Neutered cats available for farms

boomerang

For anyone farming in the mid-west:

We're a small group of volunteer feral cat trappers from Limerick. We get the cats neutered and vet-checked. If they are not wanted where they are in the city, we relocate them on farms in small family groups of two or three.

The cats make ideal ratters and keep vermin away. All they ask in return is that you give them somewhere warm and dry to sleep, and provide them with cat food every day. They are far more likely to stick around if you feed them, and they'll still hunt and act as a rat and mouse deterrent.

We've rehomed neutered feral cats to half a dozen farms in Limerick so far, and it has worked out really well. Because they're neutered, the cats put on condition so are better able to hunt. Because they're not breeding, the numbers don't get out of control and there's no in-breeding to make them sickly. We only rehome healthy cats.

We are doing more trapping and neutering in the coming weeks so we need to find farm homes for the cats that are unwanted and in danger if we leave them where they are.

If you'd be interested in taking on some of these cats, let me know. They need to be confined for at least a week before leaving them off on the farm, so you'd need a secure shed.

zetorman

Great idea !!! just what I need. How do I make contact with your group ??

seanybiker

Wow that's an excellent idea. Fair play to all involved

jerdee

how can we make contact have a job for two of them lads

blue5000

jeez hope the mrs doesn't see this, she's from clare, on a bad day I think she is biddy early re-incarnated.

What about the devastation these hunting cats will be doing to the local bird population in their new locations?

Birdnuts

blue5000 wrote: »

jeez hope the mrs doesn't see this, she's from clare, on a bad day I think she is biddy early re-incarnated.

What about the devastation these hunting cats will be doing to the local bird population in their new locations?

The fact that these cats are neutered and fed will probably limit the potential damage compared to your averge feral cats that have the potential to breed like rabbits and wander far and wide(neutered cats are generally less likely to wander). In any case, if it means less rodenticides are used around farms then that will have signficant benefits for bird species like Barn owls, Kestrels etc. whos numbers have been hit hard in many parts of the country from ingesting contaminated rodents.

ootbitb

what is the cost of neutering a cat?

have a couple too many here already...wouldn't be without a cat though.

fear tuath

What about the devastation these hunting cats will be doing to the local bird population in their new locations?[/QUOTE]

I agree with Limerick Animal welfare to a point and have given them donations in the past as there are always collecting but do they have to re home every feral cat in the world the are far too many of them roaming the wild at present.The songbird population is under enough pressure at the moment.
Catch them and put them down id say.

I wonder what would they say if you rang them up looking to adopt a terrier for catching rats

boomerang

Hey all,

If anyone is interested in taking on 2-3 of these cats you can PM me and I'll give you a phone number and email address to contact.

We don't charge for these neutered cats. We just ask that you leave out cat food for them every day and give them someplace sheltered to sleep. The cat food won't impinge on their instinct to hunt. Even simply having the cats around the place is enough to send the rodents scarpering!

We are dealing with huge numbers of feral cats in Limerick city. In some places, the population has grown to forty or more cats, spread across maybe only one block in a housing estate. More mouths than any one kind person could feed and most people would prefer them gone. In some cases, they are actively persecuted. So we try and find farm homes for some of the cats, leaving some behind so as not to create a vaccum effect (more, un-neutered cats coming in to fill the empty territory.) We pick out small, identifiable family groups in twos or threes to relocate to farm homes, where they'll be useful. Every cat is neutered and treated for worms, fleas etc.

The feedback so far from the farmers is brilliant. By keeping the cats in for the first week and feeding every day, they've stuck around once released. Lots of farmers see the value of having a few cats around the place, and these ones are healthy. Because they are neutered, their home range is smaller so they stay close-by and turn up for work reliably

At the moment we're looking for some farm homes across Limerick county and spilling over into neighbouring counties, where time and transport allows.

I'd be delighted if any of you would be interested and would like to get in touch.


PS We're not talking about relocating massive numbers of cats here - just a handful. We only have the resources to do so many of these TNR (trap, neuter, release projects) and they are very time-consuming and labour-intensive! Plus we prefer to leave the cats in situ in the city, when it is safe to do so. I do appreciate concerns that these cats are a threat to wildlife. I am actively reading up scientific papers on the subject. I do think it's a valid point, but is our shuffling small numbers of these cats adding to the problem? By trapping, neutering and releasing/relocating these cats, we're reducing the number of ferals being born. In an area that has been TNR'd, the number of feral cats gradually declines through attrition, while keeping other, un-neutered ferals from neighbouring territories out. So in a way, the garden birds are better off for our efforts.

mathepac

How do you distinguish between a feral cat and a cat just doing its normal night-time stroll? My old yoke is a wanderer and she might miss the odd night at home (neutered), but that doesn't make her feral, just a regular cat.

boomerang

By jaysus mathepac, you know as soon as they are in the trap - a feral would eat you without salt! Funnily enough, they do calm down a lot once they've been neutered and can become more a little more tame in their ways.

Seriously though, we can distinguish between a tame but scared cat, and a feral, no worries there. There is a huge difference in the behaviour. Plus we would know the history of the group of cats, in most cases.