I couldn’t resist taking this picture of Kacey – don’t you just want to reach out your hand and tickle that warm, fluffy kitty belly?

I wouldn’t advise it – it would be like a fly tickling a Venus Flytrap!

But she IS cute when she’s asleep :)!

I finally got a few photos of one of my other feral kitties, Cassie. Here she is at the feeding station:

Cassie was mother of the 2nd litter of feral babies (born under my neighbor’s deck 3 years ago) – 4 little black kitties. Kit was probably the father. The family was trapped, the kittens were placed and Cassie was spayed, vaccinated and released. Sadly two of the kittens had a genetic heart defect and died young, but the other two are well-loved and thoroughly spoiled by their owners.

I’ve grown especially fond of Cassie – she’s bolder around me than the other ferals, seems more willing to interact with me. She IMMEDIATELY follows me when she sees me put food in the dish and I can get within about 1 – 2 feet of her. If my presence overwhelms her, she responds passively – freezing and closing her eyes. Unlike Kit who flattens his ears and tries to look scary (I have to admit, it works!). I didn’t see her from October until April and had been very worried about her. She mysteriously re-appeared right after the floods – I’m glad she’s back.

She’s doubtlessly related to my ‘Bika (from feral litter #1) – probably either a half-sister or a full sibling from an earlier litter. Bika has bigger eyes and a more petite build, but you can easily see the resemblance:

My indoor cats were feeling neglected, with all those Kit posts! Here they are being cute (and not fighting!)…

Kacey and Jasi like to curl up over the radiator and groom each other on cold days. Kacey (calico) is usually the groomer, Jasmine (orange) is usually the groom-ee.

Biki is antisocial and takes no part in these activities. But what do you expect from a cat who sleeps like THIS???

Kit the Cat is still hanging around! He’s been sleeping on my porch more and more frequently and eating here regularly. To help him stay warm, I put out a scrap of artificial sheepskin and some fleece fabric – it was obviously quite a hit! On very cold days I heat up a SnuggleSafe and put it underneath for him. The other week we had a nasty day when it rained/snowed/sleeted the entire day – he slept on his chair for a good 10 hours straight. Every once in a while he woke up, blinked, looked at the weather, turned over and went back to sleep.

He’s also getting used to me – I wouldn’t say that he LIKES me but he tolerates me. He certainly isn’t tame, and probably never will be – if I get a little too close to him he does the most convincing impression of a Halloween cat – ears out to the side and glaring at me!

Here’s Kit enjoying a mellow moment on his chair – he just woke for a minute to scratch an itch.

The other week I noticed he had a lot of hair missing from the upper inside of his left leg and some nasty scabs. I don’t know how it happened – that isn’t an injury you’d associate with a fight. It seems to have healed without incident and the fur is starting to grow back now, but its scary to think what would have happened to him had it gotten infected. He looks like any pampered house cat in my photos, but it’s a rough and dangerous life.

Finally had a “Kit sighting” Friday night, after not seeing him for several weeks. I was starting to get worried – especially having heard a coyote in the area around the time he disappeared!

He’s not sleeping here or hanging out in my yard, but whatever it was I said or did, he’s not too offended to eat the food I leave for him.

We have a small feral cat colony around here – as far as I can tell, no more than about 5 cats. One old timer which I rarely see, 2 newcomers who may belong to someone who lets them out to roam the neighborhood (I don’t see them all the time and they look better-fed than the others). That leaves Kit and Cassie – the resident tomcat and a spayed (TNR’d after having a litter of kittens under my neighbor’s deck 2 years ago!) tabby female. I’ve been feeding both of them for several months and am slowly earning their trust. Right now, both are at the point where if they see me outside they come to check out the dish. And I can now put food down a few feet from them without them running away – the closest I’ve ever gotten to Kit is about 4 feet, Cassie is a little more tolerant, I’ve gotten to within 2 feet of her. She rarely stops by in the daytime so I have no pictures of her yet.

This is Kit – isn’t he handsome? I’m certain he’s some relative to my ‘Bika (as is Cassie, who looks exactly like her) because he has the same face and eyes as her mother (from the same feral colony). I’m convinced that in a past life he was a spoiled housecat, because whenever it rains I usually find him up on my covered porch, fast asleep on a patio chair cushion :). Poor guy doesn’t like getting his fur wet!