Say hello to Alvin and Brother. We adopted these two from a wonderful organization called SPOT -Saving Pets One at a Time. They are a decentralized (much like Steemit and the blockchain) non-euthanization adoption agency. Individuals volunteer to be Foster Parents for the animals until a home is found. One of the programs is for feral cats best utilized at barn cats. These feral cats are caught, spayed or neutered and "re-purposed" as barn cats to keep your rodent population down. They are perfect for those of us out in the country. The only requirement is that you have a sheltered place outside for them to sleep, like a barn :)
How does it work? When you find the cats you want, the foster parent brings it/them over to your place with a cage. You keep them in the cage for about 2 weeks at which time you feed and water them (of course!) and clean out the litter box. After about two weeks you open the door to the cage and keep food in there. More times than not, by then the cats will realize this is where there new home is and is a safe place with food. After a month or two the feedings are limited to once a day and then once every other day. Their natural instinct takes over and they begin hunting their food (watch out for low lying bird feeders in the area!). These cats are not intended to be pets as they come from a feral upbringing, but as you can see, sometimes they turn in to real lovers.
Since having barn cats our rodent problem has been nearly non-existent! They do great work and in return they get a second chance at life and a sheltered safe place to sleep. It is a real win-win!
Here is a link to the organizations web page S.P.O.T.
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS