Milo was our barn cat up until 2 months ago. He was a severly abused cat that came to us a month after we moved to Mason. I got a phone call from a shelter I was doing some work with, begging us to take a cat that had developed cage rage, and had stopped eating. Although we hadn't finished unpacking yet, and I was feeling still stressed from the move, I thought, this is why we moved to this property, and said yes. It took us the better part of a year to get him to relax and feel comfortable around us, slowly progressing from him being in a cage in a stall, to a cage in the tack room, to the cage open at night, to him having the run of the barn, and then acclimating him to the outside. The first year he had open wounds all over his body, hot spots, probably from stress and general poor health. The following year, he flourished, rubbing all over us, letting us put medicine on him, brushing him and patting him all over, and was a healthy, happy boy, loving his domain at DunRoamin Farm.
For 3 years he reigned as king, and then, one late August Sunday, he did not come home for dinner. He did not show the next morning either, which was strange, but not an isolated incident. When 2 full days went by, we were worried. The howling of coyotes at night caused us greater concern. We knew our boy was gone.
2 months went by, and mice poop in my tack room cabinet told me that life is unfair, but goes on, and there were many cats needing homes. I reached out, and agreed to take 3 ferals. Two of them, Tapioca and Franconia, were thought to be litter mates, one was handled once, one was not, both had had litters but since been spayed, thought to be "pets" at one time as they were not frightened of humans, but more annoyed with their constant prescence at the shelter.
The third was named Big Meow, and we were asked if we would consider taking her as she was obviously not happy at the shelter and was thought to be a great mouser. Probably because she had great aim and attitude. We were warned to wear gloves around her and to be careful as she was aggressive.
We picked them up on a rainy Friday, set up the 2 in a cat playpen and the one in a large dog crate with necessities. The plan was and is to let them settle for a couple weeks, start a regular feeding cycle, and take a long time to get them acclimated.
We have had them for 2 weeks now. Big Meow, now dubbed Missy, was always seen laying in the cat bed in her cage. She eats and drinks and uses her litter, and had not shown any attitude or cause for gloves. However, her constant state of laying in her bed made me sad to see that she was not moving much, so I suggested to my hubby we make a perch for her. Something she can sit in and under. He put together a sturdy wooden frame, large enough for her to sit on or under. The first night, she was obviously NOT happy with the new addition in her cage, and took to laying just by the cage door as far away as she could. I hated seeing her stressed, and felt we'd have to take the perch out.
The next day, when we went to deal with the issue, she was inside the perch, hidden by the towel. We were glad to see her utilizing the new space, and let her be.
Today, I pulled the towel back a bit from the outside of the cage, so I could be sure that she was ok and I had a visual on her if need be. Well, let me tell you, that Missy can HISS!! And I got a peek of her paw swatting out in a flash, glad that I was not anywhere in striking distance! Yikes!
However, with the towel pulled up a bit, she is peeking her head out, and her eyes have softened, so hopefully, she'll go back to being more relaxed with time.
The two "twins" as we call them are doing fine. They destroy their cage at night. Anything that can move, mats under the food and water dish, newspaper under the litter box, all end up IN the litter box or strewn about the floor of the cage in the morning. It appears they are whooping it up at night!! They do not back away or cringe at the sight of us anymore, but stare questioningly as we do our business of cleaning, replacing food and water and tending to their needs.
I've gotten a few soft blinks from all three, which is encouraging. I feel so badly for these creatures that mankind has brought into the world, one way or another, and let go so far out of the balance of nature into deplorable conditions. Whatever we can do to help another of God's creatures that he's put in my heart, we will try to do.
The plan is to leave them in their cages in the tack room for a month or two, then move them to a stall in their cages for a month or so. We are going to build a hut that we will put outside, and leave that somewhere where they can access it without getting to the outside. Statistics show that feral cats are big flight risks, so the longer you take to acclimate them, the better the chance that they stick around.
I'm hoping that if we give them time in cages in both the tack room and stall, then we can start opening their doors at night, hoping the will dart back in when we enter the room they are in, so we can close it up to keep them safe and at bay. Eventually, we will let them loose in a stall with the hut that's to go outside so they become familiar with it. That way, when we give them the run of the barn, they are familiar with the horses, and the hut, so that if they choose to stay outside and not utilize the heated tack room, they will have become familiar with the hut as a safe place.
Coyotes, fisher cats, foxes are in abundance around us. I respect and love wildlife, and feel they are all magnificent creatures. And these feral cats will never be house cats, so a barn life is a great option for them. Time will tell if they stick around or not, and we are taking our time to hopefully get them settled in their new, safe lives here.
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