Barn Cats: Your Best Friend in the Barn

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Toxins in the Barn Spell Trouble

Old tractors with leaky radiators, batteries, fertilizer, pesticides, old rat poison and moldy feed all spell trouble for barn cats.

Believe it or not, antifreeze actually tastes good to many cats. Two teaspoons of antifreeze, which most cats will readily lap up, are fatal if untreated. Early signs of ethylene glycol toxicity are lack of coordination, staggering and other signs of inebriation. Affected cats may then start vomiting and showing signs of weakness. Finally, within 24 hours, terminal kidney failure will occur. If the toxicity is detected early and aggressively treated, some cats will survive. Treatment consists of intravenous injections of grain alcohol or a similar compound, which bind up the antifreeze in the bloodstream.

Leaky batteries contain acid and toxic heavy metals. Most cats are too smart to mess with them, but if a curious kitten takes a few licks he could be fatally poisoned.

Many pesticides and fertilizers can cause severe shaking, trembling, vomiting and diarrhea if ingested. Rat poison sometimes sits for years in a corner of a barn loft, only to be discovered by a curious feline, so do a careful patrol of your property to see if anything has been overlooked. Cats sometimes eat mice that have eaten rat poison, and the anticoagulant passes right through to them, causing delayed bleeding three to four days later. Clear your barns of any toxins. All your barn animals will benefit.

What to Watch For

Barn cats are amazingly adaptable and independent, and usually remain healthy if provided with high quality food and clean water. Unfortunately, cats that become ill will try to hide it, even from their human guardians, so that they do not appear weak to potential prey.

Check in with your barn cats once a week to look for any signs of acute or chronic illness. Monitor food and water intake to pick up evidence of decreased appetite or increased/decreased water intake. Barn cats will find their water from a variety of sources, so measuring water intake can be a problem.

Older Cats

Increased water intake along with increased urine production is a warning sign of disease, especially in older cats. Diabetes and kidney failure are the most common causes of increased water intake.

Weight loss is another warning sign of significant disease. Longhair cats can lose several pounds without a noticeable change in appearance, so be sure to feel for muscle mass on their hips and along their spines.

Older cats that lose weight despite increased food intake may have hyperthyroidism, a common hormonal disorder in cats that causes increased metabolism that progresses to a life-threatening disease if not diagnosed early and treated.

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