# How well do cats get along with the other farm animals?



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

My brother loves cats, and I REALLY want to get him one or two for Christmas, but we're not sure how well it will get along with the other animals - mainly the dogs, chicks, future ducklings, and the baby rabbits, which are in a big open-topped pen and not a cage. What has your experience been?


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Mine were fine, but I'd be concerned about particularly the chicks, ducklings and baby rabbits. If you are able to cover it, or put a strand of hot wire low and one up high would work also- we had to do that because the neighbors dogs killed all my chickens twice!


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## kiddoe (Oct 8, 2012)

I keep all of my animals in the barn. That would be 2 small dogs (chihuahua and weiner dog), 3 goats, and 5 cats. They seem to get along pretty well with each other. On occasion, when the cats get too close to the dogs while they are eating, the dogs will growl and lunge, but only to scare them off. They have never attacked each other. The cats love to sit out and chill with my goats. The cats are curious and love to watch them. 

I don't have any chickens or rabbits, but my cats do love to catch the birds, and small rodents, like mice and chipmunks. They bring me those types of gifts quite often!

Don't forget to have them spayed and/or neutered! A male cat can spread feline AIDS and other STDs if not fixed. Males will also attract those other female kitties and the ones without homes just might stay and have their babies around your property causing an unwanted population of cats. A female cat will give you lots of kittens. My Swizzle gave me 4 kittens. I kept them but had them all fixed.


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

I love cats and always have them around my farm. They get along great with all my bigger animals, but no I absolutely would NOT trust them around chicks or ducklings. My adult chickens will run the cats off their cat food, but I never let my chicks out of their coop until they are almost mature because of the cats. With basic training for the dogs, my cats do fine with most dogs. They don't run from them though, so they are vulnerable to attack from aggressive dogs. They are hilarious with the goats because they chase each other around the goat pen and then sit just outside taunting them. They both love to jump out and startle the goats. Not sure about the baby rabbits, but my guess is that you would need to protect them as well.


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## erisfae (Sep 4, 2012)

My barn cat is great with the horses and goats. I honestly think he believes he's one of the dogs, the way he runs and plays with them. I wouldn't, however, trust him around anything smaller than he is. I've had to rescue several wild baby bunnies and chipmunks from him, others.... well, he's great for keeping the mouse population away from the barn, but he doesn't limit himself to mice. 

On the other hand, one of my house cats is great with my friend's pet rabbit. If you get kittens with relaxed personalities (not natural mousers) and raise them around the barn fluffies, from the time they're small kittens, they might be okay.


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## fd123 (May 29, 2012)

i dont own any cats..but...good lawd my neighbor does!!! probably 20 plus cats!! they are everywhere out here.. ive seen them brush up against my free roaming chickens several times and never offered to mess with them at all..a couple of them were sleeping with my goats once also...the cats and my animals mingled together with no problems until i got the great pyrenees...She doesnt allow the cats around the goats period....the older my GP gets the less things she will allow around those goats...lol...its kinda funny to watch her progress into an awesome livestock protector!! Im glad she keeps them outta the goat pen now anyway since i feed her that 50.00 a bag dog food (Blue Buffalo)..I think the cats would do fine..but id watch them around the babies for a while without them knowing your watching them...If you have roosters on the ground they will fight the cats away from your hens anyway...
BEST OF LUCK!!


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## HerdQueen (Oct 15, 2012)

Depends on the personality of the cat to be honest. I know some breeds of cats can be better hunters then others. I had small black cat wipe out my chicks and some batam hens, then I have Oskar that mostly just acts like a dog and follows me around while I do chores. The goats don't mind him and he doesn't hunt my birds.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

First I got two cats, mouse catchers. When wild rabbits care around the cats just watched but ignored them. Then one by one the goats started showing up. At first the cats would flee from my lap if my Boer doe even started walking in my direction, even if she was 50 feet away. Slowly they got use to her and learned what was safe. Now the cats don't run away until the goats are within a few inches of them. But the cats react to each goat differently. They ignore the babies and don't mind being sniffed. But as the goats grow up and prove to be untrustworthy, the cats respond accordingly. I don't have any other animals.


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## iquiltfrogs (Nov 7, 2012)

I have 3 barn cats and a cat at the house, my cats go in the goat yard and I have one cat that is always with my doeling. Now with the donkey is use to the cats and all ym animals get along, including the turkey in the goat yard. lol


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I think that most cats get along fine with other animals, I have 2 barn cats that love being around my goats and 2 house cats that get along great with my 2 dogs but because the prey drive for small rodents, birds etc. is strong in any cat, I wouldn't trust them around an open pen of chicks, ducklings or bunnies.


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## Jessaba (May 13, 2010)

Let me just say we now have 4 cats...we brought 2 home to be mousers and 2 more showed up. Anyway, they are scared of our chickens, turkeys, and ducks..won't even go near them. They don't bother the goats...they only go in the pen when I'm feeding and they love our two Great Pyrenees. Sometimes one of our cats even tries to eat with the LGDs. As long as the cat is taught NOT to go after the animals they should be fine. We have baby chicks running the yard and never had a cat even think about going after it...even the strays who showed up. I was also scared the cats would eat/kill the chicks, and ducks, but they don't even think about it. Our cats mostly chase squirrels, lizards, and mice. And wild birds. They know the difference in small chickens. I even have a couple bantams who run the yard and the cats could easily get them, but they are scared of chickens. The chickens have taught them to be afraid. 

We ordered a bunch of chicks in the mail this past summer and was worried about the cats...the cats watched them, but never even tried to get them. They could have easily got the chicks, but they knew better


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## .:Linz:. (Aug 25, 2011)

My cat ignores everyone, lol. Even the chicks we've had in the house in the brooder. It could be because he's a fat lazy old thing.


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