Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello,

We have an active feral/barn cat program as a component of our center. I would like to develope a Guidelines For A Succressful Release handout for  people who adopt barn cats for their barn, vineyard, business etc. Does anyone have any statistics regarding the length of times cats are held before release? I have also heard about asking adopters to always ring a bell or use a unique call each time they feed the cats before they release them so that the cats will recognize that sound as "Time to eat".  Also does any know anything about Coyote Poles which are poles put in areas where there are alot of coyotes? The poles are to give cats a place to escape to if being chased by a coyote. Thank you. I look foward to reading poeples responces.

I've attached our Acclimation sheet along with a Set Up picture.

Attachment(s)

Handout for Barn Cat Adopters -.docx   136 KB 1 version

Thank you so much Lisa. This is great information! I like that you use the word Acclimation, which is more appropriate over habituation.  

Here's another great barn cat handbook from @Monica Frenden at Austin Pets Alive. It includes guidelines on Delivery and Relocation process on page 24.  https://www.maddiesfund.org/assets/documents/Institute/APA!%20Barn%20Cat%20Handbook.pdf