Barn Cat Adoptions — No adoption fee to a “good barn” cat owner.
Halfway Home Pet Rescue (HHPR) provides the capture, initial medical check-up including spay/neuter surgery, parasite removal, dental check-up, ear cleaning and ear mite treatment at no cost to you (about $300 worth of care). We will inspect your barn facility for safe boarding of the barn cats as well as a temporary adjustment cage for a minimum of two “same colony” feral cats. If later medical care is needed for illness or injury, HHPR will help provide that need as we consider you a foster provider.
Each cat must be provided with at least 1/2 cup of dry Purina kitten chow (higher protein quality) daily and 1/3 can per day of Friskies canned wet food or the nutritional equivalent (we do not consider 9-lives or Special Kitty the equivalent quality food. The cats should be enclosed in the HHPR feral cage or the equivalent for at least 5 to 8 days before they are set free. If you open the cat door and let them free before they have recognized as their authorized food source person then they MIGHT run away. When you do leave the cage door open, keep feeding at the cage site for another week or so until the cat tells you where he wants the food placed. Feral cat Colonies are very tight knit family members and if you take only one cat it will definitely run away and try to find his/her way back home and this is the reason we require that you take at least 2 or 3 cats. If two or three cats go to the together they will remain with you because they will not run away from their remaining family.
Some feral cats will start to trust you as a food source within a month or two but still do not want you near to them. The younger the feral cat the easier it will be to earn their trust. Actually it is fairly early up to almost 4 months. HHPR does not let feral kittens to go to a barn home until about 5 or 6 months old as we like to give them all the time possible to decide to learn to be domesticated. By the time the kittens are 10 weeks old the mother has already taught them that humans are as dangerous as a fox. So you must use time, soft talk and slow movements, food and treats with the food as a primary method of earning trust. Older feral cats of 2 years or older will take a lot longer and maybe will never trust you to touch them. However, we have had many, many older feral cats who at feeding time will gradually learn to brush up to your legs or head butt you on the legs to show you they think you are pretty nice to be around. At about 6 months of age, if the kittens are still very feral then we at HHPR consider them adoptable as barn cats.
Even though you will be feeding them when freed from the feral adjustment cages, these cats will still hunt mice or rats and kill them even if they do not eat them. Most barn cats once they learn that you are a food source with good food they will hunt much harder in order to bring you GIFTS and leave them on your doorstep. This is their way of saying, “You are someone I care about — but do not touch me.” They will do that until your property is rid of rodents and then they might go clean out your neighbors and bring the GIFTS back home to you. Remember there are working cats for your barn rodents and as workers you need to keep them healthy and happy treating these rodent patrollers’ as employees in good standing. Over several years you will feel like they are part of your farm family and they will feel the same way about you.
