What is a barn cat?
A barn cat is any cat that falls under one or more of the following categories:
- Feral and semi-feral cats with little to no prior human interaction. These cats are shy and fearful of humans.
- Feral and semi-feral cats that are accustomed to surviving independently but must be relocated from their current environment for various reasons (such as living in a dangerous location like city streets)
- Cats whose litter box habits are not consistent enough to be inside-only cats.
Why is this program necessary?
When feral cats are brought to the city pound, they are given a limited amount of time to find homes before they must be euthanized. These cats are nearly impossible to adopt out because they are essentially “wild animals" and the majority of adopters are looking for lap cats.
Dude's Animal Ranch & Sanctuary, a non-profit volunteer organization, believes that just because they are wild animals does not mean they should be euthanized. Instead, the cats should be given a safe environment in which they may serve a purpose and have a chance at a good life!
What are the benefits of barn cats?
Barn cats are the best non-toxic method of rodent control! There are no poisons for children and pets to get into and no need to set nasty traps. When you poison a rodent, you do not know WHERE it is going to die. People are sometimes even forced to tear apart walls to find a decaying mouse body! Yuck!
When you support a barn cat, you should immediately see less critters and their droppings in your barn and outbuildings - even during the caged adjustment period! This is because the mere presence of a cat is often enough to drive many rodents away.
As a bonus – you’ll likely notice less snakes on your property too. Snakes go wherever there are rodents to eat. When the rodents are gone (thanks to the cats), the snakes will leave too!
Cats in the Barn Cat Project are:
- Spayed & Neutered
- Vaccinated for Rabies
- Fully examined by a licensed veterinarian and determined to be of good health.
Nice kitty kitty....
Just because you are getting cats that are not well-suited for being house pets does not necessarily indicate that they are mean!
In fact, many of the cats in our program are friendly and once familiar with their new surroundings, may even enjoy being petted or played with! If not, then you and your barn cats can still co-exist peacefully even if they do not prefer to be handled
What's the catch?
There isn’t one! Barn cats are FREE for adoption! However, we do ask that barn cat adopters agree to the following stipulations:
- Never intentionally harm or allow others to bring harm to the cats.
- Follow the proper procedure when introducing the cats to new property (cats must be slowly introduced to their new home or they will most likely run off)
- Provide access to adequate shelter at all times
- Never have rodent poison of any kind on the premises
- Put out cat food and fresh water daily. No, this will not prevent the cats from hunting mice! In fact, it will encourage it! Hunting alone is not enough to sustain a cat's diet. If cats do not have enough to eat, they will move on in search of a new place to live. Therefore, by providing consistent food, the cats will choose to stick around.
Dude's Animal Ranch & Sanctuary provides hosts with a starter kit including a several weeks' supply of cat food. Even the best mousers cannot survive on hunting alone. We never want the cats to go hungry!
Table scraps are generally not acceptable as a source of food because many human foods (onions, garlic, raisins, tomatoes, etc) are extremely toxic to cats!
A "win-win" situation...
When you choose to be a part of this project, not only do you get the benefit of having environmentally friendly, money-saving pest control, but you’ll also save the lives of cats who would otherwise be killed.
How do I sign up?
It's easy and free! All you have to do is complete our simple application by clicking the link below. For further questions, email us at adopt@darstx.org or text us at 888-DARS-TEX