Feral Cat Sleeping in Bed Made of Straw Post Card

Winter has finally come and the feral cats that live in the woods have come to our shed shelter to sleep in the beds made of straw.  These feral cats usually come into the shelter sometime before 9 PM and exit in the early morning.  If I did not see the indentation in the straw then I would not know they were there.

I decided to watch for the cats going into the shed and got lucky,   took photographs of them from outside the window.  These photographs were not as clear as they should be so I bathed with hunters soap to remove the scent of a human and hunkered down with my camera in a dark corner of the shed.  I was hiding behind boxes.   Yes I was determined to get photographs of the feral cats.  These woods cats are nocturnal and terrified of humans.

I waited for the feral cats to come into the shed for several  hours and when my leg was falling to sleep and I was ready to give up a cat did come through the kitty door.  I was happy that the images of the feral cats turned out, as well as they did, because most people do not see this side of a feral cat.  They never see them safe, warm and sleeping in a bed made of straw.

This post card was designed from one of my photographs of feral cats sleeping in bed made from straw.  

Feral Cat Sleeping in Winter ShelterPost Card 

Feral Cat Sleeping in Winter Shelter Post Card

Plans to Relocate Cats to Farm Rescue

As far back as I can remember I have always wanted a small farm where I could relocate the neighborhood cat colony that I oversee. This farm rescue would provide feral, stray and abandoned cats with safety from crossfire from hunters, wildlife predators and animal control trappers. 

It has been my dream to trap the cats that have been abandoned to the woods by my home. I would like to socialize them and adopt them into forever homes.  

The plan is simple, my cat rescue would be open to accepting all feral cats that had been previously vaccinated, and sterilized, excluding cats infected with felineimmunodeficiency virus. The feral cats then would stay on the property and become barn cats.

This has been my dream for a long time, but I thought it was only a dream. I never thought it would come true, BUT my husband has agreed that if this is what I want then we can move in the summer to a farm and I can have a cat rescue. 

Husband suggested that I look and collect ideas as to what I want. In the past month I did look at 2 hobby farms but both were too small for what I wanted, plus they backed up a busy crossroad and I desired a remote location. Remote being better for barn cats as there were be less worry of them attempting to cross a busy road to get to the other side.

Both of the hobby farms that I looked at had old dilapidated barns which meant that we would have to go to the expense of building a shelter for the cats. It is one thing to remodel a barn, but to build from ground up is a great expense. In addition the land was rocky and there was not area suitable for garden. Neither of the farm houses were to my liking, in my opinion they both should have been demolished and taken away.

So my search for a farm to be converted into a cat rescue continues. I do think there is a need for the feral and stray cats and do plan to trap the cats at the colony that I oversee before construction; excavation and blasting of the south ridge commences for urban development.