Barn cats and rats

[SSFLandon]

so, do they work?? do they need to be ferral? we have rats and it's driving me crazy. How do you keep cats from running away? I'm not a cat person but, might start!

[Creaghgal]

Try some feral jack russles

[county]

I've found cats are great controlling mice but not rats poison works great just make sure you put it out so dogs don't find and eat it. I've never had a problem with dead rats killing cats and dogs even though I've found them eating them. My vet says once the poison breaks down to kill the rat its not going to hurt other things that eat the dead rat.

[My Two Cents]

Our barn cats are not interested in chasing down a rat (way too much work for them). The dog, however, will rip thru anything in hot pursuit. He's destroyed more bags of feed then the rats. lol. Good luck.

[MaresNest]

I've known cats to eat mice, rabbits, birds, and frogs. But I've only ever seen the dog with a rat.

[shakeytails]

Nah, the cats don't have to be feral. But you do need the right cat. My killer came from a friend's house- she came to them as a stray and was a helluva mouser- but friend's DH was threatening to shoot her. I brought her home and had her spayed. She kills mice and rats, even the big ones. She has a sick sense of humor and loves to torture small rodents.

If you have a lot of rats, your best option is probably D-Con or Just One Bite. Unlike County, I've never seen a cat or dog eat a poisoned rat. They seem to know that it's not a good idea. If you're worried about secondary poisoning, there is a class of rat poisons that are safe. A bit of Googling will turn up the name of the safer poisons.

[Amwrider]

Agreed, you have to have the right cat. Mine are hunters and they do bring down the rats. My two right now will not bring down a huge rat, but will take on the juveniles. Their father was a 16 pound barn cat (now my house cat) and he did take on the bigger rats and would consume them. every.last.bite.

I have had friends with poisoned dogs who presumably had found an almost dead rat and dispatched it/ate it.

[Seven-up]

I agree that you have to have the right cat, doesn't need to be feral, but it does need to be a hunter. To keep it from running off, you have to feed it. And not just at first, you have to feed them regularly. Cats don't catch rodents because they're hungry, they catch them because they're hunters. Many don't even eat what they catch. If possible, I'd try to get ahold of a kitten/young cat born in a barn. And please get it spayed/neutered and get its yearly vaccinations. If you get the right one, they'll catch anything: mice, rats, rabbits, bugs, birds, lizards, plastic bags, rolls of vetwrap...

Funny story:
I took home a kitten of the best mouser barn cat that ever lived. I once watched Mom gobble down 2 mice whole in 4 seconds; she was crunching on the 2nd one while the 1st one's tail was still hanging out of her mouth. It was disgusting but fascinating. My girl is an inside only cat, has only been outside twice in her life, by accident. She gets a kick out of most cat toys, but if you break out those little toy mice, WATCH OUT! She has no idea why she loves them so much, she just has the mousing instinct. She just caught her first real mouse a couple months ago. She had been sitting with her nose stuffed under the attic door for 3 days straight; if I tried to pull her away, she'd howl. All of the sudden, I hear BAM!! like someone kicked the door full-force. She casually comes thumping down the stairs, and sits down in front of me. Only then did I realize (with horror) that she was holding a mouse in her mouth. She had this puzzled look on her face, like, "what am I supposed to do with this?" :lol::lol: You can't teach it; it's in the genes.

[smokygirl]

I'd probably start by poisoning off all the rats now (that you can) with some poison. (different areas seem to have better luck with different types, so I won't name any brands as I have no idea where you are). Then try some feral cat programs (since you have to leave them in cages in the barn for 2-4 weeks) and once the rats have "died down" so to speak, let the cats go. If you are seriously infested with huge ones, then it's probably best to do the phase 1 and phase 2. www.castawaycats.org and www.barncats.org can probably help you find a feral rehoming program in your area (or contact your local humane society). Choose larger (but not the fatties) cats. My mom's 22lb siamesex boys got out and have caught rabbits (full grown) and squirrels. Funny story. She heard the cat outside, so went to let him in (they aren't allowed out, but sometimes are just too darn quick). Anyway.. he's not around, so she waits for a bit and closes the screeen door. About 10 mins later he's scratching at the door, adn without looking she lets him in. Well, he hadn't killed his prey, and let a full grown wild rabbit loose in the house. Have you ever tried to catch a wild rabbit? It's not fun.. lol.. (but it was hilarious to watch). ever since, she does a "prey" check if they get out and are coming in.

[kookicat]

Get a working terrier. Cats tend not to go after the rats, or at least, not the really big ones. My terriers are great ratters!

[cloudyandcallie]

Yes they work,

No they don't have to be feral.

But some cats do have better "killer instincts" than others.
And feed the cats, whether feral or not.
Cats who are well fed and who have that killer instinct will still kill, I know, that's why all my cats have to live inside so the birds can live outside. (Including a former barn cat who was wanted at a barn, then unwanted, and came home to live with my housecats)

So go to the pound and save a few lives.

Those feral Jack Russells are really good too.:lol:

[cloudyandcallie]

And keep a bottle of vitamin K capsules for the times when you think (or know) your dog or cat has gotten hold of a poisoned animal.

My vet says that a dog who eats a poisoned rat shouldn't have problems, but that the Vitamin K will offset any worries. Like when my father's hunting dog ate a rat at a friend's farm once.

[Jumpin_Horses]

my chickens ganged up on a rat once and killed it.... :yes:

I shot one, once....

the cats avoid the rats (and larger varmits), but, eat everything else in site....

if you can move in a family of foxes, now there are your varmit killers...

[S1969]

I had rats that were as big as a small cat. :eek: OK, maybe not quite that big but they were darn big. Can't imagine anything but a really mean, nasty cat taking one of those on. Rat poison worked although I hated to do it. I actually thought the rats were cute...but they ate through so many strings on my hay bales I had to *let them go*.

[Just My Style]

I'd probably start by poisoning off all the rats now (that you can) with some poison. (different areas seem to have better luck with different types, so I won't name any brands as I have no idea where you are). Then try some feral cat programs (since you have to leave them in cages in the barn for 2-4 weeks) and once the rats have "died down" so to speak, let the cats go. If you are seriously infested with huge ones, then it's probably best to do the phase 1 and phase 2.

I would be very, very careful with the poison idea. We had a barn in Illinois overrun with rats. Literally dozens of them. The hundreds of acres of woods and corn fields near us were turned in to a subdivision one year and that winter, we had a barn full. Our barn cats would not even touch them. The rats were huge and aggressive. The problem with the poison is that they will get very, very thirsty after they are poisoned and will go to any water source, including stock tanks and buckets. Then they typically fall on in and drown. If you don't mind fishing out bodies and scrubbing down buckets several times a day, then it may work.

I completely agree with the terriers idea. I had a female scottish terrier that was a killing machine. She took down an opossum once and it was ugly. The opossum did not even have a chance. :eek:

[Susan P]

You can tell they are killing the rats and or mice, etc. because if they really like you they bring you gifts. This week I got my first rat gift. It was laying in the middle of the barn, not a huge rat but substantial and I believe it was my little fat girl who has really started snuggling after 3 years of scratching me if I got too close. I know she thinks she's half horse because she seems to be part of the herd when I get there. She's very well fed so she doesn't need the rodents to survive but the better they are fed the more they catch because they feel well and have plenty of time to hang around your barn and not go into the field to catch the mice and rats. Feed them inside the barn and they will guard the barn from rodents. Must have water too.

If anyone is in DE, MD, NJ, eastern PA you can get barn cats from Forgotten Cats of DE http://www.forgottencats.org/index.php (http://www.forgottencats.org/index.php) and they'll teach you how to acclimate them to your barn. If they won't stick around they'll bring you more cats. Email them at info@forgottencats.org (info@forgottencats.org) and tell them you're interested in getting barn cats. All the cats have been neutered and are up to date with their shots. For the most part don't count on a friendly and charming cat, it may happen but most of them are just not people cats that's why they need to be released at farms and not adopted into homes.

[Chief2]

13 cats at the barn, and all hated rats. Would hunt rabbits, mice, snakes birds and moles, but refused to touch a rat. Two cats would track them down through the barn and show you where they were, but that was that. DCon got the job done.

[Fixerupper]

Unlike mice rats fight back (yuck!!) so, unless they are very small, cats usually won't go after them. They are more difficult to poison as well. It has to be a very slow kill poison because if one rat gets sick or dies soon after eating the bait the others won't eat it. They will actually take it and stash it somewhere 'safe' so it appears that they are eating it but not getting killed. They are very smart...too bad they are so destructive (and ugly).

[KnKShowmom]

I agree with Seven-up - go to the shelter and get one or two cats, get them neutered and feed them - they need to have the energy to want to "play with the prey" so to speak.

During a horseless period we ended up with a few huge wood rats in our barn so I went to the shelter and picked up a medium sized full grown female and a male kitten (not related). Female adopted Jr. and taught him to ropes. I went down to the barn one day and there were 3 huge rats lined up side by side with both cats looking at me like "you didn't want these, did you?"

The funny thing was then my German Shepard did the same as he was a great mouser. Pete, the male cat, wasn't sure if he was a dog or a cat but he knew that mice and rats the best playtoys around!

[LAZ]

I had an infestation of rats earlier this year and was not making a dent in the population (the cats ignore them and the dogs couldn't get to them).

I got about 7 bait stations and bait, smeared peanut butter on the poison blocks and they ate it like crazy. Did that for about a month and I haven't seen any rats or evidence of rats for a while.

The peanut butter really seemed to do the trick--they ate a LOT more poison when I used it.

[Susan P]

A friend of mine put out the green pellets and soon found a bunch of them in her horse's stall. WHOA, that's scary. I guess the mouse thought it was a good place to store the food.



Unlike mice rats fight back (yuck!!) so, unless they are very small, cats usually won't go after them. They are more difficult to poison as well. It has to be a very slow kill poison because if one rat gets sick or dies soon after eating the bait the others won't eat it. They will actually take it and stash it somewhere 'safe' so it appears that they are eating it but not getting killed. They are very smart...too bad they are so destructive (and ugly).

[Susan P]

I worked near the Christiana River in DE for a trash company for a while and my boss had a German Shepherd who would catch rats and leave the bodies in front of the door. They were all over the place. He was an awesome dog and my boss adored him. They were inseperable but while I still worked for him the dog died, not sure why.



I agree with Seven-up - go to the shelter and get one or two cats, get them neutered and feed them - they need to have the energy to want to "play with the prey" so to speak.

During a horseless period we ended up with a few huge wood rats in our barn so I went to the shelter and picked up a medium sized full grown female and a male kitten (not related). Female adopted Jr. and taught him to ropes. I went down to the barn one day and there were 3 huge rats lined up side by side with both cats looking at me like "you didn't want these, did you?"

The funny thing was then my German Shepard did the same as he was a great mouser. Pete, the male cat, wasn't sure if he was a dog or a cat but he knew that mice and rats the best playtoys around!

[pj]

Have y'all found that the female cats are better hunters? In my limited experience it seems that way to me.
Years ago I ran a boarding barn and when I took over the barn was infested with HUGE rats. They were bold and many. If you went into the loft at night and turned the light on they'd dare you to come on in. I was putting poison out twice a day and it really seemed that they thrived on it. I tried to have cats but the BO kept two dals and they killed cats. A friend called one day and wanted to bring her cat out there to live. I told her she couldn't because of the dogs but she insisted that the dogs wouldn't kill THIS cat. She brought this tiny little black adult female out and here comes the dogs. That little cat grew into german shepherd size and was all over those dogs. The dogs ran down the long driveway to their house with that cat right behind them. They wouldn't even come back to the barn again. :) That little black cat lady got right to work and she'd take on the biggest and badest rat. One day I watched horrified as she fought a giant rat in one of the stalls. They were slamming against the walls and it went on and on. I wanted to help her but didn't know how. FINALLY she came out dragging that rat, had him by the neck and he was dragging on the ground. AMAZING. Later we had a pair of king snakes move in and between the cat, snakes and poison we became rat free. I wanted to bring that wonderful cat with me when I moved to my own place but sadly she got run over just before that happened.

[Susan P]

I think the rats set her up.

She sounds like a dream cat. I have a petite cat at my farm right now but I don't know if she's taking down any rats or not. But this rat in my barn is the first I've seen but my first barn cat is a real killer, she is also warming up to me, loves the horses and we now get along well. She was feral. There are so many cats that need barn homes, if anyone here can help contact a local organization, just look up feral cats, barn cats, stray cats in a Google search, I'm sure you'll find plenty. If close to me or near DE Forgotten Cats would be glad to provide you with a couple hunters for your barn.



Have y'all found that the female cats are better hunters? In my limited experience it seems that way to me.
Years ago I ran a boarding barn and when I took over the barn was infested with HUGE rats. They were bold and many. If you went into the loft at night and turned the light on they'd dare you to come on in. I was putting poison out twice a day and it really seemed that they thrived on it. I tried to have cats but the BO kept two dals and they killed cats. A friend called one day and wanted to bring her cat out there to live. I told her she couldn't because of the dogs but she insisted that the dogs wouldn't kill THIS cat. She brought this tiny little black adult female out and here comes the dogs. That little cat grew into german shepherd size and was all over those dogs. The dogs ran down the long driveway to their house with that cat right behind them. They wouldn't even come back to the barn again. :) That little black cat lady got right to work and she'd take on the biggest and badest rat. One day I watched horrified as she fought a giant rat in one of the stalls. They were slamming against the walls and it went on and on. I wanted to help her but didn't know how. FINALLY she came out dragging that rat, had him by the neck and he was dragging on the ground. AMAZING. Later we had a pair of king snakes move in and between the cat, snakes and poison we became rat free. I wanted to bring that wonderful cat with me when I moved to my own place but sadly she got run over just before that happened.

[Holly Jeanne]

My horses are out 24/7 and fed in feed tubs in the pasture. One day, one of my Australian Shephards was trying to get her nose under a feed tub. I gingerly flipped it over and out ran a rat heading straight for the drain pipe under the driveway. My Aussie got between it and the drain pipe and waited for it to move again so she could "herd" it. For a second, the two were just sitting there looking at each other. Then, her sister (litter mates) came running up, grapped the rat and immediately killed it. She then dropped it and trotted off. Aussie 1 I swear had the most disappointed look on her face when she realized it wasn't going to move so she could herd it. :lol: Aussie 2 has also gotten rabbits and squirrels.

[STNS]

Border Terriers are also excellent ratters, and tend to be slightly easier to live with than Jack Russels.

[KnKShowmom]

Have y'all found that the female cats are better hunters? In my limited experience it seems that way to me.
Years ago I ran a boarding barn and when I took over the barn was infested with HUGE rats. They were bold and many. If you went into the loft at night and turned the light on they'd dare you to come on in. I was putting poison out twice a day and it really seemed that they thrived on it. I tried to have cats but the BO kept two dals and they killed cats. A friend called one day and wanted to bring her cat out there to live. I told her she couldn't because of the dogs but she insisted that the dogs wouldn't kill THIS cat. She brought this tiny little black adult female out and here comes the dogs. That little cat grew into german shepherd size and was all over those dogs. The dogs ran down the long driveway to their house with that cat right behind them. They wouldn't even come back to the barn again. :) That little black cat lady got right to work and she'd take on the biggest and badest rat. One day I watched horrified as she fought a giant rat in one of the stalls. They were slamming against the walls and it went on and on. I wanted to help her but didn't know how. FINALLY she came out dragging that rat, had him by the neck and he was dragging on the ground. AMAZING. Later we had a pair of king snakes move in and between the cat, snakes and poison we became rat free. I wanted to bring that wonderful cat with me when I moved to my own place but sadly she got run over just before that happened.

My female was great but there are 2 great-mousing-males at our barn now so I am not sure one is better than the other. I do think the females settle in and stay around longer than the males even if they are fixed.

[2DogsFarm]

I agree that a good working barncat doesn't have to be feral.
My little 5# of Terror routinely takes down vermin near her size & I've had her since she wandered onto my property as a teeny kitten, so it is not learned behavior.
She does eat her kill, hurking up the undigestible parts for me to find <insert YUK icon>

And yes, hunting is instinctive, my little girl is well-fed by me.
The Vermin Sushi is her choice. I've also rescued bewildered baby mice & rabbits from her when they were just being "played" with.
She will leave them when I show up with the packaged catfood, I then liberate her Takeout Food.

She is a Major Snuggler, demanding her laptime from me after I've fed the horses.

Another source for a barncat is your local Animal Control shelter.
Where I live they not only approve outdoor homes for strays, they provide all shots & neuter them for free.
They also notch an ear on the females so if the cat goes missing and turns up at the shelter they will not open her up again to (re)neuter.

[PNWjumper]

I picked up two kittens from a local PAWS program a couple of years ago. It took them about a year to get up to speed on killing things, but they're both killing machines now. They've caught all of the mice, bats, birds, rats, and squirrels on the propety at this point. Wish they would leave the bats and birds alone, but there's not really anything I can do to stop them. The lack of rats and mice in the barn makes me happy enough to put up with anything else!

My cats, by the way, are far from feral. They're the friendliest cats I've ever owned, and they leave me body parts as little "gifts" all over the place now. In fact, I now have enough squirrel tails that I could make my own "squirrelskin cap" if I wanted to :lol:

[xeroxchick]

Snakes don't give us diseases and don't chew the feed.
Our neighbor found an 11 foot boa skin in his roundbales one spring...

[Susan P]

This has also been my experience releasing feral male cats that are neutered and the females also spayed. The girls stay close to the barn, the boys run off. Like the saying goes, "A son is a son till he takes a wife, a daughter's a daughter the rest of her life" guess it's the same for cats. :lol:


My female was great but there are 2 great-mousing-males at our barn now so I am not sure one is better than the other. I do think the females settle in and stay around longer than the males even if they are fixed.

[Susan P]

This is backwards. The reason they send the feral unfriendly cats to barns is because they won't be good house cats or else they would go for adoption in homes. That isn't to say they can't be tamed, some can, some never do and some are very nasty. I released 2 cats that wanted to rip my face off every time I came near. But I rarely see them and on occasion they come to the barn while I'm there feeding and allow me to be within 10-20 feet of them. They feel safer being out in the open. I only have one cat that's friendly and will rub against me but I've never picked her up. She's scratched me a few times before she started trusting me. Another cat that was released didn't want to be held, would hiss a bit but didn't bite or scratch so far, and another really ripped someone when being held. I have a foster cat from the same organization which will go to a PetSmart adoption center to find a home where he will live in the house and they will adopt as indoor/outdoor cats too. My house cats are in and out.

But the reason I say that barn cats are feral is because there's no reason to adopt out a cat as a barn cat if they can find a good home situation, that's always preferable.


I agree that a good working barncat doesn't have to be feral.
My little 5# of Terror routinely takes down vermin near her size & I've had her since she wandered onto my property as a teeny kitten, so it is not learned behavior.
She does eat her kill, hurking up the undigestible parts for me to find <insert YUK icon>

And yes, hunting is instinctive, my little girl is well-fed by me.
The Vermin Sushi is her choice. I've also rescued bewildered baby mice & rabbits from her when they were just being "played" with.
She will leave them when I show up with the packaged catfood, I then liberate her Takeout Food.

She is a Major Snuggler, demanding her laptime from me after I've fed the horses.

Another source for a barncat is your local Animal Control shelter.
Where I live they not only approve outdoor homes for strays, they provide all shots & neuter them for free.
They also notch an ear on the females so if the cat goes missing and turns up at the shelter they will not open her up again to (re)neuter.

[Seven-up]

Snakes don't give us diseases and don't chew the feed.
Our neighbor found an 11 foot boa skin in his roundbales one spring...


This is a good idea too, although I'm not sure how you'd go about getting a snake.

We have one housecat who follows me out to the barn, but she doesn't really catch anything.

I think the reason we don't really have any mice/rats is because of "Buster." Buster is a rat (correct name??) snake that has lived in/around the barn for many years. I think Buster might actually be a girl, but whatever. He/she is about 5 feet long (judging by the skin I find occasionally) and we have a very healthy respect for each other's space. (Read: we both jump 3 feet in the air and take off in opposite directions as fast as we can whenever we see each other.):lol: So Buster gets the job done and I only get creeped out when I find the ever-growing skin.

[Huntertwo]

We used to have a ratter at a barn I once boarded at. Pretty tough cat..used to go after dogs too!

I could never muster the courage to look in a stall when the cat and rat were battling...:eek: The cat always won and to hear him crunching on the bones was almost as bad as the fighting sounds...:dead:

[Susan P]

My house cats go outside and are incredible mousers, love moles too and on occasion a bird and then they get scolded. They've brought in a few birds alive and I've rescued them. But sometimes they've brought in mice and moles and they all covet the prize. Recently my little girl brought in a large mouse and I was going to take it and discard the thing but before I could do that she ate the whole thing in front of me. UGH, how gross and she left nothing behind. I'm glad they are tough cats, because they do go out and have to be. Cats are also prey as well as predator. Foxes can eat them too, and perhaps a big hawk.

I know there are black snakes on my farm, one was seen years ago wriggling across the path one of the horses at my farm while being ridden. He was a good horse, never reacted, so sensible. He had all kinds of critters get in his path, the snake, a groundhog, deer. He never skipped a beat. Once he learned he could count on his person he was really steady. I have a cousin of his now, these Nokota horses are awesome.

[Tango14]

The only cats I would consider having as barn cats are those which have no hope of finding a proper home. Contrary to popular misconception, if brought up accordingly, cats are affectionate and home-loving creatures and like to be around people. They also have to be spayed or neutered if you want them to stick around. They also have to be fed properly, or else they'll go elsewhere to look for better prospects. Rats are definitely not on their list of preferred foods, so unless they have a good hunting instinct (and not all do) then they won't catch rats or mice.

An animal that likes to catch and kill is a Jack Russell, or basically most Terrier types, and probably consistently a far better ratter than a cat.

As for poison, cats and dogs die every year from ingesting poisoned rodents - as do birds of prey. Please think twice before using any poisons - try and use the 'safe' ones which will not kill the secondary animal. One of the best ways to combat rats is to get one's husbandry right: make sure no grain or food is left around and that it is stored in a sealed room. Rat urine and faeces are one of the most toxic things on earth and your horses can get life threatening disease from it.

[LockeMeadows]

My rat killing kitty (Skinny) died on Feb 14th of this year. She would catch rats almost as big as her and then murder them in front of my boarders. We now have Lucy Fur (get the name; play on words...she really is a devil cat) to take her place. Although I have not seen Lucy kill a rat, she enjoys killing mice, birds, and has brought in two of these in the past several months (see picture below). DH made me learn to catch them so they could be released back into the wild.

I have no doubts she would kill a rat in a heart-beat, we just don't have too many around. Skinny killed them all.

[camohn]

so, do they work?? do they need to be ferral? we have rats and it's driving me crazy. How do you keep cats from running away? I'm not a cat person but, might start!

Cats help with mice..for the most part rats are beyond the cats. You need dogs or an exterminator for rats.

[cleartheoxer]

How big are these rats?! I've only seen one big rat and that was a long time ago, thankfully. I just wanted to say that if you do get a new barn cat, you need to keep it in a cage for two weeks so that it gets used to its new surroundings and doesn't run away as soon as it gets to your barn. I know it sounds stupid and farfetched, but it really does work.

[Tango14]

My rat killing kitty (Skinny) died on Feb 14th of this year. She would catch rats almost as big as her and then murder them in front of my boarders. We now have Lucy Fur (get the name; play on words...she really is a devil cat) to take her place. Although I have not seen Lucy kill a rat, she enjoys killing mice, birds, and has brought in two of these in the past several months (see picture below). DH made me learn to catch them so they could be released back into the wild.

I have no doubts she would kill a rat in a heart-beat, we just don't have too many around. Skinny killed them all.

Well she's absolutely gorgeous, but don't think that the rats have all been killed;) there's absolutely no such things a getting rid of them all permanently!