On Thursday morning, when it was still cold after the freezing rain and ice of the night before, Sneaky was playing hard to get on the side porch. I caught her and carried her into the house, put her in Lady and Daphne’s cage, and gave her some food (since the feeder hadn’t dropped for it’s first serving for the day yet).  Sneaky gets privileges like this because she will let me handle her and because she’s like family. After a little while, I shooed a couple of cats (Lady and Daphne) out of the parlor and closed the doors.

I let Sneaky out to explore. You may recall Sneaky has done this before and does well. She relaxes and likes being out in the parlor. This time, Natasha, Ajax, Delta, and Tarzan were still in the room. There was some light hissing and a few batting of paws.  Generally, everyone was playing nice. Eventually, I let Daphne into the room. I thought they were going to get along fine, but things got interesting. I don’t know who said what to whom, but Daphne began a very loud growling. She and Sneaky faced off, then Sneaky walked away. Daphne continued growling loudly.

I picked Sneaky up and snuggled her, then I put her in the cage for someone’s protection — I’m not sure whose. Then I calmed Daphne down. She willingly allowed herself to be cradled, which was surprising. Usually, when I try to hold her, she leans away from me. This time, she allowed herself to be held. She calmed down, and I released her.

Lady got into her usual glaring contest with Sneaky who was not concerned. Delta and Ruby both expressed interest in Sneaky in the cage but were neither were concerned with the other. Rossie remained upstairs.

Eventually, Sneaky became restless in the cage, so I picked her up and carried her for a few minutes before deciding she would probably be happier outside. I opened the side door, put her down, opened the screen, and she walked out. A few minutes later, Mr. L noticed she was back at the door. I opened the door and tried calling her inside, but Ajax kept getting in the way.  Eventually, Mr. L closed the door between the kitchen and the parlor with Lady and Ajax and others on the parlor side of the door and attempted to coax Sneaky into the house. She came as far in as her shoulders, but today was not the day to learn to walk into the house on her own. We’ll keep working with Sneaky, and her periodic introduction to the inside cats will continue. I think she will make an excellent inside cat at some point, but she’s not ready to give up her independence yet.

In other news, we’ve taken to calling the newcomer feral gray cat with Walter’s face but a decidedly different body Junior. It seems to fit him.  He’s curious about what’s on this side of the windows, but he runs if we make too sudden a move or if we try to approach him.

We have not seen Boomer in person or on the camera in over two weeks. I fear something has happened to him. We will probably never know. That’s how it is with ferals.  Walter visits regularly and is a gorgeous kitty to behold.