What is that saying about herding cats again?
We adopted a cat from the local shelter a few months ago to help with the mouse population that showed up in our new barn this winter. He lived in the tack room until he was fixed and had all of his shots, and then we let him in the barn aisleway (with stall doors closed) so that he could figure out the barn. Our first time letting him out of the barn he fearlessly went up to our barking/growling dogs (on the other side of a fence) and walked right through them - for some reason not understanding that yes, they would very much like to eat him given the chance. I have introduced all the dogs separately and on their own, they behave. But I had been nervous about letting the cat out into the world until I was convinced he had some dog common sense.
My dad visited a few weeks ago and installed a series of shelves for the cat to climb up and get up on top of the tack room to get away from the dogs if he needed to. And since then, I have found the cat up there almost every morning. He has started climbing the rafters, and yesterday, he had finally figured a way out of the barn on his own.
So I have left the stall doors open (inside the barn) - as he can effortlessly clear the 4' walls at each window. And although I haven't seen him, he has been back to eat. I put his food up on one of the ledges my Dad built (about 4' off the ground) and the food was nearly gone this morning. So, that's good news! And it appears he learned his lesson about the dogs - whew!
Okay, I'll stop worrying now! :)
6 comments:
We have two barn cats - one we adopted as a kitten and another feral cat that has adopted us. They are both good climbers and spend much of their time in the loft. We keep cat beds and food dishes on a high table at one end of the barn, and they have heated cat beds and a heated water dish for the winter. Although they do also catch birds, which is regrettable, they do seem to make a dent in the rodent population.
At least you do not have spiders that catch birds :) - we had that happen a few years ago. A golden orb spider caught one at our house - I was not home or I would have freed the bird, of course. The spider spins a web that gets to be about 3' in diameter when they are fully grown - and the poor barn swallow was covered in silk.
My husband suggested I take a video of it, which I did:
Here is the video.
This sounds like my life before we moved. And moved yet again. It's difficult to acclimate animals together sometimes, isn't it? We took in a cat once at one of the horse farms we've lived and as a stray kitten, it literally climbed up inside the cinderblocks when the dogs would come. And one of them was a killer. It was tough but so are cats!
I do have one dog that is a "killer" so to speak - we have gone to great efforts to make sure the fence keeps that one in and other critters out. I just couldn't believe my eyes when the cat walked right up to and between that dog and another that were obviously acting aggressive... thank goodness, my dad was visiting, and both of us were right there to run interference.
The cat has been back every night this week to eat, so I think he figured out the cat/dog sense thing, thank goodness! But it sure would be nice to actually see him again!
We went through the same thing with our barn cat a few years ago. We used to lock him in a dog cage outfitted with a litter box and food/water bowls every night to keep him safe from the foxes and coons until he grew and learned a bit. I am happy to say 3 years later he is still with us and keeping the mouse population (and the moles) down to nill!
I'm praying he continues to survive and is a great mouser next winter - as that was our main reason for adopting him. I just couldn't stand the thought of using any poison with all the wildlife around here (hawks, etc.) - not to mention my own critters.
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