A feral cat adopted my barn last summer. In the beginning I did not do anything to encourage her to stay, because she scared away or killed all my beautiful birds…
But she also killed up to 3 rats a day… So I started to like her. I caught her in a carrier, which I borrowed from my vet and had her checked, dewormed and vaccinated. Obviously she was a healthy female cat which was ok with people.
So I decided to encourage her to stay and started to feed her. She only eats beef catfood, she does not like seafood. Also she mainly lives in the attic, because she is worried about the dogs.
But since I started to feed her she changed her character completely. She gets fed in the morning together with all my other animals. She is eagerly awaiting her food, loves to be petted and then she relaxes for the rest of the day. She has a spot where she lays and watches everything. She loves to watch whats going on in the barn. She gained a lot of weight since I started to feed her. She used to be a tiny skinny kiddy and now she is a shiny well rounded cat 
So everything is in best order. But… Lately I have the impression that the number of rats in the barn increased. Maybe because its Spring, but I am wondering whether my cat after she is totally happy and relaxed now is not as eager anymore to catch rats???
Should I reduce her food???
No. I would never reduce her food to make her hungry. I have not known cats to stop catching mice when they are properly fed.
Rats or mice?! But yes, if she doesn’t have to hunt for a living she might not bother. I would never be able to bring myself to just not feed an animal-- but if she’s getting fat you could try cutting her food back a bit. Also if you didn’t get her spayed, I would definitely do that ASAP.
My barn cats have dry food out for them all the time. And they are stone cold killers. I rarely see any live rodents or snakes. Can she get to all parts of the barn without encountering the dogs?
I think she is mainly active during the night when the dogs are not in the barn. I had a renter for the winter for my barn apartment and thats what she told me. We found all the dead rats in the morning. She did not really eat them only killing them.
And I talked to the vet about spaying. She thought that she might have been spayed already, so right now I am kind of hoping that the vet was right. She does not look pregnant only shiny and in great shape 
And I was not thinking about giving her no food, just maybe reducing it… She lived without my food for some years…
If she lets you pet her she’s not feral. Was someone’s pet once, now yours. If she wasn’t eating the rats, then she wasn’t killing them for food. Very good of you to vet her and to feed her.
Ok, Thats what I figured too… But still, is it possible that now that she knows that she is part of my family, she stopped killing rats??
Well fed cats hunt better than cats that are hungry. Cats hunt for pleasure.
Keep feeding her and she will keep hunting for you
Oh, who knows why cats do what they do.
The rats might have wised up, too, after the rookies got killed, the old hands avoid new kitty.
FWIW, my cats don’t miss a meal, and they kill what they can, thankfully mostly rodents.
Rats are tricky prey: they are known to be fierce and fight back!
But out of the blue (where did they come from?!) my tom started killing rats - or at least I think he did…could have been the girls, too.
This is my first barn cat so I am still in the process of learning…I am not really a cat person. But this is really a cute cat and it is kind of rewarding that she is obviously very attached to me and I will be forever thankful that she killed all these rats… Maybe the survivors are smarter now and try to avoid her…
[QUOTE=Simkie;8155358]
Well fed cats hunt better than cats that are hungry. Cats hunt for pleasure.
Keep feeding her and she will keep hunting for you :)[/QUOTE]
THIS^^^
It’s more likely that it’s spring, so you have more rat babies. Plus if you have dogs there that scare her, she is not going to hang around there to catch the rats.
The corpses littering the garage every morning assures me well fed cats are still good hunters! Lol!
[QUOTE=JBD;8155324]
My barn cats have dry food out for them all the time. And they are stone cold killers. I rarely see any live rodents or snakes. Can she get to all parts of the barn without encountering the dogs?[/QUOTE]
This describes my cat population exactly. Also the dogs have been taught to never ever bother the cats.
Nope won’t stop them. My dad would refill the dishes as soon as they were empty, so they had an endless buffet. They would bring us mice, snakes, a bird, chipmunks, and even a toad. Some were alive, others were dead. Heck my youngest cat who hasn’t been outside and is very well fed (looks like a butterball turkey) will hunt and kill ants and spiders in the house.
I believe there have been studies that show that feeding barn cats will encourage them to hunt in/closer to the barn.
It’s more difficult/time consuming to catch prey inside than out in the open over a large range, so if they don’t have to hunt to eat they are more likely to go after the more difficult prey.
Cats who are good hunters will keep killing even if they are fed expensive cat food. And cats who are not good hunters can become better by association with the good hunters. Cats who live outside kill a large # of song birds. Better to move a cat inside and buy rat traps than lose your song birds. BTDT. Barn cats can become very good house cats.
IMO, terriers are even better ratters than cats. I always try to have a vermin killer in my household. I will say that I had a barn cat that I kept in dry food, and the whole time I had him the rats vacated the premises. He left when I acquired my pit bull, who is an excellent vermin killer but doesn’t live at the barn. Now the rats are back.
I now use rat poison in the tack/feed room in bait stations like these:
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft_pest_control-ft_rat_mice_control;pgde1290.html
Be very, very happy that you have a barn cat that kills rats! Not every cat has enough savvy or guts to go after them - it takes a tough cat. I’ve had literally dozens of barn cats over the last 35 years and could count on the fingers of one hand those who were really good, consistent ratters.
And yes, cats hunt better if they are fed, spayed/neutered, vetted and well-maintained. Mine used to go out to hunt immediately after their dinner! Nothing stops a good rodent exterminator! (And cats, as well as rats, tend to be nocturnal so if your cat looks like it just lays around all day snoozing, it probably is - but it is most likely terrorizing the local vermin at night!)
Yes I am very happy about the cat and the best is really that I did nothing to get her. She just came. She is totally cute, but she does not have a tail 
Obviously she lost at in an accident… And even though I think I still have rats the number has really gone down. I had many in the beginning And we do have a Jack Russel terrier, but he is not really a killer. He is an Australian JRT and those are bred only for shows and to be nice… I think the cat is much better!!!
Cats will just hunt which is why they should be kept inside. They will kill birds and other small mammals that are part of the natural landscape in addition to your “problem” rats.
Feral/outside cats are one of the biggest threats to endangered small animals. Check out beach mice and Key Largo Woodrats to name a few.
