Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management feral cats?

anyone ever used feral cats on their property?

i was talking to a lady at work and told her we sometimes have some snakes and mice around the cabin and she said I should consider getting a couple of rescue feral cats. she said the rescue feral cats are "fixed" and could easily survive on their own with me being out there mainly just on weekends. she says they could drink from the pond and would only need some food at first or I could put some food out on weekends when I'm there. i guess they could find shelter in an open end barn I have near the cabin.

any thoughts on this?

Cats go feral pretty quick, and would help control mice and such, but they get fleas, don't stay around that well, and are prey to dogs and coyotes. Keeping one a little more tame would be better, so you could treat for fleas as needed.

Normally they give you a coupon for getting them fixed, and that is part of the adoption fee.

I think you need to plan on feeding cats, at least enough to keep them healthy. We have outdoor cats, some of which started off as feral, but it is humane to take care of their needs, including a place to escape predators. - Vaccinations (especially rabies), worming, and fleas/ticks. You may even find them enjoyable pets.

They certainly can survive on their own. I know this may sound harsh, but you would be giving them another chance at life -- probably a happy life if you were able to befriend them and feed them when you are there. Yes, they can become lunch for a coyote or loose dog, but ...

Two of my traps are currently lent out to friends trying to catch a few feral cats. At certain times of the year, various organizations around here provide free or very low cost neutering, along with rabies vaccinations. In this case, my friends will take the cats back home after they have been neutered.

The farm where I do my yoga lessons has a number of feral cats, many of which I've been able to befriend. The farm provides medical recovery services for horses. As a consequence, it gets lots of visits from veterinarians, who provide free cat/dog neutering on a somewhat regular basis at the farm. One of the ferals has been on this farm for 13 years. It will come up and rub my legs when it sees me, but I can't touch or pet it.

These particular ferals are fed regularly in a controlled area, but they still do their job of keeping the rodent population under control. If you do feed yours, it needs to be in a controlled area at a regular time. Otherwise, other critters, like raccoons, skunks, and possums can become an issue.

We have a very human-friendly Siberan Forest cat who we took in as a rescue cat a number of years ago. He is quite humorous. He is about the size of a Maine Coon Cat. He's made good friends with our UPS delivery guy, and jumps in the UPS truck when it arrives. He loves people. But, he will more than stand his ground with dogs or any feral/stray cats that come around. He's not very fond of snakes either. Yet, he will very gently and authoritatively help me get my guinea fowl and chickens back in the pen in the evenings. He and the guineas are protectors of the chickens.

Anyway, give it a try.

You may find that the feral cats will do a number on small quail, song birds and other animals.

Very true, also young turkeys.

I have at least one around here, but the only way that I know is that the dang thing is spraying the car tires and I saw footprints in the snow. I never see it in person.

I will be setting the live trap to see what ventures inside it. Last year it was raccoons and opossums.

I would get a cat if it was a Certified Chipmunk Killer

There has been a black cat hanging about for a while now. I see it quite often, but don't think it likes to work.

Heck, maybe just wish for the Blue Racers to come back. I can live with those and they do a number on rodents.

We keep them around the house. Not true feral, just outside cats. We keep them for the very purpose you speak of...to kill rats and mice. Since we live on the edge of town, when people dump their cats outside town they come to our house sometimes. We just feed them, and if they stick around for awhile, get them fixed.

Sean

I'm not sure you could live in these Oak Hammocks next to the set aside State Forest with the Suwannee River right off the west side of the property we get all kinds of wild critters. I currently have 4 cats and 2 ferals trying to sign up! My Chili dog just goes nuts when the 2 strays show up. We pretty much keep the snake's under control with these cats. And yes there are Bobcats, coyotes and hog all around. My favorite is the constipated Hoot Owls. You know the ones that can't hoot worth a sh** or sh** worth a hoot. We have a forest full of them. Dan

Our big cat has snuck into the house more than once with a chipmunk. He doesn't seem to have a killer instinct.

Thankfully, we have a second cat who does. She is mostly an indoor cat. She catches the critters the other mostly-outdoor cat drags in.

Cats are good critters. I've met few that have not befriended me.

There was a study done in England that showed basically the same thing.

wow didn't realize they kill that many birds
but if they could kill the Herons & water-turkeys
I might just hire them!

If you have any coyotes they will eliminate the wild cats. They really do like to eat cats and fox.

Cheers Don.

Don I have lots of yotes. In fact I am sometimes shocked as soon as it gets dark they start howling, whimpering, and crying....it sounds like they are really close and that there are tons of them...but I think they are most likely farther away and less in number that it sounds like....because it sounds like it's at least 30 of them 300 yards or less away. Kind of eery, but cool at the same time.

I like coyotes and don't shoot them. I know that they take some fawns but being mad at coyotes is like being mad at bass for eating bluegills.

They also avoid people.

Heard quite a few for many nights, which seemed quite close, like 300 yards or so, but they were probably a mile or so away. I agree that they sound eerie.

Esshup mentioned that they might be breeding at that time.

They yap around here almost every nite. They do get some fawns but they also help with the piggie problem...

A guy here in Indiana a few years back put a trail cam on a 'yote den. Before the pups left the den, that single pair of 'yotes brought 80 fawns to them.

I saw that somewhere also.... That's a lot of deer

We had a couple lady turkeys last summer that brought their 14 babies everyday to our place. A fox took one a day until there were only two left by the time they could fly. I have seen zero rabbits here.

We have yotes but I seldom see one although I hear them sometimes....My sis was being terrorized by ground hogs. I watched a yote take the big boar out one evening I was there in a quick snap and grab attack. Carried it off. The whole thing took less than a minute. After a couple weeks, the ground hog problem was no more and the yote moved on. Just sayin...

I think Yotes are opportunistic, and may hang out for a while, do their thing, until something else moves into the territory.

Depending on the available food source, they could have a home range of a couple square miles. Here today, gone tomorrow and maybe back in a few weeks.

At least until they have a litter, then they are in the area for a while....

The fact is, house cats are a non-native, invasive species in the Western Hemisphere.