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Post by willowgirl on Nov 21, 2015 2:24:08 GMT
We've been putting Juliet's kittens out on the porch in the daytime, trying to get them used to life outdoors, so they can be barn cats when they grow up. The result so far has been ... pathetic.
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Post by Skandi on Nov 21, 2015 10:29:34 GMT
Ha Ha I have two barn cat kittens sitting on me right now. both born in different barns, they're about 11 and 9 weeks. the one born here is happy to go outside, but the other one WILL NOT CONSIDER IT. if I open the door direct to the barn from the house, they'll happily go play in the straw though.
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Post by aoconnor on Nov 21, 2015 13:42:15 GMT
Lol! Now THAT is funny:-)
It's as bad here. A stray cat in horrible condition decided he liked my barn, and I needed a good barn cat...so I am feeding him and letting him stay. First night I let my dogs out after dark and that cat heard me up here, he shot up to the house and right in the back door. Does it every time I let the dogs out at night. Sigh, I hate it, but he gets tossed back out and has to be a barn cat. I have 3 indoor/outdoor cats up here and my hubby said absolutely no more. He doesn't have the same like for cats that I have.
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Post by here to stay on Nov 21, 2015 14:02:29 GMT
But Baby it's cold outside......
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 21, 2015 14:21:46 GMT
He has FUR! But yeah, I woke up this morning with him snuggled under my chin. This is not going well ... Juliet started life as a barn cat, but after her beloved brother Derp got killed on our road, I became distraught and badgered Numb to let me make a housecat out of her. We already had two housecats, so a third was really pushing it, but he agreed. We didn't realize she was pregnant when we brought her in ... whoops. Fortunately she only had two kittens, both males -- Maxwell in the picture, and a dilute orange who looks just like Derp so we call him Derp Jr. (Yes, it's possible he may have had an Uncle Dad lol.) Our house is really small ... like "singlewide" small ... we really don't have room for 5 cats and 2 dogs in it. These guys are really cute, though!
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Post by Otter on Nov 21, 2015 15:06:41 GMT
Don't worry about it. Make outside a normal part of their day and when they get about 7 to 9 months old, they'll be outside cats of their own accord. If you begin to feed them then in a warm, safe place, they'll happily become barn cats until they start to feel their age. Females take a little longer, but not one of our spayed females over 12 months old lives inside, not even if we want them to. They only consent to come in to sleep if we feed them inside at dusk and then lock them in, other than that, they make total barn cats out of themselves until about 5 or 6 years of age, then they start spending a bit more time in the house.
The only relentlessly indoor cats we have here are the ones that were dumped. It seems like when folks try to force cats away from where they are comfortable and safe (like when they chuck them over our fence, grrr) once that cat gets back in to a house they want to STAY in!!
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 21, 2015 18:40:04 GMT
We have made housecats of two of our barn cats, Juliet and Buttons, and neither has shown any desire to go back outside.
I know what ya mean, though. I once adopted a BLM mustang, and that horse never wanted to leave the barn! lol
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 21, 2015 18:42:33 GMT
P.S. Here's a pic of their mama. I think she is the prettiest cat I've ever had! She's a real sweetie, too.
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Post by Otter on Nov 21, 2015 20:11:47 GMT
She's gorgeous.
LOL, reading back I wasn't clear, feeding outside is essential. I've found that many cats who are raised outside from babies are very happy to "retire" to a couch. And all my little turds raised indoors and gently encouraged outside when they are a bit older are happy barncats. My Onyx decided around age 7 to retire, then a year later decided retirement sucked and would no longer enter the house unless caught and carried - and woe betide the fool who tried to catch and carry him! He was a strapping big cat. His 15th and last winter he finally caved and came in in bad weather.
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Post by wildhorseluvr on Nov 21, 2015 21:56:12 GMT
We have made housecats of two of our barn cats, Juliet and Buttons, and neither has shown any desire to go back outside. I know what ya mean, though. I once adopted a BLM mustang, and that horse never wanted to leave the barn! lol Interesting. We've owned a lot of mustangs and none ever wanted to spend time inside. In fact, most would use their 3-sided barns to do their business in, then go stand back out in the snow. The only one I have left will occasionally stand in the lean to sheds for awhile. He was adopted as a yearling and must be about 21 now. Maybe he figures he's domesticated by now.
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 21, 2015 22:08:28 GMT
(The door styling is really unique!) Thank you! We found that door at a Habitat for Humanity Restore and I just *had* to have it, LOL. I think we gave $15 for it. Numb and I both like architectural salvage, so the house is full of interesting bits.
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Post by here to stay on Nov 21, 2015 23:42:15 GMT
We have made housecats of two of our barn cats, Juliet and Buttons, and neither has shown any desire to go back outside. I know what ya mean, though. I once adopted a BLM mustang, and that horse never wanted to leave the barn! lol Interesting. We've owned a lot of mustangs and none ever wanted to spend time inside. In fact, most would use their 3-sided barns to do their business in, then go stand back out in the snow. The only one I have left will occasionally stand in the lean to sheds for awhile. He was adopted as a yearling and must be about 21 now. Maybe he figures he's domesticated by now. I managed a small stable of horses that ranged from shetland ponies to half drafts, include quarter horses, saddlebreds, arabs, etc. They overnighted in the barn but were out in the pastures during the day after feeding. Not one of them wanted to come inside even if there was three feet of snow on the ground or it was pouring rain. Only in a wind driven sleet storm did the come to the door to be let in. And as soon as it let up, they all demanded out again.
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Post by aoconnor on Nov 22, 2015 1:29:23 GMT
I must have the biggest group of weenie horses ever. ALL of them would LOVE to be inside the barn for ever more. Even my wild caught a mustang prefers the barn to being out in bad weather. Sigh. willowgirl, that is one of the prettiest kitties I have seen. I love a long hair calico, they sure can be so pretty:-)
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 24, 2015 5:45:42 GMT
Disgusting cuteness! Napping with Uncle Spot.... We kept a friend's dog over the the weekend last week. He didn't come with a doggie bed, so Numb made up this box for him and put it under the desk, so he'd have a place to retreat to when the general hullabaloo around here became too stressful. The cats have since colonized the box, and every time I go to take it out, there's someone sleeping in it. Harrumph!
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Post by mzgarden on Nov 24, 2015 12:05:56 GMT
The only suggestion I can offer is ----- keep posting pics. Whatever happens, those are some adorable fur babies.
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 24, 2015 14:06:09 GMT
Cuteness is the only thing keeping them alive! lol
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 26, 2015 22:18:59 GMT
They played hard today. I'm never going to be able to get rid of that box, am I?
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Post by Otter on Nov 27, 2015 2:24:54 GMT
Sure you will! When you replace it with a nice wooden one. Painted to match the decor
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Nov 27, 2015 3:35:09 GMT
I agree with you on Juliet - she is one of the prettiest cats I've ever seen. Her children are sweet, too. If you were closer, I'd take that sweet orange boy off your hands...he's so cute. I'm down to only one cat. I'll never obtain crazy cat lady status at this rate, lol!
eta: I also really, really like that door. I bet it came off a mid-century modern house at some point.
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Post by willowgirl on Nov 27, 2015 13:32:23 GMT
Yeah, that lacquered birch screams 1950's, doesn't it? Most of the cats here (except for the ones descended from strays who have been dumped off) go back to a long-haired dilute calico cat, Mama Kitty, who belonged to Numb's mom. Mama Kitty lived into her 20s ... she had to be put down last year as her health was failing. But calicos remain well-represented in the bloodline here! We have four others besides Juliet. Here are Juliet's big sisters, Dagny and Dominique (Neeky), when they were about a year old.
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Post by aoconnor on Nov 27, 2015 13:51:20 GMT
Very pretty girls!
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Post by countrymom22 on Dec 2, 2015 2:18:53 GMT
Those kittens are adorable but Momma cat is gorgeous!
That box isn't going anywhere, but it's a small price to pay to have them out from under foot.
They will become barn cats ... in their own good time. There just isn't any rushing a cat!
Enjoy them. I'll bet they are better than TV!
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Post by willowgirl on Dec 2, 2015 5:53:59 GMT
I'd enjoy them more if they'd let me sleep! Every night they go thumping back and forth down the hall from 2-6 a.m. Blargh! Then, the night before last, one of them climbed my potted hibiscus tree and toppled it! Numb was kind enough to get up and clean up the mess as I had to work in the morning.
They're so cute, it's hard to be mad at them, though. Harumph.
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Post by comfortablynumb on Dec 15, 2015 1:03:15 GMT
Max is making progress, he will go outside on his own and in an hour or so wail to come back in. While he is out is all over the place having fun.
Derp just sits on one spot outside and shakes uncontrollably. Maybe when he gets older he will want to follow Max. He's well behaved enough if he has to stay in... well whatever.
Old Spot was an outdoor cat who follows his mom around for a couple yrs. That one came and went as she pleased up though a hole in the floor of the laundry room. When she got chewed up by a dog or a coyote and died, Spot insisted to come in and not leave. I plugged every hole, he found new ways to get back in. I gave up and let him stay in.
The door was one of a pair, both were slightly different and we failed to buy the other one by about 14 seconds.... someone else took it as we were loadin' the first one.
The hibiscus tree is full of xmas bulbs now, minus the one that these two knocked off last night.
Tomorrow bright and early, they go to the vets to have their jewels bobbed.
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Post by Bear Foot Farm on Dec 21, 2015 0:59:56 GMT
Cuteness is the only thing keeping them alive! lol Women have been known to say that while referring to me
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Post by willowgirl on Dec 23, 2015 12:51:19 GMT
ROFL!
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Post by mzgarden on Dec 23, 2015 13:50:08 GMT
I love this thread. The pics are great and the stories are fun. We have 3 inside cats and 3 supposed barn cats, plus a new one that just showed up recently. The Momma barn kitty showed up 2 years ago with her kittens at about 4 weeks old. We still have her and two daughters (all fixed now). Momma doesn't like her girls so she mostly spends her time on or under our house deck, while the girls are happy to be in the barn and pastures. DH is like a marshmallow when it comes to animals. Momma now has her own kitty door into his shop plus her own box on a shelf in amongst his tools. She has a whole big barn, & hay loft plus another outbuilding with bedding straw, but she spends her time with him in the shop. Some barn cat she turned out to be.
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Post by aoconnor on Dec 30, 2015 0:46:30 GMT
We recently have acquired a new barn kitty. He must have been dumped because he is a former house cat as far as I can tell. He is neutered, and though he was very emaciated when he arrived, he has that saggy belly that comes from being overweight and then losing a lot of weight. Someone had to have brought him to the country and tossed him. He s super sweet and friendly, and has no issue with my dogs or cats or horses or chickens...he is well socialized. We will keep him around as long as he wants to stay. My other 3 cats are indoor mostly, but they do go outside a lot during the warmer months and come and go as they please. I love my kitties...
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Dec 30, 2015 10:22:49 GMT
I'd love to add another cat or two, but my old kitty, Annie, keeps telling me she's very happy being an only cat.
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Post by willowgirl on Dec 30, 2015 14:08:51 GMT
Is Annie a tortoiseshell? I have never known a tortie who played well with other cats. They seem to inherit some sort of solitary gene!
Luckily, we have a pretty jovial bunch here. They'll accept any friendly kittens who are dumped here. Moxie, who was about 6 months old when she wandered it, was a little too old to integrate successfully at first, but her kittens blended and seem to buffer her crotchetiness a bit.
We have one old pastel tortie, Persephone, who wanders in and out. We think she actually belongs to the people up the road. She sits high atop the woodpile and scowls down upon the other cats. lol
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