I am not sure how they do it. One of my barns has a loose corner on the sliding door, which they push out to enter or leave. The other barn APPEARS solid, but they come and go all the time. We SEEM to have no varmint problems, I go out often and have not found them eating cat food. I do limit feed, dish is down while I do chores, they fill up AM and PM. Water is always available.

Our cats were dump offs, one nice cat who had kittens that daughter could not part with. All are neutered now! New strays go to Animal Control. The last batch were in rough shape, bald spots and matted eyes. Dropper hid the box UNDER husband's truck rear. Husband had to put a letter in the mailbox or he never would have seen the box and run over it! STUPID people!!

I do get mine cat shots, especially Rabies with cat exposure to other wildlife around the farm. If you can give shots, you can buy vaccines from catalogs, save over Vet doing the work. With so many, I can't afford the Vet prices. I also worm them every couple months, with tapeworm pills from the Vet. Cats look nice, but being long haired they are worrying me with the AMOUNT of hair they are growing now!! Each cat looks like it should weigh at least 15 pounds! They actually only weigh about 5-6 pounds, with hair 3 inches or more. If the CATS think cold will be that bad, what should we truly expect from winter? They do have nice spots to curl up in the hay, boxes with warm rags to lay on for cold temps. Horses keep the barn warmer than outside.

I'd love to get my hands on the people who abandon animals out in the country and get them spayed and neutered. And maybe have something uncomplimentary tattooed on their foreheads.

I would think that if cats can get in and out of the barn, that varmints could also figure it out. Since it is a major project to make a barn varmint proof, your cats can probably get in and out.

I just always had the hay barn door open so the cows could get out of the weather if they wanted to. Since the stacks of hay offer good hunting, that was where the cats wanted to hang out. Also, hay bales offer good warm places to sleep.

If you have varmint proof barn, you could let cats have the run during the day and then either lock them out or lock them in at night. Don't leave cat food out 24 hours. Put it down and take it up.

If you have predators, cats will last longer if there are lots of safe hiding places for them.

I've also saved some drop-off's ... agree that people who drop them off should be shot!

My barn is far from being critter tight, the people door I use has a space under it that any cat, coon, etc. can fit through. And the back door is always open to let the donkeys come and go as they please.

I know I had coons coming in at one point, started to lock up the cat food at night and they no longer came around. The barn cats come and go as they please, and leave the barn rodent free. I recently closed up the hay area for winter, but cut a cat door in the outside enclosure so the cats could have easy access. They love to lie on the hay.