I’ll have to see when he does the morning chores with me (that’s when she’s most visible).
She prefers my predictable routine. She gets close when she knows I’m cleaning pens in the morning. She feels comfy going into the barn then.
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I thought everything was all settled, but I actually have another update. And a dilemma.
We had guests for the last week and a half and they really enjoyed going out to the barn with us. I didn’t see Minerva for days, but the food was eaten.
The guests left yesterday. My first solo trip to the barn and Minerva showed up. Like always, she ran happily up to Ralph, our very tame, neutered barn cat. She adores him, so their interactions are fun to see. I was finishing up and she was stilll snuggling with Ralph, only five feet away! She moved away a little, but came right back. She has never been that close. So, yay! Progress!
Now the dilemma. My husband might be accepting a job elsewhere which would mean we would move in the spring. I have a neighbor that loves cats, but refused to commit to feeding this one if we move. Ralph will be coming with us. We will have to lock him up for a month in a huge dog crate until he knows his new home. The places we’re looking are more rural with more coyotes, so night lock ups in a workshop or secure outbuilding are a must. I feel terrible because this young kitty is so enamored with him. We’re assuming that we’ll find a farm with some sort of secure outbuilding. If we do, should I even consider trapping, vetting, and moving her, too? Should I put both cats together in the same crate, instead of Ralph all alone? My only other option is contacting the rescue that helped me trap her and see if she could relocate to another colony. I don’t know if that’s an option. Does that ever work out?
Major enabler here but I think Minerva would love to move with your family and Ralph.
Doesn’t sound like there’s any reason not to take her too.
Most cats are pretty resilient during a move and like you’re planning, just do the area introduction slowly.
Best wishes for your big move and finding that new farm.
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It’s so hard to find safe homes for cats. I just hope we find a farm to move to that doesn’t already have a feline barn staff.
Years ago a client at the animal hospital moved with her spouse from their townhouse to a new property in the country. They had been caring for a feral colony at their old residence, and had several indoor only cats. They trapped all the ferals (there were 10-12!) and moved them all to the new property where they had converted an outbuilding to a shelter for the ferals (beds, toys, climbing stuff, etc.) with an enclosed run (think “catio”) so the ferals could go outdoors,but be safely contained from the coyotes. As they got older many of the ferals got tamer and graduated to indoor house cat status in their geriatric years.
Just sayin’
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If you’re willing and able to take her and they get along, then just stuff them both in the big box and carry on.
Do the best you can with the resources you have available. You’ve already improved her life, so no guilt trips, whatever you decide.
Yes there may be coyotes outside. We have them here. I have a bunch of outdoor cats (not all on purpose, they just show up!) I’m pretty sure I’ve lost two over the years that way, but we’ve been here a decade and most of them learn to stay close to the house and garage. I can’t save them all, I do what I can.
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I also think she’d be happier with you and Ralph - I don’t know a lot about cat colonies, but one reason for them is to keep other strays out of an area, so I don’t know how accepting they would be of a new cat.
She seems pretty bonded to Ralph - work on taming her down this winter. When I had to catch a feral to get her spayed, it took feeding her in a crate 2xs/day for about a month to get it to the point that I could shut the door. I think if you set up a large crate in the barn, covered, with a warm bed and start to feed her in that over the winter, it will go a long ways towards making the move easier.
If they get along, there’s no reason not to put them in the same crate together. It will lessen the stress on them, I think. You can also ask the vet for some sedatives/antidepressants for the trip as well.
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That would be fascinating. I looked at catio designs, actually. We’re pretty handy. We’ve made several outbuilding for chickens, rabbits, goats, etc… A portion of an existing building would be much easier, though. Thanks for another idea.
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Thanks, yes, actually, the crate is already in the barn, but no one used it over the hot summer. I will revamp it before colder weather arrives.
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A friend’s son had several indoor cats, but wanted them to safely go outside too, to enjoy the sun or just to look at the world going by. He built a big, chain link room onto his home, He put a sunscreen material on the ‘roof’ that was chain link too. His only mistake was that to get out into the chain link room, you had to crawl out the window. He didn’t put a chain link door on it.
So, he can’t get into the cat room without crawling through the window?
Not exactly. The cat room is attached to the house, like a big addition, and the only access is from the walk out basement big window. That’s how the cats access it with a kitty door in the window. To get into the cat room, he has to crawl out the window to do maintenance or cleaning, and the cats get a big kick out of the human crawling in and out of the window from the basement. If he had put the gate in when he had the cat room built it would have been cheap, and easy to do, but since the room is already together, the fence people would have to take down, put in more posts, and install the gate, on one side, which would take at least a couple of days.
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I hope they don’t have a litter box out there.
I say take her with. I also say transport them separately. What if there’s an upset and they get into a fight? do you want to reach in and separate them? At the risk of having one or both escape? No thank you.
I had to take all my cats from one house to another and was short a couple of carriers. No biggie I thought. I thought wrong. I put two cats that I thought got along in one carrier and two others in another. Something happened to upset someone in each carrier and there were fights - minor in one case and pretty bad in the other - it was not a pleasant trip even though it was about 20 minutes. So I will never ever do that again.
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Thanks for the advice!
I used cats and carriers as an analogy for placing electrons in orbitals—don’t pair unless you have to as that is a higher energy state. Hund’s Rule.
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Lol! I do remember my college chemistry classes…
I’m really enjoying Catio pictures! We could do this, even if we don’t move.
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the good news is that you will have a few months to plan everything out. I also vote for taking her will (albeit in separate crates) she is already getting more used to you so that is a great sign.
Adding a grown feral cat to a colony most likely will not go well. As mentioned upthread, colonies can be pretty tight and are quick to chase off strange kitties who are encroaching on their food supply.
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