counturchickens Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi all, We currently have rats visiting the garden (covered in other posts) and I kind of had it the back of my mind that we could adopt a feral cat, having come across this before whe we adopted our indoor cat. Then fate seems to have intervened as a colleague is looking for a new home for her 2 feral cats. She adopted them to live in her stables to keep the rodents down, which has worked, but she has to leave her current stables soon as the owner is selling up and she won't be able to have them at the new place. We have about a third of an acre and back on to scrubby fields, a river an woods. My concerns are that they might freak my cat out, although she has been ill recently and confined to the indoors I had thought she might want to venture outside in the summer. Secondly, my cat and the neighbours are scared of the hens so don't go near them, but might a feral cat try and go for them. Thirdly, it would feel a bit weird to not be doing the vaccinations etc as we do for our own and I know I will be worried about them in the cold weather etc, although they live quire happily where they are now and obviously they would be fed, and wormed and flea treated and their general welfare looked out for. My colleagues other options is to see if the cats protection would take them back, btw. Opinions gratefully received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I have considered doing the same thing. Mainly to keep rats down but also to get a cat out of a shelter.My local shelter is over run with cats some of which came in as ferrels and would struggle to get homes. I worry like you about the chickens but there's only one way to find out unfortunately, if they were well fed you may be ok. My cats don't go out so that wouldn't be an issue, but I would still get it vaccinated and flee treated to be honest. And neutered of course. Personally I think it's worth a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 My guess would be that the chickens would be ok - feral or not, they are unlikely to stand up to a hybrid hen flapping its wings and squawking at full volume. As far as the vaccination etc goes, I can see it would feel odd but you have to remind yourself that if not living with you, they'd be sleeping in much worse conditions. The issue for me would be your existing cat - does she like to roam, or will she only go out of the house when you're in the garden? I could foresee territorial battles there. Also - would they settle in a new environment, or would they try to return to their old haunt? it probably depends how far away you are. Good luck with it, I don't have experience of adopting a feral cat although I've taken on many rescued cats over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
counturchickens Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Thanks both. My existing cat isn't much of an outdoors type, despite being picked up as a stray. She's recently had a severe earinfection (in animal hospital, expensive scan etc) and is currently confined to the house and hasn't shown much interest in going out, so I am a little concerned but I don't suppose it would be the end of the world for her if she didn't go out. I am a bit over protective of her Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
counturchickens Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 A friend has pointed out they will probably also go for the wild birds, which would be a shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
