by Ruth » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:11 pm
#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Our barn cat is at least 16 years old and we live on Hwy. 400. He only comes in to eat and for some lap time AM and PM, other than that he is outside. When it gets cold he holes up in the hay bales. Our previous barn cat was declawed (she was dumped at our place), and she did just fine even without claws. I don't know if Tbbrat remembers Noir from Sagl, but he was a declawed barn cat too. While I don't think that's ideal, they do learn to compensate! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#We also have a stray tom that moves into our barn for the winter, this cat is completely feral and he does just fine. How he's managed to escape the coyotes this far is a miracle, and a tribute to his survival skills.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Anyway I don't think it's cruel at all, but I'm not a cat person and if I didn't have a barn I wouldn't have a cat - therefore the fact we live on a busy highway is a chance that has to be taken, but neither of our friendly cats ever showed interest in it and the stray doesn't either. If they get hit, they get hit. I don't wish it on them, but I need barn cats and I can't lock them in there. I used to work for someone who had a barn on Hwy. 11 and she lost cats to the highway all the time, but there's not much you can do about it when you need barn cats and live on a busy road. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I agree not to let them in with the dogs, especially 2 young ones. One dog alone would probably learn to respect the cat, like BT's dog, but I know when I had 2 dogs they would hunt cats like coyotes, one would flush the cat and the other would be lying in wait around the corner and would pounce on it as it came running away from the first dog. Luckily, they never hurt them, just trapped them and let them go. My Rottweiler had grown up with 7 cats, she learned how to avoid getting clawed and it never backed her off a cat, in fact, she was quite nice to cats unless they hissed at her then she was like, "OK, now you're in for it", she also used to drive them crazy because she could read them so well she would torture cats by backing them into a corner and "boxing" with them, she would poke her nose in and provoke them into trying to scratch her and she was quick enough to get out of the way, in the 8 years I had that dog she only got scratched once and that was because someone distracted her. Anyway, don't underestimate the killer instincts of dogs - particularly a #ed_op#STRONG#ed_cl#pair#ed_op#/STRONG#ed_cl# of dogs. 2 or more dogs are much bolder than a dog alone.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#