Just yesterday Vince came in ranting and raving about all the mice in the shop. He said “That darned, lazy, good for nothing Cat!” There may have been a few other words in there but you get his point. Cat is a lazy cat. Maybe she’s old . . it doesn’t matter. Not much I can do about it. She has her little “nest” upstairs in the shop and now that it’s gotten a bit cooler, she heads up the stairs first thing in the morning and sleeps all day. Cat doesn’t seem to want to stay in the shop at night and we don’t want to leave the door open, nor do we want to put in a doggie door so I guess the mice have the run of the shop at night and then they go find some place else to be during the day when Cat’s in there. I know Cat could do a better job of catching mice but snoozing in the sunshine all day seems to suit her lifestyle much better than chasing mice. What can I say? I could do a heck of a lot more than sit and knit all day so I’m not judging Cat.
Another Cat
This morning we had this cat in the trap. She’s a very pretty cat and looks fat and well fed. Maybe she could teach Cat about catching mice! She was not happy to be in the trap. Again, I can’t blame her. She’s definitely a hisser and a growler! I told Vince . . Hey! She can live in the shop! He said “I fell for that line twice (Boots and Cat). Not again!” But I’ll put food and water out for her and stick a trail cam up and make sure I’m not feeding raccoons and skunks. She may have been growling and hissing because she was in the trap. Maybe she wouldn’t be as hard to tame as Cat has been. She doesn’t have a tipped ear but neither did Gypsy or Rose, the two cats I got as part of the barn cat program two years ago and they lasted two days and I never saw them again. I think they had more white on them than this cat has. They were both girls and had been spayed.
Another Cat
In the above picture, she may have more white. If you click on the “Gypsy and Rose” link above, you’ll see the pictures of them. Do you think this could be one of them?
The coyotes were so loud last night and there seemed to be two different packs of them behind the house and one in front of the house, I wonder if that’s why this cat was hanging out close to the house. Who knows?
Dot says
That’s still another cat; Gypsy and Rose both had some white fur between their eyes.
melissa says
And G&R had white front paws.
obed101 says
White rarely grows or disappears so I say this is a different cat. When we lived in the country people were forever dropping animals off…..but you know that! LOL
Sue in Desert Hills (Phoenix), AZ (formerly in Scottsdale, AZ) says
Judy, just a thought … maybe Cat is lazy because you are feeding her and she doesn’t have to hunt for her food. If she was hungry, I would think that she would go after some of the mice. I’m not a cat expert because I have only been owned by dogs, but years ago I was told by someone who had cats around a barn to be sure I didn’t feed them because they would become lazy and no longer hunt.
dezertsuz says
I agree, not enough white. So you let her go? Does Vince have mice traps out?
Jeri Niksich says
I’ve had a lot of cat’s in my time, I love watching them play, falling off of perches they have fallen asleep on and most of all their independence. I now have 3 Boxers that don’t like cats at all so no cats in my foreseeable future (maybe someday). But I agree with everyone else that this cat is neither of the Barncats you had previously. Thank you for your posts, I look forward to them everyday.
Jeri
Amy Makson says
We are in the process of getting two barn cats… you have to keep them locked up for at least a week ( some say up to 4, so we are doing 2) before you let them out so they will connect your place with “home”… ( thankfully there is a locked workshop building…sounds like your shed. Sometimes with ferals, they leave them in a large dog crate big enough for litter and food and bed). The recommendation is also to feed and give water daily… not over feed of course, but enough to keep them healthy. BUT … some cats love to hunt, others not so much! So hope you find a good hunter there!
Madge says
Unless a cat is shown how to hunt and taught to hunt as a young kitten, it will never be a good hunter, per a PBS program on house cats and hunting skills. Cats that are the best hunters, studies show, are those that are not dependent on the catch for food but rather regard it as a game or job. I’ve observed this first hand. Years ago we had an older cat who viewed it as her job to hunt (and also thought she should determine what time my daughter who was in elementary school should go to bed but that’s another story). When we adopted an orphan kitten the cat set to work teaching the kitten to hunt as one of the survival skills a cat should have. She also taught the kitten how to bathe himself as he was so little he fell over each time he tried to. We now have a rescue cat who when he was a kitten our Border Collie mix dog tried to teach to hunt field mice and voles. Although this cat knows the fundamentals of hunting, he’d much rather stay indoors.
Pam Crane says
Another thought about Cat not getting the mice. Cats are nocturnal, so when she would be active enough to catch the mice she is unable to get to the ones you want her to catch.