Feral cat in my coop. What to do.

[Catstar68]

Fleas and lice are species specific for the most part. Although most fleas that dogs have are actually Ctenocephalides felis, the cat flea, as opposed to Ctenocephalides canis. Cat fleas are the most common flea around. There are rat fleas, mice fleas....But chickens have nothing to fear in catching something from a cat and visversa.
A little spot Advantage on for kitties and all should be good. Be sure he gets a rabies shot in case he decides to tussle with a coon.
I wish my fat old cat would be protective of the chickens and catch mice...he's too lazy.

 

[TarzantheChickenMan]

Cool ya get it fixed and make a box for it to sleep in. MY son's now pet once stray is a great mouser he catches striped and pocket gophers and the occasional mouse. Im allergenic to cats but i can live with him he is the only cat i have seen not run for the hills when my boys grab him.

 

[chooniecat]

nice to hear caring people respond with something other than shooting/poisoning/drowning as 1st choice. cat SHOULD be neutered(original term for fixing boy OR girl) and if trouble catching its very simple to bait live trap and haul it in to a closed in area where it can be kept til neutering. I personally would use spot on flea treatments but neutering is the MOST important thing if $ an issue. hopefully you've got a mouser! good luck.

 

[Catstar68]

How's the new kitty?

 

[juliawitt]

If you check out the coops page, the large coops, you will see a coop built on the side of a mountain. This coop has large pyreneese dogs watching around the coop and pics of the two cats that are living in the coop with the chickens. If he eats mice and watches over the chickens....well, how cool is that! Sounds like a keeper! I would try to figure out how he got in. He can't fight off racoons or opossums so you will need to find how he got in, fix that, neuter and vacinate him and sleep well. No mice or rat problems.

 

[gsim]

I would try to keep him. However, I would be far more concerned with how he got in there in the first place. And, he will not be any protection against a fox or especially a coon. He will protect against rats, mink, weasels, martins.

 

[StupidBird]

So how is it going now with the cat?

 

[Wildsky]

I would love to hear an update, and be sure to check the cat has no owner before deciding to get him fixed. (that could get ugly!

)

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Quote:
That's what I was thinking, too. If a cat can get in there, so can a coon.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
A.K.A. the pop door, as was stated in the OP's first post.