How long to keep barn cats locked up before allowing them to roam?

[Jersey_Fresh]

We have two new barn cats at our farm. One is an older male, one is a female of unknown age (she is petite and looks like a kitten but was pregnant when they went to spay her). I have never had an outdoor at before and while they are barn cats, they are still pets to me and I want to make sure they are safe.

We were told to lock them in the tack room for a bit before letting them roam. How long should we leave them? Will they make their way back at night? I know they would be happier outside but they are going to harvest tobacco next door in a week or two, and I really don’t want them wandering with the tractors running.

Any advice would be appreciated. They came from a really bad situation (the Maria Borrell farm) and I want them to have a long happy life with us.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

I’d give them at least 2 weeks to get settled in a room in the barn and then try turning them out. It depends on how feral they are. If they were someone’s pets, they will hang around better than if they were wild ferals before you got them.

Thanks for taking them in. If you can convince them to go into their room at night, they will be safer than if they are out 24/7. Of course it depends on car traffic and predators. Coyotes are the worse.

Make sure they get their shots each year, including their rabies shots. And don’t worry, go ahead and feed them in the morning and at night. Some cats are true killers, and will do so even if they have just eaten a can of cat food. And they will teach non-killers to hunt and kill all the mice around.

I ended up with house cats that used to be barn cats over the years because I did not want them eaten or killed by dogs, coyotes, people, cars, etc.

[MysticOakRanch]

At least a week - we have a barn cat rescue program in my county, and they require the barn cats they adopt out are locked up at least one week (they recommend 10 days) before they are let loose to roam.

It is a great program - basically, if the pound deems a cat “unadoptable” (for whatever reason), rather then put them to sleep, they are adopted out as barn cats. My two unadoptable barn cats (they were “ugly adults” who couldn’t be picked up and snuggled) now rule my house. One of them has announced she is never going near a barn (or more then 3 feet from the house) again. The other goes out to hunt, then comes in to sleep.

Agree with WWW - keep feeding them, and at least keep up their rabies shots. Give them a safe place to sleep at night (such as a barn or shop). Also agree, sometimes they end up as indoor pets

[Simkie]

My vet says 2 weeks before their “GPS” is reset with your place as “home”

[bambam]

I would not do less than 2 weeks. My barn recently added a new barn kitty and he lived in the tack room for at least 2 weeks and, once let out, has very gradually been increasing his roam range, although he still considers the tack room where he started (there is more than one barn on the property) as his home base.
If feasible, maybe do the first few turnouts for short periods of time where you can keep your eye on them and call them back in.

[Jersey_Fresh]

Thanks everyone. We got them a week ago on Friday, but they poured concrete in our tack room so I’m going to “reset” their two week clock in the tack room in case the concrete covered up their smells. Not ideal, and they had to spend a couple days in a stall in a dog crate but its better than where they came from.

The male had to be someones pet. He is super friendly and lovey. His biggest issue with being in the dog crate was he could see people but they weren’t petting him. The female is much less friendly, but not mean. She just hasnt figured out people yet. She is the one I am worried I wont be able to lure in at night.

All good on shots, they will be treated like our house pets and get food, water, a comfy bed to sleep on in the tack room.

I would like to keep them locked in the tack room at night if possible once they are allowed freedom. The barn is about 5 acres back from the road and we dont have coyotes but I would feel better if they were in a safe spot at night. Becoming house pets isnt really an option-we have one cat already and Mr JF is allergic to cats

[dynamite0319]

I would add that we were advised to put one of our worn t-shirts or blankets in the room with our barn cats. This helps them to know your scent is “home”. We have had a number of feral or semi-feral cats as barn cats and the friendlier they are the more likely they have been to stay. A little canned food with their dinner also helps them be more interested in staying around, at least to start with.

Sounds like you have a good plan and will provide your new kitties a happy home!

[ShotenStar]

With all the barn cats I have adopted over the last 30 years, I have placed the cage / crate where their permanent food serving would be - the association with food helps with the ‘anchoring’. I also fed nice smelly tuna on a regular basis the first few weeks. In all these years, only one adoptee bolted as soon as the crate was opened - she was an older female who was truly feral. We never saw her again, but her son and daughter are still with us 10 years later.

star

[Pocket_Pony]

Oh gosh, it took me months before I let my cat out of the tack room. Granted, he’s a scaredy cat and went from feral cat to house cat to barn cat when we moved. Since it was a new place for us and had no “stamp” of our scent or presence there, I kept him in the tack room for a long while.

Gradually I’d let him out in little increments - first just poking his nose out while I’d feed the horses (he is very cautious so he wasn’t keen to get away from his safe place at that point), then out for a couple hours while I’d ride, then out all day and in at night, and now he’s out all the time (starting in May, so a little over a year since we first moved in).

I think he’s happier than our house cats, really, but I do recognize that the dangers out there could shorten his life span. Like I said, though, he is very cautious and on the timid side, so mostly he’s in the barn and sometimes he goes in the arena or a paddock when the horses are out. Our neighbors’ cat, on the other hand . . . I see him everywhere!

[vxf111]

Mine was a friendly cat. I did a week in the crate, a week in the barn, and then let her loose. I used the 2 weeks to establish the routine of wet food in the AM and PM. She never misses a wet food meal! All I have to do is call “din din” and comes running. I lock her in the barn at night, for her safety. During the day she can come/go through a cat door.

[SugarCubes]

I think I’ve had my barn kitty for 4 or 5 months now, I kept him in the tack room for the first week and a half or so, then started letting him hang out with me when I cleaned stalls. I’d put him back in the tack room if I wasn’t able to watch him. Someone recommended scattering whatever you pick out of the litterbox around the barn so they can track their scent back home, so I did that and he has never wandered too far.

He’s out during the day now (sometimes, he is usually just sleeping in his bed, lazy bum!) but I lock him in the tack room every night after I feed…nothing good happens to cats after dark!

Good luck with your kitties, I’m sure they’re going to be in heaven living with you!

[Trails]

Any new cats I have gotten were locked up for close to 2 weeks (most have been adopted through a feral cat program but a few came from the local animal control). I went in every day and fed them a tiny bit of canned food. They always had kibble and of course water 24/7. After the first week, when I entered the room with the wet food, they would approach quite close, watch me put down the wet food and would be eating it before I left the room. Once let out, I continued to put a bit of wet food in their room for another couple of weeks (left door open so they could come and go freely) and then weaned them off of it. Over the years only one cat left after a couple of months. She had lived in the hay loft but I cleared it out, brushed up the floor getting it ready for the first delivery of the new crop. Once I removed the hay, she took off. It was hayless for about 3 days and I was hoping she would return but it wasn’t to be.

[rockymouse]

We ended up with two truly feral adult males from the shelter - unadoptable, neutered and free.

They were so wild that they’d hiss at us on sight, from across the room. We kept them locked in the barn for a solid four weeks. We began feeding wet food and the hissing diminished some.

After a month we opened the cat door and they were not locked in the barn at night, but came and went as they pleased. They definitely stayed around and in fact helped my husband dislodge a rattlesnake in the barn after a few months.

The wet food was key. Both cats eventually became downright friendly; you would have no idea that they had spent the first couple years of their lives as wild creatures. One barn cat disappeared after three or four years; the other lasted close to 10. When we moved, we took him with us and repeated the four-week lock up in the new barn. Didn’t stick. Despite our best efforts, he returned repeatedly to the old barn. Finally the new owner of our old place said she’d feed him and he’s stayed there.

[Graymaresrule]

[QUOTE=Jersey Fresh;8820830]
Thanks everyone. We got them a week ago on Friday, but they poured concrete in our tack room so I’m going to “reset” their two week clock in the tack room in case the concrete covered up their smells. Not ideal, and they had to spend a couple days in a stall in a dog crate but its better than where they came from.

The male had to be someones pet. He is super friendly and lovey. His biggest issue with being in the dog crate was he could see people but they weren’t petting him. The female is much less friendly, but not mean. She just hasnt figured out people yet. She is the one I am worried I wont be able to lure in at night.

All good on shots, they will be treated like our house pets and get food, water, a comfy bed to sleep on in the tack room.

I would like to keep them locked in the tack room at night if possible once they are allowed freedom. The barn is about 5 acres back from the road and we dont have coyotes but I would feel better if they were in a safe spot at night. Becoming house pets isnt really an option-we have one cat already and Mr JF is allergic to cats :([/QUOTE]

I have 8 barn cats, all adopted from various sources, except the one who wandered in one day and stayed.

When new I keep them in confined for around 2 weeks. I feed them dry cat food in the morning and canned in the evening and keep that routine when I let them out. So far I have only lost one in three years.

If you have a local Wegman’s their Buju and Ziggy canned cat food in the 24 can flats is the cheapest I have found. I go through 8 cans a day so cheap is good.

[LilyandBaron]

Mine were from my boarding barn that was for sale, so I brought them home and didn’t have a tack room yet, but had a chicken coop. I had cleaned that out, it had water and electric and fans, and left them in their for two weeks- had read that was the time to reset GPS units as others note. Mine were tame and friendly, but some scared of the new place, others itching to explore. I had one for almost a year that was so brave and friendly -would walk with me out back and greeted me each morning. One morning she didn’t show up:( I’ll never know what happened, but owls and coyotes are top suspects. We tore down the chicken coop and built a new barn, so I had to change feeding locations a few times, but non issue once they knew the general area was home. My tack room was under construction when the one went missing, and now complete, so the remaining two are inside at night - I have a cat door that locks and it keeps OUT raccoons and keeps them in. Much safer, just hate I lost one before completion. I also feed wet food and treats and dry food, but I don’t have mice - they enjoy hunting. And one is a roamer, but seems to know when I come home from work - I’ll see him walking toward the house then:) The other has made the tack room her home, and is happily getting older and fatter in style.

[beowulf]

The more feral they are, the longer they need to be locked. I agree, always keep them where their food is.

We did over a month for our last truly feral transplant. He has been ‘at large’ for 3 weeks but hangs out at the horses. Very feral still. Used to be he’d hiss at you if you came in the grain room, but now he just sullenly watches you. Maybe someday he’ll be ‘pettable’. Others we have been able to do 2-3 weeks but at minimum I would do 2.

[Jersey_Fresh]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8824126]
The more feral they are, the longer they need to be locked. I agree, always keep them where their food is.

We did over a month for our last truly feral transplant. He has been ‘at large’ for 3 weeks but hangs out at the horses. Very feral still. Used to be he’d hiss at you if you came in the grain room, but now he just sullenly watches you. Maybe someday he’ll be ‘pettable’. Others we have been able to do 2-3 weeks but at minimum I would do 2.[/QUOTE]

The male loves people and is nowhere near feral. The female wont let you pick her up but she doesnt run from you either, so I’m not sure what to think of her. I think I may try the wet food in the PM tactic for a week before letting them out and see if it helps.

Thanks everyone!