Why am I finding it SO hard to find a free cat to chase my mice?!

R2R

R2R

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All I am looking for is an independent yard cat, or cats, preferably neutered, to come and live in my tack room or barn along side another cat, tobe fed copious amounts of felix and stinking cat biscuits in return for catching the odd mouse?

I have contacted cats protection and the ferrel cat people in the back of H&H by email and 3 weeks later no luck.

Do you think its becasue they would be living in a tack room/barn? Are the days of the yard cat over?
 
Why dont you look on gumtree for one?
There are always cats going free to good homes on there, not technally 'feral' but they are being provided with (what sounds like) plenty of good comforts that most feral cats dont get and they will learn from the other cat you have.

I did this when i rented my own yard and the cats coped so well that they ended up eating the mice at our next door yard as a bonus!
 
No, Cats protection are fine with the barn/stable, in fact thats what they want cos these are the ones they couldnt tame so they wouldnt be happy shut in a house. We adopted 2 ferals from CPL for stable duties a few months back. very successful for all concerned :-)) You do have to feed them as well, but theyare doing a very good job.

All the CPL peeps are volunteers so if no response from one group, try a bit further away. TBH when I rang up they were delighted as they had some 11 month olds that had been taken in as kittens and hadnt found homes for them, so it was great for them to have a farm home at last (not the railway signal box where they were born under...hence Percy and James!)
 
Maybe try a local farmer. We used to live next door to a farm and they were forever having kittens....my mum would groan when i used to come back from seeing the animals and come out with "the fluffy tabby cats had kittens again.....can we have another one" :-D (i know they are kittens....but they normally have a very good mouse catching instinct)
Or......try freeads....sometimes people are giving cats away.
Or.......put an ad in your local feed store.
or.......failing any of the above.....if you have a cat locally with a good reputation leave a trail of cat treats to your yard and tempt it to "adopt" you ;-)
 
I know lots of feral kittens and older cats looking for a home, In Essex but if you arent too far away would be happy to drop one off to you. All colours and sexes!!
 
Hi Lex - they are either unnuetered or indoor cats! I need your old tough mouse catcher!!
 
Have you tried actually ringing CP/feral cat people? The type of volunteers and organisers that this sort of group gets round me aren't generally computer literate...
 
At my last yard we had a cat from the RSPCA which lived at the stables. RSPCA knew about the the living arrangements and were happy about it.
 
Where abouts are you, the farm next door to me has some not quite kittens/cats...there about 6months old & looking for homes (also have some very cute kittens as well). But im down in West Wales.
 
Have you tried the Blue Cross? We recently got a cat from there to live at our stables. We had a choice of 3 that might be suitable, and picked the biggest and scariest looking! :D
 
We just got one a couple of months ago from the blue cross, he was apparently a stray they found, they neuteured him but wanted him to be rehomed on a farm/stables as he wasn't really seen as being a house cat. So far has has been very good, seems to love it and we haven't seen one rat or evidence of rats since he's been there. he is actually a lot more sociable than they gave him credit for so we are not convinced he was a true stray.

My inkling is he was probably born on a farm/stable yard (he is not scared of the horses at all) and then was pushed our further afield when he matured. He is about 2 years old they think.

Try the Blue Cross or independent cat resuce places. We tried CPL and they seemed very difficult. They actually told us they didn't go as far as our area (they were only 15 / 20 miles away!) and even though on the website it said they had some kittens they had picked uo who'd be suitable as stable cats it was the devils own job to get them to call us back with anything - we left numerous messages with people (ok, so granted they are volunteers) but we eventually gave up as the Blue Cross were much better.
 
Not sure where you are, but you could try these people:

http://www.celiahammond.org/


They actually specialise in re-homing feral and semi feral cats and just love them going to yards! I've had three cats from them and thought they were pretty good (+ have a mouse free yard - well, apart from the occassional "presents" I am left from the cats!!)
 
Cats protection, or RATS which was our local one, wouldn't let my parents adopt any kittens because ...wait for it...they lived on a FARM. I mean WTF!!!!!
Anyway, in the end they got some kittens from a private person and the cats are very happy, fat and they are really old now.

I suppose places like pet shops and newspapers is where people would advertise if they had a litter of kittens. Also also the local vet surgeries.
 
Misinterpreted said:
Cats protection, or RATS which was our local one, wouldn't let my parents adopt any kittens because ...wait for it...they lived on a FARM. I mean WTF!!!!!
Anyway, in the end they got some kittens from a private person and the cats are very happy, fat and they are really old now.

I suppose places like pet shops and newspapers is where people would advertise if they had a litter of kittens. Also also the local vet surgeries.
Click to expand...

Thats the most stupid thing ive ever heard??? I can maybe understand if you lived by a busy road...but a farm??? I dont get there reasoning at all on that one!
 
Misinterpreted said:
Cats protection, or RATS which was our local one, wouldn't let my parents adopt any kittens because ...wait for it...they lived on a FARM. I mean WTF!!!!!
Anyway, in the end they got some kittens from a private person and the cats are very happy, fat and they are really old now.

I suppose places like pet shops and newspapers is where people would advertise if they had a litter of kittens. Also also the local vet surgeries.
Click to expand...

maybe remind the people that their organisation actively advertises in H and H for exactly that kind of home! All I can say is that Cats Prot here were delighted to rehome on our farm, and came here with them to deliver them and were over the moon (we are away from any roads etc so ideal)
 
navaho said:
Thats the most stupid thing ive ever heard??? I can maybe understand if you lived by a busy road...but a farm??? I dont get there reasoning at all on that one!
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly RATs wanted their kittens and cats to be adopted by people who who didn't want to use the cats for a job, and they didn't want them living 'outside'. My mum would have told them that we wanted them for helping to keep mice away, and they would have the hay barn for sleeping in.

We all thought it was a stupid and illogical reason for being rejected. They would have slept in the hay barn, and been allowed into the house to lay next to the aga whenever they wanted, and there are no main roads near my parents place.

All the cats I've ever known prefer to be outside at night rather than couped up indoors anyway!
 
We had two from a local cats home last year. They were meant to be semi feral but they loll all over us and trip us up daily, walk under horses etc but yard has been vermin free ever since. They have a lovely home - much better than being cooped up all day. Have had comments by saft liveries saying they are worried about them in winter. I bet they re warmer than me they re normally on the settee in the kitchen! I'm sure you ll find some.
 
I was actually just at the vets and cats protection had a flyer up saying "free feral cats".... actually said suitable for living in stables etc. That's in nottinghamshire, not sure if that's all around england but it'll be worth calling them!
 
Cats are everywhere at the moment good luck in finding one. Can i ask everyone that knows of some to please get the owners of the cat to get then spayed there are 1000's of cats needing home and they breed like mad all it is is a 15min op tops and you can get money off or even get the op free.
 
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