Friday, May 27, 2016

My little polydactyl man!

Unseasonably hot here today... 31C/87F in the shade, ugh! Too much for me, too soon! I had to work with my bees this morning and it was really hot and sticky.

But Redford doesn't mind the heat!


Well, hello!


Redford was our first barn cat. He showed up in 2014. I worry about him like I worry about all our outdoor cats. We always had indoor cats until he came along, but a rat explosion in our barn has been pretty much cured by our magnificent barn cats. A bad rat problem in 2014 is what finally made us break down.

I try to treat the barn cat crew as if they were house cats (same food, love, affection, vet care, warm places to sleep), with the exception that the barn kitties bunk in the barn at night. But the odd time, Redford or Emerson (the other barn cats don't do this!) stays out for a night and worries me sick. There's no easy way around it; outdoor life is risky for them. I do my best to make sure they are locked in at night and then I just cross my fingers. I wish I had some tiny GPS trackers for these guys!

I still cats they are the best thing for keeping a barn vermin free. Poison is so dangerous, and traps are ineffective when you've got 100 rats running around. The cats do an excellent job of keeping the rats away. I am all for barn cat programs that adopt out otherwise unadoptable cats to farmers for vermin control. 

But I  think any of our barn cats could  easily be indoor cats! 


Talk to the paw!


He knows how to relax!

Ticks are going to be bad this year. I pulled two off him yesterday. I seem to be removing ticks from cats on a daily basis now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Go cuddle a cat (unless you're allergic, in which case, cuddle something hypo-allergenic!)



16 comments:

  1. Such a handsome guy. Do you use a flea/tick preventative? Ticks are hard to keep away even with meds though.

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  2. all those sweet fingers!!...

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  3. Those are some impressive feet!

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  4. That is one handsome contented cat enjoying the warmth.

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  5. Darling photos!!! Ugh about the ticks! I am going to be having a tick tweezer give-away on Dakota's blog very soon!!! It was supposed to be today, but I am waiting for a photo. It will be posted before next week is out! catchatwithcarenandcody

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  6. What a handsome mancat! Yuck to the ticks. :(

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  7. I'm cuddling Dudo on my lap as I type (well, he's cuddling me and trying to get me to stop typing).

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  8. Those are some impressive thumbs!

    Cats are the best to catch mice and rats (in spite of the regular deworming chore). My parents used to feed their outdoor cats some canned food every evening around 5 p.m. It helped round up the cats to get them inside for the night.

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  9. Redford is so handsome. Love me those ginger boys!

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  10. I really dislike rats so I'm glad the rats scare them away.We had barn cats on the farm and rarely saw a rat.

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  11. Ticks are bad here too this year, we spend quite a while each day checking the animals.

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  12. He's such a handsome guy. I remember well when he showed up. I understand your worry about the out-door ones. When our kids were young I had to accept the fact our cats would escape out the doors on a daily basis. I just couldn't sleep at night unless I had them in and tucked away on a couch or bed. I'm glad you are far from your road, Natalie. That, in itself, would be a great danger to them. I worry about our neighbours cats here, especially David. He's a wild one.

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  13. you could chip your cats. we have chipped dog and one cat who watches the door like a hawk to see if she can get out.
    on the ticks, i have read where possums eat them and some are encouraging the possums to come around by putting out apple slices where they have been seen.
    cats might fight then, though. i don't know.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!