The Barn Cats

suggestions? here's the story.

We were down to three,  My neighbor and co caregiver to these little critters took a female, the largest to her home.  that cat needed to be a house cat.   She was loving and well...she just needed to be a house cat.   That left two..the male and the little female.   I was working on getting...OldMan to the vet for spaying and i thought he needed an antibiotic which they wouldn't give me unless they saw him.   he's the devil incarnate to transport and then see the vet.  Last time, they couldn't open the door to the cage.  He'd have killed them.   Well.  I fed him the night of the 17th and by the 18th he was not to be found.    He has still not come in.  Yes, he could be out catting around..it's spring...but i have a feeling that something happened to him.    I couldn't leave the little female there by herself.  I suspect she is more blind than we realize.  she never went far and as i look at her eyes...i'm not sure how good her vision is.    My neighbor, Tanya caught her and brought her to my house in a cage.    and forgot to mention...another neighbor said she saw coyote scat at her barn.  I don't know if she'd know coyote scat if it bit her.  but still. i wouldn't be surprised.

I've got the cat..i call her blue, my neighbor....a romantic at heart....calls her hope...like she named these cats faith hope charity.  I name them for their phsical characteristics.  OldMan has gray hairs in his black coat.  the cat she took she named charity...i called her Crunch because she had some damage to her ears. and this little cat...one blue eye, one green, she calls her hope, i call her Blue.   Blue is now ticked at me and very unhappy.  but i cannot take her down there.  She would be alone and i don't think she'd survive.  so...here we are.   not eating, not drinking as far as i can tell and i can't get her into the bigger cage. She now has a condo but will not go into tthe other. Maybe she does if i'm not looking.   She growled at me today.  hmm.  

I have to get her into my hall bathroom.  and let her acclimate for 30 days..i'll go in there and leave her alone but put on make up or clean it.   we don't use it very much since my grandkids are not with me all day during the week anymore. So she'll have it basically to herself as she gets used to it.  I am not a cat person.  I'm not happy with this but i've got no other choice.

I'm not sure what you are asking.  Are you taking her out of the barn and letting her live in the house now? If so, that's great.

Locking her alone in a bathroom for 30 days isn't a good way to acclimate her imo.  Is her home going to be the cage?  I'm just not sure.

At one time a feral cat in the neighborhood retired at our house. We had put out food for him from time to time. Then one day he just walked in and jumped on the couch.aside from going potty he never left the house. He considered litter boxes barbaric.

She's going to have to be in the house. |My neighbor who is an avid animal person has taken two of the cats at the barn now. the latest just a month or so ago. She let's them live in her bathroom....they have their bed under the sink in the cabinet, food, water, litter box and they stay there until the day that she comes in to do her makeup and the cat signals its acclimation for lack of a better term by rubbing up against her legs. She speaks to them but just basically lets them get used to the bathroom and when they feel ready they come out themselves.

Good news is that she is moving into the large cage to eat and to use the litter box.

We always had indoor/outdoor cats. Didn't take long to train one to go outdoors. After a few 'accidents', that was the end of that, and the cat knew to go to the door to 'do its thing', and mostly stayed outside. They'd come to the door, when it was time to eat, hang around for a spell, get some lovin's and vice~verse, then back on out they'd go.

I don't recall a single one of ours that didn't come when called.

I've found out something about myself. I like cats well enough.....but not enough to have one live with me.

Calypso Jones wrote:I've found out something about myself.   I like cats well enough.....but not enough to have one live with me.

I think you care about life in general enough that you'll go out of your way to protect it - even if it isn't your favorite form of life.

you're right. dammit

Moved her into my family room downstairs. She gets along better with my son. I've got a hiding box with a blanket in it, litter box and food down there and i go down periodically with food. I don't touch her, just talk and walk around doing this or that. We'll see how this goes.