Chicken Proof & Dog Proof way to feed the cat????

[julnjake]

I apologize if this is the wrong section, not sure where this post belongs.

Anyway we have 14 acres and everybody free ranges around here, the chickens, the dogs, and the barn cat! My problem is how to feed the barn cat and keep the dogs and chickens out of his food????? I tried putting it on a shelf but obviously the chickens can get to it as well as the dogs if they jump. I thought of building a shelf up high in the barn with another shelf beside/below it so the cat can hop up to it but then so could the chickens. I also thought of making a "cat box" like a small dog house with a small hole in the top for the cat to jump down into the box and eat (a closed door would be on the front) thinking maybe the chickens wouldn't fit or try to jump down into a box???? Or I have a metal shelving unit, putting the feed on the second to the top shelf, *thinking* (or wishing) that the chickens wouldn't go up there but the cat will???? Any ideas?

 

[leadwolf1]

Could you feed the cat in the garage? Another bldg that could have the door left open just big enough for the cat to get into? Wow, that's a really hard one...good luck

 

[Godsgrl]

Feed the cat in the house.

 

[julnjake]

Not a house cat and don't own a garage or any other building except house, barn, and chicken coop

I'd love him to be a house cat but dh doesn't want him to be and we already have a house cat this is declawed so I don't want him getting out. I think letting the barn cat in and out is too much risk to the house cat escaping too. I'd love to allow the house cat to go out but I'm afraid since he's always been a house cat he could get hit on the road or run into troubles lacking in claws.

 

[Imp]

My outside cats are fed either before the chickens are let out of the coop in the morning or in the dark. So maybe up on a shelf/counter at night.

Good luck with the conundrum.

Imp

 

[bertman]

Maybe use the elevated shelf idea, but with the shelf enclosed and a small cat door with flap? Will the chickens figure out the flap?

Or, build the elevated shelf with enclosure but cut a small mouse-hole type hole in the bottom of the shelf enclosure that is just big enough for kitty to fit into but which is too low and too small for the birds to get in?

Sorry.

it's the tequila talkin'.

 

[donrae]

I'm with Imp, the cats eat after the chickens go to bed. Our lazy cats live on the porch, but one bold ee hen has started hopping the rail. So, cats eat at night, the hen can clean up whatever they leave in the am.

 

[julnjake]

I was afraid that feeding at night would attract the raccoons?

 

[Wimberleytexaschick]

I had to do the same thing- feed outside cats at night on the front porch. We keep a live trap baited with marshmallows out there to catch any racoons that dare to visit us. In the spring we dispatched coons at least 3-5 times a week, but now we rarely have a visitor.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Feeding anytime outside can attract raccoons and possums. I get both in my yard daily/nightly and first thing they go for is any left-over catfood. So you would need to pick any L/O food asap.

Wimberleytexaschick has a good idea. Can you feed the cats at the front door, keeping the chickens & dogs in the backyard?

Imp