cats

whelan1

not sure if i am in the right forum but i am sure i will be redirected if not:) we have a few cats around the yard they are fantastic at killing rats etc. One of the cats had kittens a few weeks ago and she has abandoned them , 2 of them. We brought them in to the house and they are in a box beside the aga cooker they are on cows milk and kitten pouches - whiskas- They are eating fine, now they must be about 3-4 weeks old as there eyes are open and they are quite hardy... the kids love them .What will i do with them now ?

Rovi

This is a subject that might be better suited to Animals & Pet Issues, but it's probably well applicable to F&F/Smallholding too, so we'll give it a go here.

It sounds like your cats are fulfilling a useful role around the place ("they are fantastic at killing rats etc"), so I'd suggest keeping them.
I'd get them neutered though, and their mother and as many others as you can capture too.
'Your' cats are filling a niche in the 'ecosystem' of your yard/farm, a niche that will be filled by strays if you let the 'legal' cat population decline.
There's an ongoing attrition on farm cats (old age, disease, road deaths, 'disappearance', etc) that's constantly at work, so I think it's better to be in charge of the number/type/reproductive status of them than entrusting the process to natural selection or luck.

Cats are a GOOD thing around the yard, provided they're not inbreeding/overpopulating.

Muckit

I was surprised to hear lately how short a gestation period they have.... 7-8weeks??

On the neutoring issue, heard that better to wait til they have a litter before neutoring. Why would this be?

BTW I don't have or ever want cats!!

mountainy man

I have a cat and she is nutered, she was rescued after being dumped at the side of the road, poor thing.

She is a fairly good rat catcher although when she was learning her craft she made a few mistakes, the first one she caught she got a bit over excited and ran inside with it(still alive) and let it go in the bedroom thus ensued the cat and myself trying to get it out from behind the bed wardrobe and chest of drawers, both of us going slightly mental although for different reasons:rolleyes:.
About an hour of this was enough for me and I started to kick and shove the furniture about, mr rat climbed up the gap behind the wardrobe and wasn't going any where , as you can imagine I was a little "annoyed" by this stage and stood back and ran at the wardrobe and shoulder charged it (used to be a prop forward;)) crunch and mr rat slid down to the floor where I grabbed it before she could and threw it into the garden , job done:o
she has improved her technique, thankfully.

Mothman

Muckit wrote: »

On the neutoring issue, heard that better to wait til they have a litter before neutoring. Why would this be?

This has been raised on A & PI (Rovi linked to it) and the opinion there seemed to be that it is nonsense, the bit about having to have a litter.
And from one who suffers from neighbours negligence to have the cats they feed neutered....they are a pest and we loose more poultry to cats than foxes and my daughter lost half her pigeons....:mad:

Full grown hens seem fine but anything smaller have been targeted. Less of an issue since we got a dog.

cards

put notices in the local vets noticeboards plus ask them do they know anyone looking for kittens.notices everywhere else too, most shops have noticeboards. I found homes for 3 a while back through the vets.