Outdoor cats or barn cats have extremely variable lifespans. I have had them live to be more than 10 years old and I have had them not live to see their first birthday. We have had cats hit on the road, shot by neighbors (and I use the term loosely!), taken by coyotes and birds of prey, a few that got sick and died and a bunch that just disappeared without any trace. It has been my experience that the female cats I am able to locate and tame as small kittens, and who never see a vet at all are the ones that seem to last the best. I have not had good luck with unaltered tomcats, as they tend to fight with other tomcats and end up so torn up I have to put them out of their misery. Over the years I have had several tomcats castrated and only one of them had a lifespan of more than about 3 years. The female cats I had spayed have been among the cats that disappeared fairly soon afterward.
Where I live, you make a choice of having outdoor cats or having mice that sooner or later get in all the buildings. I choose having cats, and usually have a couple of mama cats, since it seems like mama cats are the most efficient hunters. Of course, having unspayed female cats means that there are usually at least a couple of litters a year. If I can find the kittens when they are very young, the kittens can be tamed and I have had success in giving the nice kittens away. When I cannot find the kittens until their mother can no longer feed them, and bring them to the cat dish, the kittens are wild and impossible to tame, or even catch without a fight. I have had to destroy wild kittens and young cats a number of times.
Cats that are always indoors are different. They often live much longer lives than their outdoor relatives. Maybe it makes sense to take an indoor cat to the vet regularly. But we do not choose to have cats inside our house.
There have been several cats over the years that became real good pets for me. They demonstrated that they really liked me by following me around acting like they wanted attention, which they received. But most of the barn cats are not all that friendly. Since most of the cats do not survive too long, I try not to get too attached to them. I always feed them and appreciate the fact that I don"t have much of a problem with rodents around the buildings.
But considering their usual short lifespans, I do not spend much money with vet care for my cats. Taking barn cats to the vet for almost anything has seemed to me to be a waste of my money.
I would enjoy the cat, if he is a good companion and friend, until he passes, but I would not spend money at the vet to try to prolong his life. When he dies, I would get another cat or kitten and hope the new one is as good as the previous one. Good luck!
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Today's Featured Article - The Day Mom Drove the 8N - by Brian Browning. My Dad was wanting to put in a garden but couldn't operate the 8N and handle the old horse drawn plow he had found and rigged up to use with the tractor. Well, he decided to go get Mom out of the house and have her drive the tractor while he walked behind the plow. You got to understand that while my Mom is a hard worker who will always help whenever she can... she had never operated farm machinery before that day. Dad got her out there, explained how the clutch was the same as in our o
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