Working cats vs. House cats
@innocents_lost (1026)
Canada
May 13, 2012 8:19pm CST
Now I had this conversation with a friend the other day as both of us have both working cats and house cats do you treat them differently my house cats are on thebest food money can buy they are regularly to the vet and get everything a cat could possibly want now my barn cats or working cats on the other hand are seen by a vet regularly and we'll taken care of as well but we do not feed them cat food they are instead fed dog food as it feeds them but keeps them hungry enough to hunt now the barn cats semm quite ok with this lifestyle and have no problems but I do know many people who have an issue with this that being said my friend just had dental surgery done on her barn cat something I know many people don't even care enough about there house cats to do and someone she knows was like well its only a barn cat why bother to me even though they are working cats they are still given the same amount of care as any other animal on my farm how do you feel about the difference between working cats and barn cats why does society seem to have different stander eds of care for both?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
14 May 12
I suspect that most of the cats were dumped on them in the first place... Very few of them have been obtained to be barn cats like the riding stable got the 3 feral cat's mom to be a mouser - the lady picked her up on Saturday after we trapped her and fixed her the previous week.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
That is how I feel I couldn't watch a animal of any kind go without care unfortunately many farmers don't feel the same
1 person likes this
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
My barn cats I got from a shelter in the city that would have other wise euthanized them as they were not friendly enough to be adopted and this shelter has an extremely high euthanizias rate but my friend on the other hand goes through her barn every spring and traps all the cats and gets then vaccinated and any new ones go off to the vet to get fixed they are usually dump off who wonder in and as shesays they are doing me a favorite by keeping the mice down so I will do them the favorite of taking the best care I can of them
1 person likes this
@musicluv4life (1867)
• United States
14 May 12
I dont know if i would go take my cat to have dental work, I just never heard of that ever. But, i think i would treat my cats the same if i had cats. I would treat the indoor and outdoor cat the same because, why treat one cat like heaven and one not as well, I just couldnt do that, it wouldnt be fair.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
Dental work is necessary for all animals as as they get older the teeth get loose and absess and cause a huge amount of pain for the animal so they need to have them cleaned and pull out any rotting ones
@musicluv4life (1867)
• United States
14 May 12
Oh, I never knew that. huh, we never had any pets we had dental care for. I never noticed them haveing any pain then again i was only a kid when i had pets.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
Generally you won't notice the pain as in the animal world they hide any pain as the weakest animals get killed by other animals or left behind by there pack you have to monitor there teeth for garter build up and redness interest gums
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
14 May 12
I try to treat all of my cats equally, but I had one cat who was a natural born hunter and he got rid of all of the rodents in my house, and then I had three other cats who were just house cats, but they would sometimes take care of other cats who came to my house. I like to let the cats choose because you can't force a cat to be someone that they are not. If a cat is a house cat, then they are that, and if they are not, then you let them to what they want or need to do. You cannot control what your cat does, they just naturally do what they do.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
I'm not sure what u mean by that at all my 6indoor cats all hunt but they are not barn cats as I keep them in the house so they cannot get out now if a mouse came in they sure would kill it. Barn cats don't live in a house they live in the barn mainly because I need the mice controlled there as well I will not let them in thehouse there for I choose weather they are indoor or outdoor cats
@nonersays (3329)
• United States
14 May 12
Feeding cats dog food is BAD. It lacks the special nutrients that catfood has in it and that is something that cats need different than dogs.
I don't think a barn cat should be treated any differently from a house cat. Starving them just to make them hunt more is cruel.
I have an indoor/outdoor cat who has an endless supply of food down for her, and she still hunts. A good working cat is going to hunt and kill rodents regardless of how well they are fed.
@innocents_lost (1026)
• Canada
14 May 12
Dog food contained a high enough protein base so the cats are not hungry most of them do not even eat it as they get enoughrotien from hunting some times we feed them crappy cat food such as iams wiskas or friskies as that is actually such a low quality they are still hungry enough to to hunt and no a well fed cat will not hunt the same as a cat fed dog food or low quality food as they have no need to so the barn cats can never be fed medical or chsp or any other really good food as they will then only hunt the odd mouse and or rat here and there not 10+ a day
I work at a vet clinic and have gone over all the nessisary proteins in a cats diet with the vet the nutrients are not a huge deal in a working cat as they get most of it from there kills
