If you let the animal live outside (as opposed to an indoor/outdoor pet) and you have raccoons in your area, you have the prospect of the cat running into a raccoon at night. The raccoon might have cat for dinner or the cat might catch racoon distemper, for which there is no vaccination.Distemper in raccoons is caused by the same virus which causes distemper in dogs - and cats are not susceptible to it. Feline 'distemper' is more closely-related to the parvovirus which infects dogs and raccoons - but I'm unaware that cats are susceptible to infection or disease due to canine/raccoon parvovirus.
Every animal must be neutered and have its shots and be dewormed before you bring it homeAgree. If you're going to have outdoor or 'junkyard' cats, PLEASE have them neutered. For more reasons than one, but certainly if you consider Toxoplasmosis, kittens are the principal source of infectious oocysts - which may cause serious infections in humans, as well as wildlife and livestock; adult cats will have, in all likelihood, had prior exposure and immunity, and will not be shedding Toxoplasma oocysts in their feces.
If you really want to have a cat colony, look up the TNR trap neuter release programs on the web, and check out the designs for housing and maintenance needs.
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