A little cat story for those who like cats.
Last March an orange kitten (4 months or so) showed up to our back yard. We have 6 cats (no worries, big back yard, cat door, quiet neighborhood). Well, we didn't need 7. This guy was old enough to get around and would come and go, and seemed to like our cats, didn't hiss or growl like a true feral, so we assumed someone abandoned him after the winter, as there's no way at his age he could have survived the snow last year. He grew some on our cats, who would play with him, and soon we caught him and got him fixed and his shots and let him go.
It didn't take long until summertime and we'd leave the door open and he'd come in an explore (or eat cat food!) until we, or our cats chased him out. In late summer, we didn't see him for a while, and thought someone adopted him or took him in, but when the weather turned to cold rain, he came looking for help.
Well, to make a long story short, after we were able to catch him again, he's now in our house for the winter. He's figured the cat door out - at least to get OUT, but not IN. We'd like it both ways. The problem is, he runs out, then hides for a night and then comes looking for warmth, food, etc. and will sit at the outside cat door. And it's hard to grab him. So for now, he's pretty stuck in our office here, and doing quite well. Our cats are okay with him, though my hunter-gatherer cat that brings me a bird or mouse (or snail, worm, stick, twig, leaf, pine cone, tomato from vine) once a week or so growls and hisses at him but doesn't fight him. I can now pick him up, hold him, carry him around, and he's trying to figure out how to sit on my lap on his own. He seems to know he's wired for it, but is reluctant to jump up there.
It's hard adopting out cats that are 1+, and not completely domesticated, but we're going to give it a shot as he improves.
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