Annabelle & Barney

Annabelle and Barney came to us sometime last week from a Tullahoma couple planning to move and needing to downsize their cat population of thirteen. Each is short-haired, neutered, good-natured, and reputed to be an excellent mouser. Twas the latter claim that hooked us. Of late the mice have been running the barn come sundown. Those "animal-proof" garbage cans (feed bins) have been chewed through as have the hot-pepper-laden hole patches I applied a few months ago. The evening I stuck around to see Marcie settled in, I saw more mice than I cared to--sampling feed from the trough at my side, scurrying along boards on the way to somewhere, and being entirely brazen in their behavior. I called Sherry in Tullahoma, eager to have the new mousers installed in our barn. She appeared with them only a day or two later.

Barney (who had been known as Dooley until his planned move to P&CW Farm, when he was renamed Barney because--duh--he'll live in the barn) is large and black. Annabelle (whose name was never tampered with as she was a later addition to the moving plan) is similarly large and mostly black with white on her face, throat, legs and belly. They look well and settled in here in short order.

Although I housed them in a dog crate set in the stall with Goldie, Lili, and Marcie at first, I would let them out during the day after closing the outer stall doors to exclude any interested animals and to contain Annabelle and Barney. They took to watching for me and visiting when I came by, and seemed interested in their surroundings. The morning I made the mistake of leaving an alpaca in the stall with them, I saw Annabelle charge straight up the wall and into the rafters. The next day both cats were exploring overhead, so I stopped shutting them up and moved their crate with beds, and food outside the stalls. As of yet they show no interest in the fresh-from-the-goat milk I offer them on occasion. (The first three squirts from each teat are discarded, so I try to offer the goodies to whatever dogs or cats might be handy.) And they don't appear for conversation every night, but will let me hear them moving about the barn, or see them streaking across from the tack room to the shelter of some boxes, so I know that they're okay.

The feed bin where the hen's layer mash is stored still emits scratchy noises, and if I pull off the cover I usually can catch a mouse or two enjoying a feast, but now I have hopes that some of these well fed mice will become kitty snacks (or get smart and move away). It's nice to have help with the rodent population, and I enjoy looking up into the rafters to see a cat face festooned with dusty cobwebs peering down at me. These cats have even prompted me to do a bit of fall cleaning, now that the cobwebs are no longer needed to catch flies.