A few years ago I lost my most favorite cat, West, that was the best cat living in the woods, was indoor and out door cat and nothing never happened to him here as he died from old age at 20, he did hang out with our dogs. At the time we had a female lynx that had a den on our property for at least eight years. She eventually was poached. Well after we lost our most beloved cat and lots of construction going on around our property is infested with mice. My chicken coop and around our house all my perennial beds. They are everywhere. We chose to adopt a few feral cats to get rid of the mice. The state I live the feral cats are caught fixed and release in same area they are caught which could be not be the best environment. There are local people who try to catch feral or work with the agency to actually re-home these feral cats to better environments. I received two cats. Well one of them wasn't feral at all, but loved being here. My dog had seen him and he just hunkered down instead of running. Well that concerned me, not with my dog but from the other wild animals. My property of 14 acres has 6 acres of 10 foot fences plus another foot of barb wire, and cemented base. Lots of trees and shrubs, the person who brought me the cats thought it was a great place for them. The friendly cat did have a bad tumor removed from his head which did effect his eyes. I could tell something was strange with his eyes so I made an appointment with a vet to have him checked over. He disappeared only after three weeks, two days prior to his appointment. I was so sad as I do feel he should have been re-homed into an indoor environment as there was nothing feral about him but I am guessing due to medical problems wasn't a fit for this. I guess better than putting him down getting a second chance in the feral cat category. The female cat was diffidently feral. We have an enclosure area that has all our utilities for the well, etc. we put a cat door in and is heated and a very large area. We kept them locked up for two weeks, prior to letting them to roam our property. Well she was so feral it took me at least ten minutes to find her in there each day. I was able to feed her by spoon with wet cat food but that was about it. Mean while I received another feral cat that is currently in that room in a very large metal dog cage. I put toys etc in there and visit him all the time, but appears to be a kitten to me. I was told he is five months but is very feral. I have kept him in there going on three weeks now. He does let me feed can food by a spoon, but only lasts a few seconds, then he starts to hiss. My problem is the other cat I received, which is a female hasn't returned to the room for three days. Now I am freaking out that my property is to hazards for ferals. We do have lots of owls around, as have seen one hanging out on our property the last few days, I guessing a great horned owl. The female usually comes in everynight to eat, as I give her canned food as well. She has missed a night before but her not coming in for three nights in a row concerns me, it has been raining the last few days. She obviously has been hanging with my chickens as the mice are all gone. Now I have to consider if I should release the other cat that appears to be young. I have mixed feeling as I brought the cats in to due a job of killing mice and not a house cat. I am struggling what to do now. I feel it is mean to keep the young cat locked up but I don't want to keep feeding what ever is getting my cats.Just let him go and hope he can survive in this environment.