barn cat question

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
No, nothing in the feed. The topicals, but thats going to cost you a small fortune. My barn cats dont have fleas, and my indoor/outdoor cats have never had fleas since I got them on a raw diet. We went back to commercial cat food a few years ago and within a month, our house was INFESTED! We went back to raw, and no fleas.

well now *theres* an interesting observation... what do you think the reason is?
do you feed your barn kitties raw as well? sounds expensive.

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
Not surprising though. Parasites feed off a weak host more easily. Cat food is garbage, so of course a cat on cat food is less healthy than a cat ona real diet.
Yep, everyones on raw. Not expensive at all. I get chicken necks and turkey meat for 30 cents/lb. When it's deer season we get that too. The barn cats are the best, they dont make me cut it up like two of the housecats do!

 

[la dee da]

Quote:
No, nothing in the feed. The topicals, but thats going to cost you a small fortune. My barn cats dont have fleas, and my indoor/outdoor cats have never had fleas since I got them on a raw diet. We went back to commercial cat food a few years ago and within a month, our house was INFESTED! We went back to raw, and no fleas.

We buy Frontline Plus, the one for very large dogs, from a rescue lady. We use .5cc on each cat (we have large cats) and one of the monthly tubes will treat 7 cats. If you go this route make sure the dog meds is the same as cat meds (advantix I've heard will kill a cat, for example).

 

[xchairity_casex]

the thing about cats is they dont need to be hungry to kill mice and not to mention its not a good idea to let them actually eat so many mice (imo) becuase of all the potentiel illnesses and parasites they could get or if the mouse had recently eaten poison from somewhere the cat ingests the mouse and gets poisioned. i never allowed my cats to eat the mice they killed and my cats were no less the hunters!

 

[zzGypsy]

my in/outdoor cats are about half layabouts and half serious hunters, but I figured for them it's a hobby, not a job. the barn cats have a job... but if keeping them fed helps them do their job better, then thats the way to manage it.

 

[teach1rusl]

The lady I'd mentioned earlier doesn't treat her barn cats for fleas. She can barely pick one of them up even - they're pretty wild. I believe (not sure though) that the organization that did the fixes gave a 3 yr. (rather than the one year) rabies vaccine. I doubt those cats will ever see another shot in their lives. But they have a warm shelter and food/water...and aren't producing litters.
We did have one fixed that was pregnant

But after paying (out of my pocket) to have two kittens put down (grossly and horribly sick -half dead), finding spay/neutor advocate homes for several, adopting two myself, and taking 20 to the local humane society (many of which I'm sure were euthanized due to having such severe upper respiratory issues), a pregnancy termination was low on my emotional list of priorities at the time. In just one spring there'd been over 30 kittens produced!!

If they're tame enough to handle, then I recommend what a PP suggested: Buying the largest dog doses available and work from that, giving each half a cc. My mother works in cat rescue in her area, so deals with large numbers - and that's what she does too.