Smoke will regularly let me pet him now, although he alternates these visits with ones in which he seems convinced I'm going to kill him. However, he often lets me pet him and is no longer stiff or nervous while I am doing so. He's not letting me pick him up yet, and while he shows interest in looking inside the house from the door, he hasn't entered yet.
Meanwhile, I have a couple of other cats coming by who'd like to have that invitation, but I have my goals set on Smoke, and one of the others is one that Ella has already said no to. I invited her in once, and Ella jumped in front of me to let this cat know that it's not up to me. The other one just showed up for the first time last night, and seems to already understand how the feeding thing works.
At night, I don't leave food on the porch because that attracts raccoons. Instead, when a cat comes onto the porch, it triggers a motion-detector light, which I can see from my desk. I'll go to the window of the door to see if it's a cat or a raccoon. The ones who regularly come around will be looking up at that window, and will know that I'll be coming back with some food.
When I open the door to put the food out, some of them, and sometimes even Smoke, will retreat to the external doorway. My porch is enclosed, with a sliding barn door that I leave partially open for the cats. Much of the time, though, Smoke will simply wait on the porch for me, while the others will retreat outside to wait on the top step for me to go back inside.
Sometimes, the light is triggered, but I don't see anyone, so I'll go onto the porch and ask, "Are you a kitty or a raccoon? If you're a kitty, show yourself," and although they obviously don't understand the words, the ones who come by regularly will step up to the top step or at least turn towards me so that I can see that it's a cat.
Last night was like that, only the cat that showed itself was a new one. I don't know if it's a domestic cat that was allowed outside at night or one that is a new stray, but s/he (we don't know one another well enough to determine yet) is well-groomed, not undernourished, and clearly not feral. S/he didn't let me pet her/him, but did come onto the porch while I was there.
Meanwhile, another one of my regular visitors, for the past six years, is a female who generally only comes during the daytime. She avoided contact or even acknowledging me for years, which she could do because I leave food out during the day, since the raccoons don't come around to the front of the house in the daylight. I think she liked to pretend that faeries left the food out. However, I accidentally walked up on her a month or so ago. I called to her as she was running away, and she stopped. She didn't return immediately, but did come back to eat. Later, she at least acknowledged me when she was walking across my backyard while I was out there. Now, she's waiting for me in the morning, and puts her paws up on my legs, and enjoys being petted. She'd like to be invited in, but she's the one whom Ella said "no" to.
My new visitor is another one whom I could probably get inside without difficulty. Ella hasn't seen that one yet, as far as I know. But, she might belong to someone. She was awfully hungry last night, but domestic cats will sometimes leave home for days before returning.
Smoke, on the other hand, is a cat whom I have seen Ella calmly sitting next to a few years ago when I was allowing her outside, and Ella doesn't react to Smoke when he's on the porch, while she will hiss at the black cat or the other female when I lift her to the window to see them. This gives me the feeling that Ella might accept Smoke as a resident.
All of my cats indoor or out have been chipped.
