Stray cats.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

There's a stray that occasionally shows up at the door to my workshop and will sit for hours, just watching me. Nothing seems to frighten him, unless I take a step towards him, at which point he leaves like he's late for a doctor's appointment.

Boru

Yep. Run into those cats before. But this one I ran into today, was very affectionate, and was very curious and wanted to follow me. I have also ran into cats like you describe. I think that is more for food than companionship. 

It let me pet it and kept trying to follow me up my steps to my house. It was comical trying to let it down. "I know you have a family, you are in great shape, shiney coat, you already have a home". And it was like, "But I like you".

In the case of the shop cat, I don't think it's either food or companionship. I've never fed him or tried to pet him. I think it's just curiosity. He seems utterly fascinated by what goes on.

Boru

[arewethereyet]

My boss was telling me yesterday about a cat that visits her fairly often. Showing up on the patio when she's out there sometimes wanting some food and attention and sometimes deciding to bite her. She said that her relationship with the cat "is complicated".

[zwanzig]

I live in the country and the garage looks like a barn. Spring of 2020, someone abandoned a pregnant cat on the property. She had her babies and ended up getting preggers by one of them by fall. Got rid of most of them this past January.

I always caution people to not abandon your unwanted cats at barns without asking the owners of the property first. It's an unkind thing to do to someone.

[Brian37]

I am a sucker for a cute face.

It is why I have my 13 year old feline best friend so far. But he is strictly an indoor cat. But just today, just about the same size pattern furr color/species waltzed it's way into my yard today, meowing for attention. I knew I could not bring it in, but it looked in good health and was happy. I had a good ten minutes petting it, having fun with it. I felt like I was cheeting on my own house cat.

We get lots of feral cats around here. I think it really enriches the neighborhood. 

I'm on the side of a mountain, with a lot of green area uphill from me. We have raccoon dogs (tanuki) and badgers regularly. Once I saw a fox. There's at least one wild boar that comes down sometimes -- if I don't close the gate on my garden he'll come in and dig things up. 

We noticed that one of the regular cats in the garden was pregnant, so I talked to the neighborhood association about the city's neuter and release program. They said that if I trapped it then we'd wait for her to have her babies and do the surgery after. So I built a humane trap and got her right away, and took her to the head of the neighborhood association -- I said, OK, she's all yours. But the lady said, no, it's MY job to keep her until the babies were born. Which they were, in my house, behind a bookshelf. We got the mom's surgery, found homes for three of the babies, and now we have three in the house which we never intended to have. But of course we love them too much to send them out, now.

I dont think this one was feral.  I think well kept outdoor cats get aclimated to humans, and I am pretty sure that is what I was dealing with. It was well groomed, and feral cats are far more skiddish than indoor cats. 

I think all cats should be raised indoors for that matter. I think outdoor cats risk far more injury with other wild animals such as squirrels and racoons, than humans.

[The Valkyrie]

I live in the country and the garage looks like a barn. Spring of 2020, someone abandoned a pregnant cat on the property. She had her babies and ended up getting preggers by one of them by fall. Got rid of most of them this past January.

I always caution people to not abandon your unwanted cats at barns without asking the owners of the property first. It's an unkind thing to do to someone.

Anyone who abandons a cat or dog should be left naked in the middle of a desert.

Fuckers.

[Belacqua]

I dont think this one was feral.  I think well kept outdoor cats get aclimated to humans, and I am pretty sure that is what I was dealing with. It was well groomed, and feral cats are far more skiddish than indoor cats. 

I'm sure you're right! Such a personable cat isn't wild. I wonder if he was supposed to be outside, or if he just slipped out.

I think all cats should be raised indoors for that matter. I think outdoor cats risk far more injury with other wild animals such as squirrels and racoons, than humans.

No doubt outdoor cats have a shorter life expectancy. I don't know what's best, really. The ones that are born outside are not really domestic, and have a sort of happy natural life, I guess -- though it's dangerous. In Japanese we talk about "han-nora," which means "half feral." Like they're nobody's pet, but they get food from people, and might get help if they're injured or something. One of my neighbors is an expert at giving feral cats medicine and otherwise helping them.

I agree with you that indoors is probably best, just because they kill so many other animals. I've seen well-fed outdoor cats kill birds just because it's in their instinct. They rip up lizards, snakes, and all kinds of other fauna that I like a lot. 

Right now all three of mine are staring at the window over my desk. The desk light attracts moths to the outside of the glass, and the moths attract geckos, and the cats live in hope of murdering a gecko, though they've never caught one yet.

[arewethereyet]

My sister lives in a suburb of Chicago. She currently has six cats, I think, living inside though the legal limit is three. Another one sort of lives in the garage but roams, she had him fixed...no idea where he came from. Her partner has built heated houses for stray and feral cats for the winter and sister is constantly either trying to tame one or at least get it to the point where she can grab it for a trip to the vet. Her daughter volunteers for a cat rescue in the Chicago area while my sister is her own rescue program.

Sister lives near a nature preserve and thinks people dump their cats out there.

My big ole lazy cat will pounce on an occasional bug but he's more likely to follow me around yowling if he sees plastic through the food in his bowl prompting me to add more food or fluff up what's there.

[Brian37]

I live in the country and the garage looks like a barn. Spring of 2020, someone abandoned a pregnant cat on the property. She had her babies and ended up getting preggers by one of them by fall. Got rid of most of them this past January.

I always caution people to not abandon your unwanted cats at barns without asking the owners of the property first. It's an unkind thing to do to someone.

Anyone who abandons a cat or dog should be left naked in the middle of a desert.

Fuckers.

Again, I don't think this one I was talking about in the OP was abandon. It was very friendly and well groomed, looked well fed. I simply myself, am not a fan of outdoor owners.