When I was a child we had a wonderful Calico cat, her name was “Calico”. We went to live in another country for a year and of course could not take her with us. We were lucky to find a home willing to take an adult cat (we didn’t dump her). It was a farm home, which seemed like a great choice. But when we returned we found out that farm homes are not the ideal life for a cat.
Calico had been beaten up by the other resident cats, and was thin, due to the fact that some farmers do not feed their cats, rather insisting they catch mice. Of course if not dewormed, farm cats are loaded with parasites from eating the mice. But at least she was alive, many farm cats have their lives cut short.
The Life of a Farm Cat
Many farm cats die within their first 6 weeks. If their mother is not well fed survival for the entire litter is poor. As well many are killed by coyotes, raccoons, owls, and foxes. Intact male cats will even kill kittens in an effort to bring the mother back into heat.
But a worse fate than that is when the farmer finds “another” unwanted litter, he may dispose of them himself, often by drowning, or by placing the kittens in a bag and throwing it onto the road.
Even if the kittens survive the first few months, they are always at risk.
Farmers often do not feed the cats, thinking they will catch more mice if hungry. Farmers seldom spend money to vaccinate, deworm, and so forth. After all, they know that these cats are not going to have a long lifespan, why spend money on something that a coyote is just going to kill anyhow?
Life on a farm may not be sunshine and roses.
photo by author
Dumped Cats
When a new cat shows up on a farm, as when one is dumped in the country by its owner, the farmer is not always welcoming. Actually that is a little unfair, because often it is the current farm cats, and farm dog, who may be less welcoming. Often chasing the new comer off, or even killing it.
Declawed cats, in particular, have almost no chance of survival on a farm.
Okay, so let us assume it got by the residents and coyotes, now the newly abandoned cat faces the farmer. Most farms are already overrun with cats (due to many farmers resisting the expense of spaying or neutering) as such one more is a burden. Abandoned cats are often shot on sight, and this is legal in some areas.
Cat Abandonment is Illegal
In most areas taking your cat out to a farm is illegal. This falls under animal cruelty and is Animal Abandonment. Few people are charged because few people are caught in the act. Regardless of this, it is a cruel, and cowardly, thing to do to a pet cat, or any animal.
Do the Right Thing
If you cannot keep your cat, or do not want it any longer, the first step is to return it to the breeder, or to the animal shelter if you adopted it. If this is not an option it should be surrendered to a local animal shelter, rehomed carefully (“Free to Good Home Pets” often do not find good homes), or euthanized humanely.
Some Farm Cats have Good Lives
To say “all” farm cats have bad lives is not true. I live on a hobby farm, my cats are all spayed or neutered, and get wormed, and vaccinated. However, you must remember, I am a city kid who moved to the country and my views of cats are as pets not as “mousers”. Where I live now I am surrounded by farmers who might keep one cat as a pet, but have others around the farm that are not treated with kindness or respect. You cannot blame the farmers for this attitude, after all their entire lifestyle revolves mostly around feeding you!
photo by author
Related Links
How to Provide Better Care for a Farm Cat
How to Get Rid of an Unwanted Pet
The Internet is Obsessed with Cats but Real People are Not
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Liked it
Minister Marlene
On October 10, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Love the photo of your cat amonst the chickens. My kitten has the same coloring. The way a person treats animals speaks volumes about their character. I wouldn’t even befried a person who was hard hearted in regards to animals and pets. Why can’t these lazy, callous people just do the right thing?
RAJEEV BHARGAVA
On October 10, 2010 at 9:29 pm
a delightful article about cats on farms. i enjoyed the read, the photos and the videos too. alot of research and positive facts and information too. i loved it. thanks brenda for sharing it.
Adrn0919
On October 10, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Very informative and insightful. You have given me a new thought on farm cats. Thank you for sharing.
My World
On October 10, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Nice Post………
thanks for share.
Ethics0006
On October 10, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Very Nice pics
Karen Gross
On October 10, 2010 at 11:02 pm
My family had a dairy farm for a few years when I was a kid, and I loved cats. We had lots of cats that came and went. Farm life is dangerous for cats. Sometimes they would sleep underneath a cow, and get squished when the cow would lie down. Or they would use the cows’ feed box as a litter box, and my dad would get mad and shoot them. I resigned myself to accept that the life of a cat was not valuable. I admire the way that you care so much for all of God’s critters and the passion that you have for educating people on how to care for them.
Anuradha Ramkumar
On October 10, 2010 at 11:41 pm
An enjoyable read. I really loved the photo.
GodsGrace
On October 11, 2010 at 12:23 am
Nice kitty
Jimmy Shilaho
On October 11, 2010 at 10:50 am
Quite a story.
Darla Cooke
On October 11, 2010 at 11:34 am
I never realized farm cats were treated so badly. I grew up on a farm and had at least 20 cats one time, but I always made sure they were fed and taken care of.
Jewelstar
On October 11, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Thats something to be seriously thought of.
albert1jemi
On October 11, 2010 at 4:25 pm
well written
eddiego65
On October 23, 2010 at 12:54 am
i never realized that farm cats are maltreated. Thanks for opening our minds to such realities.
someone
On January 8, 2012 at 4:41 am
“Okay, so let us assume it got by the residents and coyotes, now the newly abandoned cat faces the farmer. Most farms are already overrun with cats (due to many farmers resisting the expense of spaying or neutering) as such one more is a burden. Abandoned cats are often shot on sight, and this is legal in some areas.”
Well sorry cats get shot sometimes, farm animals are killed all the time, are cats really more important just because they’re pets. (I don’t support killing for fun/convenience/cruel killing, only for for food, self-defense, or to prevent suffering) Also, I don’t support spay/neuter because of health risks (Yes they get health problems from getting neutered)/surgery risks/behavior changes (I want my cats to act how they do naturally)/ etc. but I do support X-ray sterilization to control populations because it has few health/surgery risks (there is a small chance of cancer because of the radiation) and it doesn’t change their behavior. I don’t hate cats, I have 9 pet cats (indoor-outdoor) that are vaccinated and live healthy lives (6 of them are neutered because I didn’t know about the risks, one got a kidney stone, that neutering can cause, the other 3 are able to breed because few vets perform other types of sterilization) Also due to the fact that cats die more often outside of the big city/islands (which you don’t want to happen, I know) they usually DON’T overpopulate, because they are more likely to die and can easily get to new areas, unlike feral cats in cities and islands where they don’t know how to survive outside (some cats in cities) or can’t get off (islands) They don’t need to be kept from breeding, EXCEPT if they can only live in a small area, like some farms, because there isn’t enough food outside the farm.