# best ever "barn cat" Craigslist ad



## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Link to the thread on my horse forums:
Ad copied in first post. Not Havanese related, but some of us are cat people too.

http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341062


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I remember trying to catch one of the barn kittens to keep as a pet. It was tiny, but definitely the "Devils spawn". I was scratched really bad all over. then Mother spanked me because I had been told to leave them alone. lol


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

OMGosh! That is hysterical! I love it.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I love it!!!ound:ound:ound:

No barn can be without at least one of these. Ours tended to be people friendly too, though. And we spayed/neutered them so that we could control the population. 

When I was (much) younger, and spent day after day standing in the middle of a ring teaching, we had a wonderful barn cat who clearly felt I couldn't make it through the day without her providing me with periodic snacks. She would come trotting across the ring to deposit yet another dead animal at my feet with a look of total satisfaction on her face. "See, I knew you were looking a little hungry. Here's an appetizer. You eat this, and I'll go get you some more!":biggrin1:

Of course we had another barn cat who HATED the farm dogs, and would RIDE them out of the barn, chewing savagely at their necks like a tiny cougar. The farm dogs RARELY went into the main barn more than once.ound:


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

ound:


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## Carefulove (Mar 20, 2009)

ound: Loved it!


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

LMAO


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## clare (Feb 6, 2010)

Ours aren't barn cats,but they have brought home,squirrels,rats,mice,birds,and bats!
Here's a picture of Nellie with her very best friend Kerfuffle the cat.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

clare said:


> Ours aren't barn cats,but they have brought home,squirrels,rats,mice,birds,and bats!
> Here's a picture of Nellie with her very best friend Kerfuffle the cat.


Awww, that's so cute! Yeah, even the most domesticated cat still has a bit of the wild left in them!


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## ClaireVoyant (Jan 26, 2012)

LOL, yes, too funny  But can we talk? 

I know there are many cat lovers here . . .and I've had my share of indoor kitties as well. But . . .cats are native to the Middle East, not to North America . . .they were BROUGHT here by silly gooses who lacked a simple understanding of ecology. North American birds haven't adapted to feline predation and as a result, BILLIONS of native birds are killed annually in the US. If you look closely at nature, you'll see how animals have adapted to predation by native species . . .by camouflage, color, odor, etc. Because cats aren't native here, their prey are defenseless.

Not only are BILLIONS of our Native bird species killed annually in the United States alone . . .but the cost is in the billions as well, so says the American Bird Conservancy: http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/101208.html

Sorry for my soap box . . .but it's something I'm passionate about. Please, if you love a kitty(s), keep it indoors away from wild creatures, cars, antifreeze and our native birds


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Our daughter was working on a movie shoot in an old abandoned warehouse. There were a bunch of stray cats in the area, including little kittens. All the cats ran away like flashes whenever they saw anyone.

When they were all packed up and ready to pull away, right before Hanna shut her door, a little black cat came running and jumped in the car into her lap. She had a dream about a solid black kitten shortly before, so she went and asked the property owner if she could keep the kitten. His reply was, "YOU CAUGHT ONE!!???" and then said sure she could keep it.

In her dream she had named the kitten Pumpkin, so she named this one Pumpkin. It's the sweetest little cat, solid black with yellow eyes. It stays upstairs, and the dogs are terrified of it when they see her, but she never interacts with the dogs like Ghost does. 

Hanna will pat her chest, and Pumpkin will jump all the way up to her shoulders to be caught. Like Ghost, she never puts her claws out.

Hanna is like Pam in that all animals naturally love her.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

ClaireVoyant said:


> LOL, yes, too funny  But can we talk?
> 
> I know there are many cat lovers here . . .and I've had my share of indoor kitties as well. But . . .cats are native to the Middle East, not to North America . . .they were BROUGHT here by silly gooses who lacked a simple understanding of ecology. North American birds haven't adapted to feline predation and as a result, BILLIONS of native birds are killed annually in the US. If you look closely at nature, you'll see how animals have adapted to predation by native species . . .by camouflage, color, odor, etc. Because cats aren't native here, their prey are defenseless.
> 
> ...


Well, if you have a barn and farm animals you really can't do WITHOUT a barn cat or two. They are essential work animals on a farm. But as much as I would like to enjoy song birds in my yard, I do NOT have bird feeders for exactly the reasons you mention. Our cats catch very few birds (we see the remains of their kills, believe meuke but we would be over run by mice and rats in the barn without them.


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## ClaireVoyant (Jan 26, 2012)

There's no doubt, Karen . . .and they were invaluable on my dad's ranch as well. We always had a slew of them and between the cats and the traps we set out, mice didn't have a snow ball's chance 

But I'm a city girl now . . .and you wouldn't believe the number of free range cats and frankly, wild packs of dogs that roam my city. We have no leash laws, no spay/neuter laws and aren't limited to a set number of dogs/cats like other cities I've lived in. Hardly a day goes by I don't see a dog or cat lying dead on the side of the road and frankly, I just want to wring the necks of all the hand wringing whiners in this city every time the subject of leash laws comes up. But . . .that's Texas for you.


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## El Bueno Habanero (Oct 20, 2009)

krandall said:


> But as much as I would like to enjoy song birds in my yard, I do NOT have bird feeders for exactly the reasons you mention.


Same situation here. And I would just love to hang some nice bird house in the garden . 
We have two cats, the oldest Flips is almost 7 years (wow, time flies) and is totally not interested in hunt. The youngest one only once came home with a bird in his mouth. Like all the cats who love their staff lol, he brings his pray home so I sure would know if he cached more. Usually he comes home with a mice. I have even managed to save a few lol. I don't like to see any living creature being killed.



ClaireVoyant said:


> Please, if you love a kitty(s), keep it indoors away from wild creatures, cars, antifreeze and our native birds


I understand what you are saying, but it's not that ease. I do love my cats very much, and thats the very reason I let them go outdoors. They truly enjoy being out 'in the wild', and once when I have shortly lived in an flat without an option to let them out Flips was without any doubt deeply depressed. I respect if people decide to have an indoor cat, but for my cats it's just not an option. Honestly I would rather have my cats living few years shorter, then being a prisoners behind four walls but living much longer lives. In my opinion it is the quality that counts, and not quantity. 
Sadly we lost our second cat Snoopy due to a car accident (few months later we added Tom to our little family). He was only two at the time, and my dh and I were mourning for months. It's been very difficult time for us, and we even thought about not letting Flips go outdoors any more. But, we then decided that it would be very selfish decision. He loves the outside world, and if that means we could lose him then we just have to live with that risk.


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## clare (Feb 6, 2010)

I was all for keeping our cats indoors and did so for as long as possible,but they were not happy,and so gradually I let them have more and more freedom until we actually put in a cat flap so they can come and go as they please,now they spend 90% of their time just lying about around the house,only popping out for toilet breaks especially in these freezing temperatures -10 degrees last night.In the summer they snooze in the garden picking out the sunniest spots.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

ClaireVoyant said:


> There's no doubt, Karen . . .and they were invaluable on my dad's ranch as well. We always had a slew of them and between the cats and the traps we set out, mice didn't have a snow ball's chance
> 
> But I'm a city girl now . . .and you wouldn't believe the number of free range cats and frankly, wild packs of dogs that roam my city. We have no leash laws, no spay/neuter laws and aren't limited to a set number of dogs/cats like other cities I've lived in. Hardly a day goes by I don't see a dog or cat lying dead on the side of the road and frankly, I just want to wring the necks of all the hand wringing whiners in this city every time the subject of leash laws comes up. But . . .that's Texas for you.


Yeah, that's just sad on SO many levels.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

El Bueno Habanero said:


> I understand what you are saying, but it's not that ease. I do love my cats very much, and thats the very reason I let them go outdoors. They truly enjoy being out 'in the wild', and once when I have shortly lived in an flat without an option to let them out Flips was without any doubt deeply depressed. I respect if people decide to have an indoor cat, but for my cats it's just not an option. Honestly I would rather have my cats living few years shorter, then being a prisoners behind four walls but living much longer lives. In my opinion it is the quality that counts, and not quantity.
> Sadly we lost our second cat Snoopy due to a car accident (few months later we added Tom to our little family). He was only two at the time, and my dh and I were mourning for months. It's been very difficult time for us, and we even thought about not letting Flips go outdoors any more. But, we then decided that it would be very selfish decision. He loves the outside world, and if that means we could lose him then we just have to live with that risk.


I agree. We had every intention of keeping Snowbelle, our current "house cat", as an indoor cat, after losing our beloved Maine **** Cat to coyotes. Unfortunately, she had other plans. She spent her life trying to escape, and most often succeeded RIGHT when we had the least time to be chasing her around. We finally came to an agreement. She is allowed to go out during daylight hours ONLY, but must be in the house before dusk. She is good about staying near the house, so it's usually not hard to find her. Because she is allowed out sometimes, she doesn't fight us about staying in at night. (well, not usually, occasionally she still escapes on a summer night, and then we worry all night long!) But like you, we have decided that even if her life is shorter, she is enjoying being a cat.

We live on a farm, and are far from the street, so cars are really not a danger... it's just those darned coyotes. My hope for her is that she is smaller and a MUCH better climber than our Maine **** was. I hope that if she DOES encounter a coyote during the day, (or on her unsanctioned night time excursions!) she will be able to get up a tree on our heavily wooded property. She's 12 now, and we've had her since she was less than a year old. So, for now anyway, she seems to be doing fine.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

clare said:


> I was all for keeping our cats indoors and did so for as long as possible,but they were not happy,and so gradually I let them have more and more freedom until we actually put in a cat flap so they can come and go as they please,now they spend 90% of their time just lying about around the house,only popping out for toilet breaks especially in these freezing temperatures -10 degrees last night.In the summer they snooze in the garden picking out the sunniest spots.


While we closed our cat flap after our Maine **** was killed by coyotes, we have also noticed that once we stopped FIGHTING Snowbelle about going out, she had much less interest in it. She, too, spends most of her time indoors now that she knows she CAN go out!:biggrin1:


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## clare (Feb 6, 2010)

Fortunately we do not have any predators to harm the cats,the foxes seem to keep a wide birth of them.How horrible for your poor Maine **** and for you.Maine ***** are stunning cats, one of my favourite breeds,was yours very large?My mother has a Rag Doll cat that is happy to be a house cat,she wouldn't survive long if she went out side,she is not the sharpest tool in the box!But very loving and a great companion to my mother.


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## El Bueno Habanero (Oct 20, 2009)

krandall said:


> We finally came to an agreement. She is allowed to go out during daylight hours ONLY, but must be in the house before dusk. She is good about staying near the house, so it's usually not hard to find her. Because she is allowed out sometimes, she doesn't fight us about staying in at night. (well, not usually, occasionally she still escapes on a summer night, and then we worry all night long!)


How recognizable. We made the same agreement with our cats . Usually my dh finds them on his last walk with Fedja before he goes to bed (I always stay longer downstairs to watch tv, read or surf), but sometimes it happens that they're nowhere to be found. He would then go to sleep, but would worry like a crazy, he loves them more than it's good for his poor heart lol, and he will even get up in the middle of the night to go look for them. Sometimes more than once. The rest of the night he gets up every hour or so to look if they are maybe waiting in the garden for us to open the door. Over the years I have learned to not worry so much, but he just can't relax when they're out. He is a born cat person :biggrin1:.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

clare said:


> Fortunately we do not have any predators to harm the cats,the foxes seem to keep a wide birth of them.How horrible for your poor Maine **** and for you.Maine ***** are stunning cats, one of my favourite breeds,was yours very large?My mother has a Rag Doll cat that is happy to be a house cat,she wouldn't survive long if she went out side,she is not the sharpest tool in the box!But very loving and a great companion to my mother.


Yes, he was 20 lbs and GORGEOUS. The most gentle soul you ever met.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

I wish I could have a cat, but I'm badly allergic to them. An aquaintance of mine told a real story where a couple got a cat to catch the mice in their house. Apparantly the cat wasn't much of a mouser and was more of a moocher. The husband got quite fed up with the cat and there was a yelling match over it, something like, "That cat is completely worthless...he can't even catch one mouse...will be gone tomorrow!!!" Well, apparantly this cat could understand English because when they came home the next evening, there was a dead mouse in the middle of the kitchen floor with the cat right there waiting for them with a, "See, I CAN TOO catch mice" look on his face! They kept the cat.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

atsilvers27 said:


> I wish I could have a cat, but I'm badly allergic to them. An aquaintance of mine told a real story where a couple got a cat to catch the mice in their house. Apparantly the cat wasn't much of a mouser and was more of a moocher. The husband got quite fed up with the cat and there was a yelling match over it, something like, "That cat is completely worthless...he can't even catch one mouse...will be gone tomorrow!!!" Well, apparantly this cat could understand English because when they came home the next evening, there was a dead mouse in the middle of the kitchen floor with the cat right there waiting for them with a, "See, I CAN TOO catch mice" look on his face! They kept the cat.


ound:ound:ound:


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Friends of ours were going to sleep one night and kept hearing a strange noise. After investigating, the noise was coming from under the bed. When they looked, their cat was under the bed gnawing on a dead bunny. Cats.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

ivyagogo said:


> Friends of ours were going to sleep one night and kept hearing a strange noise. After investigating, the noise was coming from under the bed. When they looked, their cat was under the bed gnawing on a dead bunny. Cats.


Unfortunately, I can "out gross" that... When we were first married, we lived in an antique house. We woke up in the middle of the night with our cat under the COVERS with us, munching on a dead bat!uke:

Of course, then we had to have the bat tested for rabies, but fortunately, it was clean.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

UUGGHH! Cats, yes, very strange creatures, so many weird/funny stories. My mom's old cat used to just stare at her in the morning waiting for her to wake up. She'd wake up to the cat staring into her eyes! She was pretty creeped out by it! Not sure what the cat was trying to tell her...maybe, wake up already!

They seem to like giving "gifts" of half-eaten things and are quite proud of it too. One friend said their old family cat once dragged a dead garden snake and dropped it on the porch in front of the door. Her mother didn't really pay that much attention, so I guess the cat was upset and brought an EVEN BIGGER (and more impressive?) garden snake and dropped it right by her feet...I think she noticed that time! The cat very proud of its gift to human...


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Yep. Cats are aliens!ound:


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

I need one of those in my basement. I am so done with mice.


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