Shelter me!

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– Shelter Me Inc. will receive a commission AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU and we will put the money back into our barn cat program.

Here are photos of the set-up of the acclimation cage (in use) that we loan out for barn cats - cages are 52 inches high x 36 inches wide x 26 inches deep…We also use them for fostering semi-feral kittens in the house.

Heated drinking bowls are essential for barn cars in winter. Our barn cat owners recommended these; we tried them ourselves and like them a lot. Right around $20 seems a fair price to us for a 1 quart bowl. Cats drink a lot of water, so that is a minimum size-wise and we change it every day to keep it fresh.

One of our barn cat owners recommended the Lectro brand heated outdoor pad. We bought two and are using one right now in an acclimation cage for two cats. They seem to like it a lot. It stays just warm enough to be cozy; uses a minimal amount of electricity and has a wire insulated cord. We placed it on one of the shelves in an acclimation cage - we wanted to keep it away from the water bowl. We bought the small one.

Very recently, we bought a free-feeder for an acclimation cage. It works really nicely. The cats were really underweight and too shy to eat in front of us, so we wanted to make the dry food as accessible as possible. There are lots of different brands. We would not recommend anything over $25. These are plastic and do not have to be fancy. After you let the cats out of their acclimation cage, you can continue to use it as long as it is placed on a shelf (per the example) and not on the ground.

Whenever we place kittens or any cat, really, in an acclimation cage in a barn in the winter, we always feel like we are overspending when we buy special houses like these in the big pet chains. They can cost us $40 or more; that is a lot of money and we give them away to the barn owners because we know the cats love them. Lately, we have been purchasing a couple of these at a time in advance on Amazon for $15-$20! Same quality; big saving. The cats love these and they last a long, long time. The double condo is a great price- much cheaper than buying two and stacking them.

The best way to apply for a barn cat is to provide the following information via email to Sandy@Sheltermeinc.org

Your name

Your address

Your phone number

Please describe the barn and property (Do you have a center aisle, tack room, loft?)

If you do not have a conventional barn, can you please send us a photograph?

The number and type of farm animals you have

Do you have dogs (what kind? how many?)

Are outdoor cats are already established on the property (if yes, what sexes, age and number)

Has your area had difficulty with predators? Fisher cats? Coyotes?

Where would the barn cats be acclimated and where they would shelter in the winter

Who will care for the cats?

Some facts we would like you to know:

The ‘unadoptable’ cats that we place in barns are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, test double-negative for FIV/FELV.

The veterinary costs associated with the barn cats exceed more than $100 and are typically paid for by the nonprofit groups that provide the cats to us. Shelter Me, Inc. identifies potential barn cats for each respective situation, delivers them and invests in additional costs for cages and other supplies.  Although contributions are not required, a minimum donation of $100 is suggested.

All contributions to Shelter Me, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue organization recognized by the IRS, are tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.

Click any of the following titles for additional information - 

Q&A about the Barn Cat Program  Acclimating barn cats- Keeping cats warm in winter - Providing raccoon proof feeding - items to purchase for the acclimation cage for the barn cats