Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
As long as you have the outside fixture, you can pick up something like this to add an outlet.
Stray and Feral Cats
- Thread starter Ken Anderson
- Start date
If the light were inside, that would work, but the light is outside, with the bulb and fixture protected by a globe. Still, the electricity extends to the porch, so it shouldn't be overly expensive to have someone add an outlet. Not only could I have a heated bed, but I could also have heated food bowls so that the stuff doesn't keep freezing solid in the winter. Even if Smoke becomes an indoor kitty, this would come in handy for others, since he's not the only cat I feed.
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Today, when I came downstairs, Smoke was in the porch trying to eat frozen cat food. I opened the door and told him to wait, and I'd get him something fresh. I did, he did, and I sat there with him while he ate five ounces of cat food. While he was eating, I touched his back and he retreated outdoors. He came back in when I called him. While he resumed eating, I kneeled next to him and talked to him. He stopped at one point and rubbed his face on my knee. Maybe it was a sign of affection or maybe he just needed a napkin, I don't know.
I took it to be a sign of affection, or at least trust, so I touched his back again and he didn't withdraw. For a couple of minutes, he let me pet him full on, and it was clear that he was enjoying it, although there was no purring. When I tried touching the side of his face, which cats who truly trust you like a lot, he withdrew again, so I went back to petting him from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. He let me pet him with both hands on either of his sides, and seemed even to move so that I could reach him more easily.
He finished that can of food and resumed trying to eat the frozen stuff, so I promised him another can. I opened a 3 oz can, put that on a plate (I have learned that cats prefer plates to bowls; I think it's a whisker thing), although I tend to still refer to them as bowls, having fed cats in bowls for decades.
He finished that and stayed there, letting me pet him. I tried picking him up and, while he was trembling, he let me hold him. Kissing him on the top of the head was too much though, which is understandable since every cat I've ever had has acted like that was a weird thing to do. He wasn't comfortable being held long, but didn't leave when I set him down. I picked him up again and he seemed to be resisting it until I brought him up to the door window and he could see inside. He was fascinated in that because he can't view the window from the floor.
He didn't want me to hold him tightly, but seemed a little more comfortable with it than the first time. I had never tried picking him up before, and had only petted him once previously, and that wasn't for long.
Ella was on the stairs watching me holding him to the window, and she didn't look agitated, although I wouldn't be able to hear hissing from the closed door. After a bit of that, Smoke wanted back down. He ran outside, but then came right back in again. I opened the door a crack so that the two cats could sniff at one another, but that panicked Smoke, so I thought I'd leave that alone for now. He came back inside and started eating kibble.
I went inside to see what Ella's responses would be. Not only had I been petting him, but I had held him in my arms, she had witnessed that. On other occasions when I had fraternized with someone else's cat, Ella would hiss at me after detecting it on my hands or clothing, but she didn't hiss. I would have to change clothes and wash my hands before I could handle her after petting some other cats. She was clearly interested in the smells of that other cat, but she didn't hiss. When I put her down, she did her treat request, and I thought that if seeing me with the other cat resulted in treats for her, that might help, so I gave her treats.
She came back out and started sniffing around the door. Smoke was still there, so I picked Ella up so that she could see him through the window. She hissed once but it wasn't a very enthusiastic hiss; it was more like the kind of a hiss she would greet Bubba with after the serious anger over his presence had subsided. When Smoke noticed we were at the window, he looked up and Ella hissed again but again, it wasn't the kind of hiss that sounded like it was intended to be taken seriously.
Smoke finished eating, having consumed more than most two cats would have eaten in one sitting, and he left. Ella seems fine. I don't know how often these two cats had encountered one another when Ella was allowed to go outdoors, as I had only seen them together once, but they were sitting right next to one another then. Cats do have long memories, so maybe she does remember Smoke.
It looks like things are accelerating, though. Since he allowed me to pet and even to pick him up, and his world didn't come crashing down around him, I expect he'll be comfortable with me again.
I took it to be a sign of affection, or at least trust, so I touched his back again and he didn't withdraw. For a couple of minutes, he let me pet him full on, and it was clear that he was enjoying it, although there was no purring. When I tried touching the side of his face, which cats who truly trust you like a lot, he withdrew again, so I went back to petting him from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. He let me pet him with both hands on either of his sides, and seemed even to move so that I could reach him more easily.
He finished that can of food and resumed trying to eat the frozen stuff, so I promised him another can. I opened a 3 oz can, put that on a plate (I have learned that cats prefer plates to bowls; I think it's a whisker thing), although I tend to still refer to them as bowls, having fed cats in bowls for decades.
He finished that and stayed there, letting me pet him. I tried picking him up and, while he was trembling, he let me hold him. Kissing him on the top of the head was too much though, which is understandable since every cat I've ever had has acted like that was a weird thing to do. He wasn't comfortable being held long, but didn't leave when I set him down. I picked him up again and he seemed to be resisting it until I brought him up to the door window and he could see inside. He was fascinated in that because he can't view the window from the floor.
He didn't want me to hold him tightly, but seemed a little more comfortable with it than the first time. I had never tried picking him up before, and had only petted him once previously, and that wasn't for long.
Ella was on the stairs watching me holding him to the window, and she didn't look agitated, although I wouldn't be able to hear hissing from the closed door. After a bit of that, Smoke wanted back down. He ran outside, but then came right back in again. I opened the door a crack so that the two cats could sniff at one another, but that panicked Smoke, so I thought I'd leave that alone for now. He came back inside and started eating kibble.
I went inside to see what Ella's responses would be. Not only had I been petting him, but I had held him in my arms, she had witnessed that. On other occasions when I had fraternized with someone else's cat, Ella would hiss at me after detecting it on my hands or clothing, but she didn't hiss. I would have to change clothes and wash my hands before I could handle her after petting some other cats. She was clearly interested in the smells of that other cat, but she didn't hiss. When I put her down, she did her treat request, and I thought that if seeing me with the other cat resulted in treats for her, that might help, so I gave her treats.
She came back out and started sniffing around the door. Smoke was still there, so I picked Ella up so that she could see him through the window. She hissed once but it wasn't a very enthusiastic hiss; it was more like the kind of a hiss she would greet Bubba with after the serious anger over his presence had subsided. When Smoke noticed we were at the window, he looked up and Ella hissed again but again, it wasn't the kind of hiss that sounded like it was intended to be taken seriously.
Smoke finished eating, having consumed more than most two cats would have eaten in one sitting, and he left. Ella seems fine. I don't know how often these two cats had encountered one another when Ella was allowed to go outdoors, as I had only seen them together once, but they were sitting right next to one another then. Cats do have long memories, so maybe she does remember Smoke.
It looks like things are accelerating, though. Since he allowed me to pet and even to pick him up, and his world didn't come crashing down around him, I expect he'll be comfortable with me again.
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Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
Has Ella shown any signs of grieving for Bubba, Ken? When we had 2 dogs and one of them died, the other paced the backyard for a couple of weeks looking for her.
Odd about the plate vs bowl thing. My little Harry also liked a saucer better than a bowl for his food.
Odd about the plate vs bowl thing. My little Harry also liked a saucer better than a bowl for his food.
Walking around the house, meowing, and she's not ordinarily verbal, although she's settled somewhat now. Whether it's grieving, an awareness that things are different, or fear that she'll be taken out next, I don't know.
Some of you might think that I'm trying to replace Bubba. I'm really not. Bubba cannot be replaced. He will always be special in my mind. I have wanted to give Smoke a home for years now, but at one point, I had three other cats, all female. Then, I was afraid of introducing a large male cat to Ella, worried that she'd no longer be the alpha, and she's used to being in charge of stuff. We brought Bubba in, unaware that he was a male, because we thought Ella might have something in the way of maternal instincts and that, at any rate, a tiny kitten wouldn't be a threat to her, and that worked out well, although not the part about maternal instincts. Then, I was concerned about bringing another adult male into the house with Bubba, given that Bubba had never had to fight for anything. Now that Bubba is gone, it's not that I feel like he can be replaced, but that Ella is clearly not as comfortable being an only cat as she likes to think she is, and because it's more likely to work out well than not. She got along with him in the past, even though she definitely didn't get along with any other outside cats. He's an adult, unlikely to go out of his way to annoy her as Bubba did, and I'd love to be able to give Smoke a comfortable place to land in the latter part of his life. I don't know how old he is, but he was already an adult when I first noticed him coming around to the outdoor food bowl more than six years ago.
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Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
Anyone who has lost a pet understands that there will never be another Bubba. I hope Ella warms up to Smokey so she will have a buddy.
A cat's whiskers are sensitive, so the sensation of rubbing up against the sides of a bowl might be less comfortable than eating from a plate. Bubba actually gave me that idea when he began pulling his food out of the bowl with his paws and onto the placemat before eating it. As a larger cat, his whiskers probably rubbed up against the sides of the bowl more than Ella's do.
My cats like being kissed on the head, @Ken Anderson . Usually, it is part of the progression of the petting ritual. First, they want petted while they purr, then they start snuggling up against me and want an ear massage, and then nose bumping and nose rubbing, and then head kissing with lots of kissing noises, while they are snuggling and purring into my neck.
If it is a cat that I have raised from a kitten, they have been kissed on the head since they were little, and it is all part of being petted, but I can see why Smoke might think he was not ready for that yet. He will probably get there once he starts nose-rubbing with you.
Also…… I took my morning shower, and all three cats were sitting right outside on the bathmat waiting for me to get back out.
If it is a cat that I have raised from a kitten, they have been kissed on the head since they were little, and it is all part of being petted, but I can see why Smoke might think he was not ready for that yet. He will probably get there once he starts nose-rubbing with you.
Also…… I took my morning shower, and all three cats were sitting right outside on the bathmat waiting for me to get back out.
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Shirley Martin
Well-known member
The only pet that I ever truly loved was a cat. Somebody gave her to my mother-in-law. MIL didn't like any kind of animal. When my daughter saw it, she loved it. So, we brought it home. She was covered with fleas, and her ears were full of some kind of trash like leaf debris and dirt. I took her to the vet and had her treated for fleas and had her ears cleaned.
She was snowy white with emerald green eyes. She never got dingy or dirty like most white animals. She was always meticulously clean. She was an inside outside cat. When night came, I would go outside and call her, and she would come inside for the night.
I swear she could understand when I was sad or worried. She always slept at the foot of hubby and my bed. But when my Daddy died, she curled up against my chest for a month or so like she was comforting me. The she went back to the foot of the bed. There were other times she showed her understanding of my feelings.
One night, I called and called her. She didn't come. I went looking for her the next morning. She was lying dead at the foot of a tree. She didn't have any visible wounds. I think she fell out of the tree and broke her back. I cried and cried. I still get teary eyed when I think about her.
She was snowy white with emerald green eyes. She never got dingy or dirty like most white animals. She was always meticulously clean. She was an inside outside cat. When night came, I would go outside and call her, and she would come inside for the night.
I swear she could understand when I was sad or worried. She always slept at the foot of hubby and my bed. But when my Daddy died, she curled up against my chest for a month or so like she was comforting me. The she went back to the foot of the bed. There were other times she showed her understanding of my feelings.
One night, I called and called her. She didn't come. I went looking for her the next morning. She was lying dead at the foot of a tree. She didn't have any visible wounds. I think she fell out of the tree and broke her back. I cried and cried. I still get teary eyed when I think about her.
I think that they think that it's weird, but once they have associated it with affection, they recognize it as a sign of affection and begin to like it.
You might be right. But their mother showed affection by licking and cleaning them all over, which I am not inclined to do; so these kitties will have to settle for kisses on their little noggins.
As I tell Ella, I think that lifting your butt up in the air when I'm petting you is weird too, but we all have our quirks.
A little bit of a setback today. Smoke wasn't waiting to be fed, as he often is when I come downstairs, although it was snowing, so he might have been holed up wherever he goes. He showed up just a moment ago, and the food was gone; he may have eaten it when I wasn't looking, or maybe another cat or cats. However, he refused to come into the shed while I was there. I had to go inside and close the door before he'd come in and eat.
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Again today, Smoke wouldn't come into the porch to eat until I had gone inside and closed the door.
Shirley Martin
Well-known member
Two steps forward and one step back. Slow progress but still, it is progress.
As some of you may be aware, I am inviting an outside cat whom I have been feeding for about six years now to become an inside cat, not as a replacement for Bubba, who cannot be replaced, but because I don't think Ella really wants to be an only kitty, and because I'd like to be able to give him a stable home in his latter years.
By way of background, a few years ago, when I was still letting Ella go out during the day, one day she didn't come back when called, nearing dusk, so I went looking for her, and found her sitting next to a large gray cat, whom I now know as Smoke. Generally, Ella doesn't like cats, and may be allergic, so that impressed me. They weren't cuddling or anything but they were sitting within inches of one another, while Ella was ignoring me.
For the past year, I have been feeding the outside cats in my enclosed porch, which has a sliding external door that I leave open just enough for a cat to come and go. There are a couple of other cats who come into the porch to eat, and when I pick her up so that she can see, through the window, whatever cat might be in there, Ella would immediately hiss at every other cat, other than Smoke. She doesn't seem particularly interested in Smoke, but it's notable that she doesn't hate him.
Since shortly after Bubba's death, I have been preparing Smoke to become an insider kitty. I don't know how old he is, but he was an adult when I began feeding him outdoors more than six years ago, and he is not feral. He was someone's kitty once.
Last summer, Smoke would hang out with me in the backyard, watching me work on the garden, compost pile, and so on. He would sit a short distance away and just watch me. When I spotted him, I'd acknowledge him. Twice, he rubbed up against my leg, and once he rolled over onto his back. When I reached out to him, he slapped me a few times, but with claws in, as if to say, "No touching, please."
He has let me touch his nose or the top of his head several times, but in the past month, he has let me pet him once (although he was nervous about it), and he let me pick him up once. He seemed okay about being in my arms as long as I wasn't holding him firmly. When I stood up with him in my arms, he was about to jump down, but then he saw the window on the door leading into the house and it was like, "Oh, wow! What's in here?" He spent a few moments looking through the window into the house before wanting down.
My goal is for him to willingly come into the house. so I have been inviting him in from time to time. He appeared to be thinking about it a couple of times.
Sometimes, after he has left, I will close the external door, and let Ella explore the porch, so that she could get used to his scent, and it did not seem to concern her in a negative way.
The day before yesterday, while Smoke was on the porch, I picked Ella up, and opened the door, introducing them. Nobody hissed, I was going to bring Ella down to floor level, and Smoke backed up a couple of steps, which seemed like a sign of respect towards Ella. He wasn't scared, and neither of them were uptight about it. Since I was holding Ella, I couldn't see her face but she was looking at Smoke and her body was not tense.
So, that's where we are. Smoke is a handsome gray short-haired cat, who appears to be very healthy for an outside cat. I think he lives, much of the time, in a falling-down garage in a vacant house next door because I often see him in that yard, and he sometimes watches me from the trunk of a tree that had fallen down in that yard.
By way of background, a few years ago, when I was still letting Ella go out during the day, one day she didn't come back when called, nearing dusk, so I went looking for her, and found her sitting next to a large gray cat, whom I now know as Smoke. Generally, Ella doesn't like cats, and may be allergic, so that impressed me. They weren't cuddling or anything but they were sitting within inches of one another, while Ella was ignoring me.
For the past year, I have been feeding the outside cats in my enclosed porch, which has a sliding external door that I leave open just enough for a cat to come and go. There are a couple of other cats who come into the porch to eat, and when I pick her up so that she can see, through the window, whatever cat might be in there, Ella would immediately hiss at every other cat, other than Smoke. She doesn't seem particularly interested in Smoke, but it's notable that she doesn't hate him.
Since shortly after Bubba's death, I have been preparing Smoke to become an insider kitty. I don't know how old he is, but he was an adult when I began feeding him outdoors more than six years ago, and he is not feral. He was someone's kitty once.
Last summer, Smoke would hang out with me in the backyard, watching me work on the garden, compost pile, and so on. He would sit a short distance away and just watch me. When I spotted him, I'd acknowledge him. Twice, he rubbed up against my leg, and once he rolled over onto his back. When I reached out to him, he slapped me a few times, but with claws in, as if to say, "No touching, please."
He has let me touch his nose or the top of his head several times, but in the past month, he has let me pet him once (although he was nervous about it), and he let me pick him up once. He seemed okay about being in my arms as long as I wasn't holding him firmly. When I stood up with him in my arms, he was about to jump down, but then he saw the window on the door leading into the house and it was like, "Oh, wow! What's in here?" He spent a few moments looking through the window into the house before wanting down.
My goal is for him to willingly come into the house. so I have been inviting him in from time to time. He appeared to be thinking about it a couple of times.
Sometimes, after he has left, I will close the external door, and let Ella explore the porch, so that she could get used to his scent, and it did not seem to concern her in a negative way.
The day before yesterday, while Smoke was on the porch, I picked Ella up, and opened the door, introducing them. Nobody hissed, I was going to bring Ella down to floor level, and Smoke backed up a couple of steps, which seemed like a sign of respect towards Ella. He wasn't scared, and neither of them were uptight about it. Since I was holding Ella, I couldn't see her face but she was looking at Smoke and her body was not tense.
So, that's where we are. Smoke is a handsome gray short-haired cat, who appears to be very healthy for an outside cat. I think he lives, much of the time, in a falling-down garage in a vacant house next door because I often see him in that yard, and he sometimes watches me from the trunk of a tree that had fallen down in that yard.
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Smoke has been outside long enough that he has a lot of feral characteristics but has clearly not always been feral, and he is becoming increasingly more comfortable with me. One day, when the sliding external door to the porch was closed, because I had closed it against a raccoon, he yelled at me from outside. Sometimes, he waits for me to go inside and close the door before coming in to eat, but at other times, he has come right in, allowing me to kneel alongside him while he eats. Last week, he pressed his body up against my leg while he was eating.
Mary Stetler
Well-known member
No new strays have come to the farm as I had hoped but it has not been too long since he has died.. I had my Bonneroo barn cat for many years and he HATED any new cat so I did not encourage them. I fed one that had a bad leg for a while but after he healed he left. Another took over Bonneroo's heated bed in the hay mow for a while so Bonneroo had to be let into the barnhouse at night when it was cold.
Hopefully the perfect new barn cat will show up this breeding season. (usually when they do)
Hopefully the perfect new barn cat will show up this breeding season. (usually when they do)
Maybe he is waiting for you to just bring him inside and let him know that you love him, Ken. When Kitten Little showed up as a tiny scared baby, she hid from us for several days, but came up for food and water. Then, one day, she was sitting on the chair on the porch and I walked over and picked her up.
The very second she was in my arms, she started purring, and then I knew she had been waiting for me to hold her and let her know she was safe and had a home.
If it were me, I would put Ella some where safe, and open the house door when Smoke comes up to eat, and put his food just inside the house, so he understands that he is welcome to come in. Once he is inside, you will be able to see if this is what he has been waiting for, or if he wants to go right back outside.
The very second she was in my arms, she started purring, and then I knew she had been waiting for me to hold her and let her know she was safe and had a home.
If it were me, I would put Ella some where safe, and open the house door when Smoke comes up to eat, and put his food just inside the house, so he understands that he is welcome to come in. Once he is inside, you will be able to see if this is what he has been waiting for, or if he wants to go right back outside.