Animal Welfare Professionals

We're looking for new outlets to market our barn cats. We've shared them on our facebook and instagram pages as well as craiglist ads. We've also reached out directly to previous barn cat adopters to see if they are able to assist by taking more. We seem to have hit a dead end recently so I'm looking for fresh new ways to market these guys and additional outlets to spread the word. I would love to hear what's successful in other shelters for getting them out the door.

All of our barn cats are altered, up to date on vaccines including rabies, and microchipped. We also waive the adoption fee.

I sent a letter to all of the Breweries, Grain Distributors, Junk Yards and Wineries and Horse Barns.   Since it was just like "cold calling" we didn't get a good response, but I was proud that we were thinking outside the box.

One thing you might do is follow up with some of these businesses and ask them if they want to donate to your auction or fundraiser as a way to start becoming friends with them and develop a more personal relationship. 

Forgive me if you've already tried all of these options... Best Friends suggests the following sites to "working cats":

• Farms (large and small)
• Ranches
• Riding stables or equestrian centers
• Wineries
• Fire stations
• Police stations and sub-stations
• Auto body shops and auto repair garages
• Warehouses
• Urban flower and produce distributors
• Garden stores
• Hardware and home improvement stores, especially those with garden centers
• Feed stores
• Carpet stores or warehouses, where rodent control is needed
• Amusement parks
• Sports stadiums
• Ports

In terms of marketing, have you tried testimonials (written or video) from happy working cat adopters?

Marketing(postering) at feed stores worked well for us, as well as large animal veterinarians, and anything really horse related.  Tack shops, the people who take care of horses feet, any horse riding centers, also approached any other type of farm(sheep, llama, etc).   The large organizations that rescue farm animals were also great about referring people looking for barn cats to our organization.  So we would try and network with them as much as possible letting them know the personal stories of cats looking for barns.  It all takes a lot of effort but necessary. 

Are you part of these farm type groups on Facebook or Instagram.  If you go/follow there and then comment within the communities that might be helpful too.

I assume all of the information is easily found on the website?    Testimonials are always great to have.

Good luck, Stacy

We put this flyer up in our spay/neuter clinic, shelter, and thrift store.

Don't forget to contact your local government. Government buildings store huge amounts of paper files, something that mice love to nest in. Contact museums, libraries, breweries, food storage warehouses, bakeries etc. Also, try to use the terminology "working cats" and "green pest control". Try to adopt in pairs, everyone needs a buddy.

We also work with the Amish community for barn cats.  We try to make sure they don't have any unfixed cats on their farms and supply them with fixed cats as they need more.

FieldHaven has a robust barn cat program.  We call them Rodent Rangers and market them to many different places, not just barns.  We adopt out to a lot of people who want rodent control in their gardens, workshops, warehouses, etc. There's more info on our website https://fieldhaven.com/adopt/rodent-ranger/