My roommate used to live on a farm and is especially keen on getting a cat. She plans on taking one of the cats that is kept in the barn on the farm. What are the types and costs of veterinary procedures that must be performed on a cat that has never been to a vet. Also, can a farm cat adjust to city life?
I would tell her to think twice about trying to convert a farm cat to a “pet”. I have 3 cats as of this writing (down from a high of 5 a few years ago) and one of them is a former farm cat. Farm cats are “semi-feral”, meaning that, while they aren’t totally wild, they aren’t exactly domesticated either. My former farmie, who’s name is BooBoo, has been with me 2 years now and has still not truly adjusted to being a city pet. He’s very reclusive, paranoid of strangers, and gets into the occasional scrap with my other 2 cats. You can take the cat out of the farm, but it’s a lot harder to take the farm out of the cat, so to speak.
I’d also encourage her to look for a feline friend at a local shelter. This would serve her better in two ways. First, she can probably find an animal that is best suited to her personality, instead of trying to make the cat adjust to her, which is all but impossible and hard on both you and the cat. Second, she could be saving the life of a wonderful friend. Sure, it’s probably not free like a farm cat would be, but the cost is usually minimal, the cats there are usually screened for exsisting medical problems, and it’s far less trouble in the long run. Trust me, I’ve been there! 
Not that I don’t love BooBoo, though. He can be a real sweetie at times. It’s just that in retrospect, I probably would have adopted a fully domesticated cat from a shelter instead of taking him away from the farm.
As for the vet, unless it has some pre-exsisting condition, the only things that should be done is a full range of shots, and neutering/spaying, which I can’t stress enough.
Good luck with your new cat, whatever you decide!
Rabid animal lover and cat owner here.
Got to agree with Catmandu…go to the shelter and either get a kitten, or better yet a full grown…the best thing about getting a fullgrown is that a good shelter will know their personalities and post it for you to look at. Talk to other cat owners and see what shelters are good, some are better than others. a good shelter will not have screened the cat for diseases but will be honest and upfront about what it does have. moreover, if you get a kitten…good ones will have relationships with veterinary clinics in the area that will spay/neuter your cat for minimal costs (we paid 40$ for our kitten when we got him and that included in the price the neutering, the first needed vaccines which he had been given and a little bit o’ money to help the shelter out). For fullgrown cats…you have the added benefit of the fact that usually they are spayed or neutered and if not the better shelters will spay or neuter them when they are taken in. PS-the kittens go mighty fast esp. during kitten season. by adopting a full grown you are a.) getting more info about what the cat is actually like b.) you may be saving a sweetie from the gas chamber.
Our second cat is a full grown. The shelter was very honest about her personality…loving but occasionally gets very afraid and hisses and strikes out (she was abused poor dear) but we took her because she had been returned two times by people that just couldn’t put up with it and we knew if she was returned one more time by a dumbass that just couldn’t process the shelter’s initial information it would just be a bad situation and she would never get adopted. Three years later we rarely hear a hiss out of her, she’s the most loving creature and gets along famously with our original baby.
aside from that-your cat will probably still require his regular shots. a good way to get these without being dicked on prices is to go to Petco when they are having a free vaccination clinic and get the specified shots. Usually they require you to get rabies, FIV and Feline Leukemia. They have retired vets give it to them and they are very cheap (I believe all the shots cost us 50$ last time) but get there early because the lines get big and your kittie is not going to be pleased amongst all the dogs and ferrets and whatnot. However, if your proposed kittie has never had medical care then you should probably go to a vet to get it screened. That will be EXPENSIVE trust me. Also you would need to get your cat neutered or spayed if it is ever going to be indoors or you will end up with a stanky set of furniture.
good luck…and I just want to say for anyone living in Massachusetts…the Northwest Shelter located in Salem-Peabody area is a GREAT, GREAT, shelter. It’s located behind a veterinary hospital. Very honest, very clean AND they don’t put to death ANY of their inhabitants.
the sentence should be “a good shelter WILL have screened its incoming animals for diseases, be honest and upfront about what they have, separate the sick animals if they need to be quarantined and be in the process of treating them.”
I adopted a shelter kitty (adult cat, actually) about six weeks ago, and my adoption fee was $60. She was screened for feline leukemia, had her shots, and the spaying fee was included in the adoption fee. I also got an information kit, a “kitty blankie”, a cardboard cat carrier, and some canned cat food. If I’d picked up a “free” kitten from a newspaper or such, I’d have paid at LEAST that much just for the shots and spaying, probably more.
If cats are to be good pets, they must be socialized properly as kittens. I’ve read that it’s important to handle a kitten at least 15 minutes a day, starting from the time it’s born, in order for it to make a good pet. Since barn cats wouldn’t get this socialization, they usually don’t make great pets. Most of them wouldn’t adapt well to being kept inside, either.
Get a shelter kitty.
Incidentally, the Humane Society doesn’t just take in dogs and cats, when I was there they had plenty of rabbits and ferrets, as well, if you’re looking for that sort of pet.
Also get your cat microchipped. This is a good way of tracing your cat if it strays and is much better than haveit wear a collar which can be dangerous. Microchipping is especially useful if living in town. The animal rescue centre I use does this as a matter of course together with spaying and health checks and includes it in it’s fee.
To me, a good housecat is like an animal that is stuck at the developmental age of a 9 month old baby. Lynn is right on- they need contact. LOTS OF IT. You simply cannot pet a cat enough. (Providing of course that they are into it). They adore the physicality and will go through great contortions to get to you so you can pet and/or hold them.
The best $ 5.00 can you spend on your cat, IMHO, is to go and buy a fine wire cat curry brush. It’s a small rectangular paddle filled with fine metal wire. I’ve never met a cat yet that wasn’t thrown into paroxysms of joy when they were curried, and it A) Rids them of COPIOUS amounts of excess hair, B) Helps cut down on hairballs, and C) Stimulates their skin to a degree that even a good cleaning by themselves might not. It is especially helpful during the hotter summer months, when they are just clogged with loose hair that they’ve shed in the heat. If you live in Alaska and don’t HAVE a hot summertime period, you need to stop and think about why you got a cat instead of an Alaskan Malamut. 
Enjoy your cat, Lynn. We all assume you’ve named it L’il Ed, yes?>…