North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>]

On Feb 11, 2007, at 10:50 AM, Thomas Olenio wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Every farm with a barn has a couple of barn cats.  They are necessary.
> Losses are expected.  You do not get attached to them, they are simply
> farmer's tools.  Allow them to be feral friends.
>
> Later,
> Tom

A lot of people around here do treat their barn cats more as "wild beneficials" than as domestic animals. I find I can't do it like that. My indoor/outdoor cats do a great deal of hunting during the day and sleep in the house at night (there are coyotes); and yes I am attached to them.

If you have pet cats who don't go outside at all, and you live in an area similar to mine, you will soon also have barn cats; the excess population coming from other people's barns will move into any available spot. If you let your indoor cats go out the space is more likely to register to other felines as "taken", though you may get occasional wanderers anyway.

There are some disadvantages to the feral or semiferal barn cat method: rabies is potentially one of them. The population is likely to zoom and then crash due to other diseases, also.

There are of course intermediary techniques: some people get their barn cats tame enough to immunize and spay them. Getting them this tame, however, is likely to result in your also getting attached to them; and of course, there's the expense; though in some areas you can get discounts.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly