Friday, April 10, 2009

Barn Cats!

So, on our farm, we used to have about 10 acres of grapes. Now we only have about 2 acres. Instead, we have a large clearing and a 24oo sqft shop. But you know what stayed behind when the grapes left? Mice. Lots of 'em! They are getting in the shop and being really gross and annoying.

Last Fall I asked my mom if we should get some barn cats to go to work around our shop. She said that we should, but we should wait until Spring when the weather is nicer. Guess what? It was 70 degrees on Tuesday, time for some barn cats!

I started looking in the paper for kittens, and thought it would be really fun to have a kitten for Gracie to play with. Travis hates cats, but he agreed that as long as it was outside, he was okay with it.

Well, I got to thinking, and realized that I really don't want to pay for a couple of kittens to be fixed. And I don't want to get too attached, because things sometimes happen to outdoor cats. Of course, I'm already slightly attached because I love all animals! But the less attached I can get, the better.

I got online and decided to check out petfinder.com - pet listings for animals at humane societies across the nation. I saw a line for Barnyard Cats. These cats are listed as wild cats who are being altered and then given away to people on farms.

CHA-CHING!

I shot off a quick email, and made contact with a gal named Nicole. After a few emails back and forth, Nicole finally called me and told me that she had a female half-wild full grown cat ready for a home on Wednesday. Nicole will bring "Eva" to my work on Wednesday of next week and I will take her home.

I decided a while ago that I would like a boy and a girl and I will name them WallE and Eva.

Anyway, I am very excited to get this little lady to her new residence and put her to work! Good luck mice.

7 comments:

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

How fun! When will Eva have her WallE?
I hope she gets the mouse population down quickly for you :)

~Lisa

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Good thinking. We had about 50 feral cats running around our neighborhood caused by one neighbor who moved out to escape being arrested for harboring fugitives from the Waco cult, and she abandoned her unneutered female cat where there was already one male unneutered cat prowling the area. After a few years there were about 50 cats. One crazy lady took a sledgehammer to the ceiling of her garage where there was insulation and let the cats climb up into there to keep warm in the winter months. When she moved out, the new neighbors somehow managed to get rid of all the surviving cats, and now we have mice, mole, and bird problems. I would have preferred to just neuter a few the the tamest cats and release them.

Paint Girl said...

If your new cats are anything like my Morgan, they will get the job done! Morgan kills mice, shrews, moles, snakes, birds, baby bunnies etc. I call my backyard the "boneyard" cuz there are skeletons everywhere!

Pony Girl said...

Cool idea! I hope this helps solve the problem. What happened to the other acres of grapes? You should post some pictures of them. Does Saddle Mountain Rider make her own wine? ;) Kisses to Gracie!

Dusty Devoe said...

Great idea! I hate mice. We have five cats at the stable, and I still have mice in my tack room! hey aren't doing their job!!! Give Gracie hugs and smooches from her Grammy! Need to see some new pic's!

SunnySD said...

Good for you! It's a great solution to mice and the cat overpopulation problem. One of the local vets here does that sometimes when they have half-wild cats that wouldn't make good house pets come through. They get spayed or neutered, and then he finds a local farmer or rancher that wants a few cats used to being outdoors.

The farm is down to one cat, and I need to get him scheduled at the vet. He'll be so pleased.... (The cat, not the vet!

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