as they get older?
When they get very old, cats do slow down and want to curl up somewhere warm to sleep most of the time.

2. Do you just leave bowls of dried cat food around, or how do you feed them?
We always have water and dry food available in the barn.

3. Are they happy sleeping in the hay barn?
Yes, anywhere warm, dry and comfy. They quite like to be high up too.

4. Do they kill a lot of birds?
Depends on the cat. They do like rabbits most IME and really go to town when it's baby bunny season. Mice and voles are often caught and eaten too.

5. Any other advice.
If you are rehoming from a centre, they should be vaccinated, wormed and de-flead. You may need to trap them yearly for booster vaccinations etc.... Tinned sardines in tomato sauce works best for this (trapping them).

Thanks!
Click to expand...

We haven't officially rehomed any ferels from a centre, but we have had a couple turn up. Unfortunately one had a damaged eye and once trapped we took her to the Vet but she needed to be PTS. It was really heartbreaking, I was quite taken aback by how upset I was over a little black ferel, it was just like losing a pet cat.
 
Our cat came with the house, he isn't feral as such as he is very affectionate and I sometimes find him in the house. He came with a manky eye and a bit bald (which led to his unfortunate name of Manky) which have been sorted with some basic health care. He lives in the stable/tack room and is fed pouches and has ad-lib biscuits. He sleeps in a cat bed on top of the shavings. I don't have any signs of mice or rats in my stable but that might be because the feed lives in an old freezer and not down to the cat. He does however kill baby birds and I threaten him with being put down every spring. The cat gets on with the horses, chickens and most of the dogs, however he gives as good as he gets with the dogs.
He does have a feral friend though which I occassionally see. That one is terrified of people and I cant imagine it has ever seen a vet but it looks really healthy. It did melt my heart the winter before last when it was very cold, when I watched Manky lead the feral cat to the stable and stood aside so the feral could tuck into his dinner!
 
We had 3 ferals from Cats Protection 6 years ago. They were 6 months old.
We kept them in a wooden wendy house in the garden for 2 weeks, feeding them & with litter trays. One became very friendly, he can be picked up, rubs around your legs & treats our terrier like a big brother (very funny to watch - terrier KNOWS he is meant to chase him, but when cat turns round & gives him the big hello, he stops & looks at us as if to say - "what is going on??")
2nd cat we can only stroke when feeding - we feed once a day . 3rd cat we could not get close to, but sadly she was hit by a car in our lane & died in my arms.
We like the wendy house as it has a cat flap & I know they can go in & get away from foxes/badgers etc in safety.
They do patrol the hayshed & stables & we don't appear to have much of a rodent problem, so I guess they have been a success from that point of view

HTH!
 
1. Does it work - and do the cats still carry on being good ratters as they get older?
They are more mousers than ratters but will discourage the rats from setting up home. My Border terrier bitch is the best ratter in town!

2. Do you just leave bowls of dried cat food around, or how do you feed them?
Dry food is fine, ours is under a little breeze block shelter so it doesnt get rained on (2 vertical then one across the top) but must always put water out for them if using dry food. Ad lib dry food doesnt seem to put them off wanting to be the Mouseinator

3. Are they happy sleeping in the hay barn?
Very, perching on top of the hay bales or somewhere high

4. Do they kill a lot of birds?
More mice and voles but the occasional bird. However we have 40 acres of wildlife paradise so they dont make much of an impact here - after the snow you can see thousands of little vole burrows every few inches in the fields!

5. Any other advice.
When you have released them after shutting them in for a while, dont panic if they disappear for a bit - Ive never had one not come back after a couple of weeks as long as they know where the food is. Also, the most scaredy ones often end up being the friendliest. Our friendliest one you can do anything with other than pick up and he was terrified of his own shadow.

We get ours from CPL. Not all of them stick around as there is so much territory around here and so many farms but at least with CPL they will be neutered (or get a voucher for it with them) so you know they wont be causing issues (Up here its also important to neuter so they dont cross breed with the critically endangered wildcats).
 
Oh wow, thanks everyone, seems on the whole positive. I will just have to resite the bird feeding station!

I think the CPL is full to bursting, so it seems a nice time to give a couple of them a home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top