| unclebilly |
11-21-2020 03:08 AM |
Thank you for this thread. Many of you know we live on a farm. We have had barn cats come an go over the past 12 years. We had one house cat that out survived them all but sadly he met his maker this fall.
The thing about Milo was that he was the ultimate passivist. He had been fully declawed before we got him yet he caught mice and birds regularly. He ruled the roost until we got our latest barn car who would stock poor Milo.
Milo and our former dog were the best of friends. He got along well with the barn cats over the years and was a talkative little guy. He came into our life after he was abandoned by some renters who moved away from their apartment unannounced and left him behind. He was starved and skinny but we gave him a home and he survived farm life and thrived against the odds.
Our current barn cat Blizzard was likely a feral cat that was ‘rescued’. The Humane Society spent a fortune on him doctoring him up with all sorts of surgeries. He is a very affectionate cat but he had one problem which prevented him from getting adopted. You would pat him, he would purr and get excited and then bite, really ****** hard, often drawing blood. He weighs over 20 pounds and it’s been about a year since he has bit anyone (mostly me). He lives in our heated water building with a cat door that is locked every night. This summer he figured out how to remove the cat door so I have since rigged up a 1/4” x 1” bar that goes across the cat door to hold it in place. There is a hairpin on either side through 2 bolts holding the bar in place. More than once, he had removed a hair pin during the night. This guy is an avid hunter and catches all sorts of things including gophers. We can always tell when he has been gopher hunting because they fight back and his face usually gets torn up. Given that we have cattle, I have lots of antibiotics on hand. Duplucillin is a form of penicillin and is ok for cats. 1mL of this injected intramuscular turns him around in a day or so. He is a great cat but to destructive to let live in the house with us. He goes for walks all over the farm with my wife (all of our cats have done this), he likes the cows, and is a great mouser.
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