Barn Cats

The barn cat program is a new partnership between the Humane Society of Indianapolis and IndyFeral. We're devoted to saving the lives of all cats in the community and believe that all cats can find appropriate and safe placement options when we work together with caring community members.

Not all cats can live as house pets. Cats in the barn cat program typically fall into three categories:

• Cats whose litter box habits make them unsuitable as house pets.
• Cats who are shy/fearful of people and prefer the company of other cats and animals.
• Cats who have behavior quirks that don't make them ideal as a house pet.

We don't adopt out cats who are suitable to be house pets to barns, only cats who need alternate options.

Any cat who is part of the barn cat program will be spayed/neutered, rabies-vaccinated, and will have a left eartip. The eartip serves as their permanent ID and indicates the cat is part of managed colony and is fully-vetted. The cats will be registered with IndyFeral.

The barn cat program reaches out to those with a working barn, riding and boarding stables, landscape nurseries, warehouses, safe-heated outbuildings or managed colonies that might like to add a cat in need. Having a barn cat or cats will help keep down the rodent population. The cats will help the property owner, while the property owner provides the cats a safe place to live. And because these cats are already spayed/neutered, the property owner won't have to worry about new litters of kittens.

Interested property owners must agree to give the cats the following:

• Shelter in a safe barn, building, stable, etc.
• Daily food and water (cats can't live on mousing alone)
• Long-term vet care as needed (cats are fixed upon adoption)
• A secure place to keep them for the first 2-3 weeks while they acclimate to their new surroundings. This can be a back room or any secure enclosure that they can't escape from (the shelter can lend you an introduction cage if no secure area is available)

If you would like more information on adding a cat to your location, please contact Christine at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Lisa at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).