Yard cat???

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kittykatcat

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Hi all,

How many of you have a yard cat??

Do you find that they keep mice managable?

My yard is OVERUN and I literally mean, walking in to a stable and the whole thing moves with mice..

I'm reluctant to start putting loads of poison down (there is a bit down already) as we have yard dogs and poisoned mouse + dog = poorly dog. Plus I really don't like the idea of them dying slowly and painfully bleeding to death (hmm, although is this better than being played with by a cat?!)

So wondering whether your yard cats help to keep the mice away, or are they just fat and lazy and get in the way!?

My friend has rescued a litter of TWELVE feral cats, who would be perfect for the job, but wondering how helpful they will actually be.

Also, once released, any of you that have feral cats - how on earth do you give them flea/worming/annual innoculations!?
 
Every yard should have cats IMO, they keep mice down and are really good for keeping upper legs warm in the winter whilst having a cup of tea!!:D

If you go down the feral cat route then i would advise keeping them in an area where they cant roam for a while, feed them daily (make sure they have access to water) and get them used to being handled then when you need to worm etc you should not have too much hassle. Make sure you get them spayed and neutered aswell!
 
Once released you will be lucky to even see them again (although they will certainly still be there) if they are truely feral . They do help, but will never do the job a designated poison would do as even 12 cats can only eat so many mice!
 
Sorry no experience with feral cats. But when ever i start to notice a few mice in my hay barn i leave the door slightly ajar and the local (almost feral cat) and my little black mouser sort the problem out in a matter of days. My other fat ginger cat couldn't catch a cold!
So i would say that a good mouser as a yard cat is the perfect solution, sometimes the Cats Protection League have cats that are not suitable as home cats but would prefer a farm life, so maybe you could try them.

If not i could hire out my little black cat for a small fee ;).....she catches anything that moves from pigeons, to rabbits, to mice by the herd full :D
 
Oh gosh yes - if I do go ahead with these ferals the first thing I'm doing is marching them down the vets - i've rung them and apparently they can neuter from 9 weeks, which is what they have started doing for the cats protection league...yep, got my dog kennel sorted for them to be in for a couple of weeks.

I'm a very cat savvy person - just not yard cat savvy - wasn't quite sure of they 'worked' depends on the cat i suppose!!!
 
I have a yard cat. We found her as a stray and took her to the yard and fed her, after a while she put loads of weight on but still remained quite ferral and is brillaint at catching the mice and even the fully grown rabbits that dig holes in our fields. Shes gained more confidence with us though so we can give her flea treatment/check her over etc. She doesn't live at the yard though as she has grown attached to my YO who lives opposite and has started following her home.
 
As others have said. get yourself a feral cat & they should sort out the problem. Don't be tempted to feed them much because a full cat is unlikely to get the job done. Additionally I would check how you are keeping your horse feed & rubbish because if you are so over run then they must be coming for a reason & normally that's because there's an ever present & easily accesible food supply. :)
 
Know a yard who had some 'feral' ones off the Olympic site. They did get mildly friendly after a while (strokeable certainly) but that isn't always the case. Various of the rehoming charities will be able to advise. I think what made it easier for these ones was the quietness of the yard with regular feeding/treating by the owners.
 
when ares were kittens, we used to play with string. so they could run and they would find it hard to catch but we let them have it just before they gave up! now one is lazy and the other catches its own dinner!(birds, mice or even RABBITS!) cheaper than buying cat food for her!
 
my friends sister was moving & had to get rid of her pet cat. I couldnt have her at home so took her to the yard. She loved it there, kept the pony company (used to sleep on ponies back, or got curled up in stable!), never did a runner & kept the mice down - & because she was a pet not feral we could worm & flea her with no problem xx
 
We got two feral kittens from the Cats Protection League 2 years ago to deal with pigeon/rodent problems on yard. They stayed confined in tack room for the first 2 weeks, getting fed, and then made their way out. They still get fed a bit every day; hasn't affected their effectiveness! :) They are now friendly to stroke, but not to pick up. De-flea-ing can be done with that stuff that goes on the back of the neck. They had kitten shots, but no annual vaccs---a risk we have to take, and it shouldn't be too bad, because other cats are farther away than inside the city!

As to effectiveness: pigeons gone, rabbits gone, mice gone. Marvellous hunters, except sometimes you find a half-eaten corpse in a stall. I highly recommend adopting some neutered feral kittens, and feeding them will definitely encourage them to stay! :)

Sparky:
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Lucky:
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There is 2 cats on my yards, both feral ones (or they were) You have to make you sure you put food out for them to start with to keep them around but once they are around they will keep the mice away for sure ;)
 
I would (assuming there is no horse in the stable at the time) open door a little, post my jrt through the gap, close door and leave her to it, she would have a great time :D I do have a cat too, but I would say of the 2 the jrt is the better hunter :)
 
We have 3 cats:

Old lady cat - couldn't catch a cold if she tried, general miserable old thing

Two young boy cats - 'rehomed' with us because their owner was pregnant, before they were one, changed from house cats to yard cats with the click of your fingers, still lovely cats who come for a fuss but one comes for a snack and a cuddle and then is back off hunting again, he barely ever catches mice anymore because there aren't many left for him!
Other one hunts but not so regularly, does well when he does though, just seems to be more of an explorer!
 
i have 2, they were house cats but got lobbed out so i care for them., not a mouse/rat in sight.. cats are cute and the horses get used to the,

they are however sods for getting in cars..
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and one of the buggers ate my robin! he used to sit and sing to me:mad:
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Yard cats are great but a word of warning all mine have somehow ended up at home hogging the fire :eek: when they get older.

How very rude to eat your robin jhoward. I have found yard cats very rarely go for birds. One of ours (Susan :o) brought me a sparrow :( and I was clearly upset so she knew she had done wrong and went and got me a squirrel :eek:
 
That's the only thing I AM worried about - is the birds, we do have a lot of nests around in the spring, even in the barn, which is actually a pain in the arse as they tend to fall down the backs of the stables and we have to spend hours recuing them. Hopefully the presence of a cat will mean the birds find somewhere more suitable to nest!
 
I have 5.

I started by encouraging a mum and kittens with food and then trapped them and got them neutered (by Cats Protection). That family is now all dead but I have a new family (all now neutered although mum was a nightmare as wouldn't trap).

They get dried food and scraps, live in the hay/rugs etc.

I can leave a food bag anywhere in my yard and it will remain untouched. Before the cats the rats were so bold they would come in when you were cleaning tack.

Defo worth it (but one is now a house cat)
 
kittykatcat said:
That's the only thing I AM worried about - is the birds, we do have a lot of nests around in the spring, even in the barn, which is actually a pain in the arse as they tend to fall down the backs of the stables and we have to spend hours recuing them. Hopefully the presence of a cat will mean the birds find somewhere more suitable to nest!
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Sorry, no they wont. My stables are inundated with nests. Cats very rarely catch birds (too hard) but they will take out weaker ones/fallen out of the nest ones. Also the odd mole, baby squirrel etc. Goes with the territory I'm afraid.
 
RebelRebel said:
Yard cats are great but a word of warning all mine have somehow ended up at home hogging the fire :eek: when they get older.

How very rude to eat your robin jhoward. I have found yard cats very rarely go for birds. One of ours (Susan :o) brought me a sparrow :( and I was clearly upset so she knew she had done wrong and went and got me a squirrel :eek:
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they are buggers with the birds, the little delicate female cat had a chick of some sort! and i recently removed the remaines of one off my storage room floor..

I am however yet to remove the dead mouse i know that is in one of my tack bins :eek:
 
kittykatcat said:
That's the only thing I AM worried about - is the birds, we do have a lot of nests around in the spring, even in the barn, which is actually a pain in the arse as they tend to fall down the backs of the stables and we have to spend hours recuing them. Hopefully the presence of a cat will mean the birds find somewhere more suitable to nest!
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Very tough but the law of nature applies i suppose. I have swallows nesting in my barn the 3 babies fledged 2 weeks ago, but it became apparent one wasn't as good at flying as the other 2, it lasted a few days before the black cat had it...the other 2 are fit and well and should be on their way soon...
 
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Rosie is our yard cat and she's fab!! She's tiny but fearless, and loves all the horses!! The only problem is her colouring is so light she often gets scooped up into hay nets if she takes a snooze in the warm haylage!!:D

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Only thing is you did say you had dogs? are they car friendly? my YO was talking about getting cats in which would mean an end to me letting me dogs off in the yard (they are most definatly NOT cat safe!). YO has deferred this decision though as we let staffie boy in the tack room and he kindly disposed of the mice in there for us - he is very athletic! We also have a very large dog population at the yard as well so it might be tricky (anything between 8 - 10 dogs) I do like cats and miss the cuddle - have to make do with a friends (very fluffy house cat) when I want to play with one!
 
If you get your barn cats as kittens then they should tame up nicely. I have a floating population, they come and go (leave for cushier homes, run over, eaten by hawks and coyotes, wander in or are dumped) there are more around in winter obviously.

The real feral ones live in the haybarns, the 'pets' (about 9 of them) spend most of their time on the back door step trying to get in the house or in the barn, the only mice I ever see are dead ones.

They have kibble down all the time but it doesn't stop them hunting.

Big bad barn cat - NOT!

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Yep dogs are definately cat friendly as they live with my cats at home (even the greyhound - shock!!) so that's not a problem :)

I think i'll go for it, if I can give one or two little lives a nice home, then why the hell not. Battersea had a plea for homes for its cat on This Morning, this morning...was very sad :(
 
I have two yard cats coming as started to get mice for first time ever they live outdoors but are used to human contact so i can handle them to treat them and also means they are less likely to run away.
 
we had 3 yards cats although just lost 2 :( Our best hunter got runover on her way home from hunting and the other old girl had a tumour so we had her pts. She was a rescue and had a fab life with us. We are now left with a fat black and white cat who thinks he is a dog and plays with the mice rather than killing them. He is getting a little better but likes to spend most of his time showing off and getting attention or food.

We have a few feral ones around though and i cant say i have seen a live mouse or rat for a long time. They are definately useful and lovely to have around.
 
kittykatcat said:
Yep dogs are definately cat friendly as they live with my cats at home (even the greyhound - shock!!) so that's not a problem :)

I think i'll go for it, if I can give one or two little lives a nice home, then why the hell not. Battersea had a plea for homes for its cat on This Morning, this morning...was very sad :(
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Good for you - you wont regret it I'm sure. Bet you end up with more than 2 though!
 
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