How useful are cats on horse yards?

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rowy

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We have found some rat poo in the hay barn and my dad puts out poison for it(which I am very against so near the hay! ) but they keep on coming back! I keep saying that we should get a cat to get rid of all mice and rats but he says cats dont kill rats?

Just wondered how many of you have yard cats and if they do help keep rodent population down?
 
You can buy proper bait boxes for rats and for mice, then you need to keep baiting till they are all gone.
It must be better to kill them off than allow them to piss and poop all over the feedstuffs. They also carry Weils Disease which can kill humans, so not really an option but to take action, and always wash hands before eating.
It will help to clean and tidy all round the yard, you may find a nesting area which can be destroyed..
A few cats will kill rats, but terriers are more effective, dogs should be vaccinated, but can still suffer from bites..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptospirosis
 
We have stable cats and no problem with mice. However, you would be better with terriers or controlling them in another way if you have rats as the cats will not touch them.
 
Cats can and do kill rats, we'd a cat years ago who was mad for killing rats. A few years ago a rat was in our garden eating the bird seed, my cat sauntered over for a look, rat ran for it into next door's place, they had two cats. Judging by the noise, they got him!
An aunt of mine was a 'crazy old cat lady' and her cats were great for killing rats, which would upset my aunt no end (I have no idea why!)

Where I'm living now is ripe for rat infestation, but there are no rats, there are several cats in the area (one climbed in my kitchen window the other day!)
 
They're not useful when they jump from the fence, on to the horses back!! I don't think I've ever seen a pony move so fast!!

Anyway, there's 2 cats at my yard and as far as I know, there's no mice or rats. Whether that's down to the cats or not, I don't know.
 
Where I live the cats seem to keep the mouse population down but I've never seen them catch anything bigger. Although a yard I was on a few years ago, there was a cat who caught anything and everything, mice, rats, birds, rabbits etc.
I do prefer the terrier rather than the cat method to get rid of rats. I have, however, been training my springer to hunt with my jrt, the springer caught her 1st rat the other day :D
 
Our cats are pretty efficient. They mostly catch mice, but also rats, birds (unfortunately) and small rabbits. I have a terrier and I don't think he's ever even seen a rat! I think just having the dogs and cats around the place acts as a pretty good deterrent tbh.
 
I have 2 yard cats and they kill anything that moves - I know cos they bring them back to me!!! I used to have rats and mice in the hay store and feed room and now there are none. They also give good cuddles when I want one!! :)
 
Hmm, well our cat is pretty useless at ratting - in fact they were living in the same place he was and stealing his food at one point!!! lol. He prefers rabbits and will get the odd mouse but rats? Nah, too much like hard work that! hehe. Our dogs are much better - our older dog is a pretty proficient ratter - or he was, his hearing's not so good now so he doesn't find them as easily. I do think it's niceto have cats on a yard though. we got ours from the Blue Cross after our last one died (we'd had him 14 years). The Blue Cross swore this one would be a fab ratter as he was feral and chased anything.

Hmm, not convinced by the feral comment but I suspect he may have originated from a farm as he's not bothered about horses and he is quite hapy being manhandled, loves to have a cuddle on a lap and keeps getting in our cars to have a nap! He certainly isn't shy anyway! Lol
 
I wasn't at all sure about yard cats until I was asked to rehome a couple of elderly females for a friend. I haven't had a single feedbag ripped since,or had to use any bait. I'm converted and they are far cheaper to have than buying poison and replacing feed. I'm not SO keen on the many dead bodies lying around in the morning but hey ho!
 
Pussies Galore ici!!!

I am over run with feral cats free to good home.

This farm had hundreds of mice when we purchased it in 2005. I hardly ever see a mouse these days, have never seen a rat, other than a dead baby rat my husband found on the lawn.

Our feed is all in bins, of course, and muck heap is cleared every month.
 
My cat does his best with the rodent population. However as he is maturing (10) and has a gammy leg I have to 'feed' my rats with sachets of rat bait. This works very well, but have to put it down for about 5 days. Sooty still catches mice, birds leaves etc and has free range of the house and stables with cat flaps everywhere for him! However my old boss had a jack russell who was lethal when it came to rats, personally I don't like them (jackies that is). Try cats first, they give you love and affection too.:)
 
Happy Hunter said:
Cats can kill Rats, Rabbits, even a small child if pushed! ;)

Do make sure you get proper 'farm' cats mind - Some of these moggies from homes are a too tame and used to wiskers food from a can!
Click to expand...
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;) :D

Our old yard cat was awesome, when the livery moved she was asked to leave him behind!
 
A definite vote for cats. We took on a young male house cat, half oriental, that had never been outside, but within a few weeks of being introduced to the stables was making up for lost time. He now cheerfully murders just about everything including large rats, moles, rabbits, mice and sadly as much birdlife as he can reach. He spends many happy hours trying to get the swallows (too clever for him) and the bats, fortunately without success. He also sits on the horses in winter to keep warm. He's a legend.
 
We used to have rats around. Never a huge issue, but poison was put down. Then we got one cat and the problem reduced. Now however we have 4 (don't ask, given cat, thought spayed and she produced!) and I can't remember the last time I saw a rat/heard a rat/ saw an evidence of rats!!

I have never seen any of them with a rat. Seen plenty of mice/voles/rabbits or parts of them (delightful!). But I don't care if they didn't kill them, they certainly made them up sticks and move out!! ha ha!

If you do get one, try and get one from a yard background. Good ratters need to be slightly feral. House cats are a bit useless!!
 
we have yard cats and they seem to catch the young rats, and mice and shrews, moles and birds unfortunately. Have not seen any big rats for a long time, they used to stroll around metaphorically putting their fingers up previously!( not sure if metaphorically is the right word actually)
 
We have cats.... and rats. I've found the best hunters are nursing queens but having said that its not a good reason to have kittens. After several cat producing years we have had the last female spayed, so they have kinda lost the reason to hunt, though did see one big rat in yard yesterday... dead thank goodness.
 
we have a stable cat, she does kill the mice (which i witness quite often, once when i was trotting by B she was killing a mouse by K) she also sits on your lap, and dont you dare touch her or try to move her or she will lash at you (i once had to sit still without moving a muscle for half an hour whilst she had a mid morning sleep on my lap, didnt want to risk moving) she also reguarly scares the life out of me, most recently last night when all could see was a black thing with yellow eyes on the fence in front of me (it was dark) i ran a mile
 
Very.

I have loads of them, some born here, some dumped and some move in, they come and go as they wish.

I must have mice in the haybarns because I see a lot of dead/half eaten ones but there is no mouse damage. The dogs don't bother with mice, but they are devils for catching rabbits and the odd raccoon too if he doesn't move fast enough:( I have never seen a rat here, there seems to be fresh bits of rabbit around everyday too so the rabbit population can't be doing too badly. I do wish the cats would stop killing the chipmunks and the flying squirrels though.:(

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