06-27-2020, 05:19 PM
It all started when one big black male cat came here years ago. He was either lost, or a stray someone set out. He was afraid of us at first, but took a liking to us after we started feeding him. He allowed us to pet him and was very tame.
Give it a month or so, and he drags his girlfriend in to live with him here. She was as wild as wild could get. Never would come anywhere near close to us, but she appreciated the free food.
After a few months, along came the kittens. She chose a spot up in the woods where I couldn't get to so I could tame them as kittens. All those kittens grew up and had kittens of their own until I was in a mess before I knew it!
I had tried to catch the grandma cat several times to take her to be "fixed", but she was too smart to go inside the trap.
After having two outside cats turn into eighteen cats within two years, I finally was able to catch all the females and get them spade. I only caught one of the males. We had given the first male that came here to a friend after the first year.
The mama cats taught their kittens how to hunt birds, mice, moles, etc. Never saw them attack any chickens.
They still came down for food I left out if their hunt didn't produce anything.
After getting all the adult females spade, something in the woods started killing them. I'm guessing it was a pack of coyotes, or the family of raccoons that liked to share the food bowl on the porch. Whatever... they all disappeared within a couple of months.
There were still one litter of kittens left after I got all the females fixed. Their mama had been killed, so I brought them inside to care for them. I let them outside during the day to see if they would hunt mice. No deal.
So, from my own experience, a cat needs to be feral and taught how to hunt by it's parents, and stay feral if you want to use them for mice control.
Give it a month or so, and he drags his girlfriend in to live with him here. She was as wild as wild could get. Never would come anywhere near close to us, but she appreciated the free food.
After a few months, along came the kittens. She chose a spot up in the woods where I couldn't get to so I could tame them as kittens. All those kittens grew up and had kittens of their own until I was in a mess before I knew it!
I had tried to catch the grandma cat several times to take her to be "fixed", but she was too smart to go inside the trap.
After having two outside cats turn into eighteen cats within two years, I finally was able to catch all the females and get them spade. I only caught one of the males. We had given the first male that came here to a friend after the first year.
The mama cats taught their kittens how to hunt birds, mice, moles, etc. Never saw them attack any chickens.
They still came down for food I left out if their hunt didn't produce anything.
After getting all the adult females spade, something in the woods started killing them. I'm guessing it was a pack of coyotes, or the family of raccoons that liked to share the food bowl on the porch. Whatever... they all disappeared within a couple of months.
There were still one litter of kittens left after I got all the females fixed. Their mama had been killed, so I brought them inside to care for them. I let them outside during the day to see if they would hunt mice. No deal.
So, from my own experience, a cat needs to be feral and taught how to hunt by it's parents, and stay feral if you want to use them for mice control.