Mr. L was feeding Junior and Sneaky their morning cans of Fancy Feast this morning and was able to lift Junior from the ground to the step while Junior was eating. That was his exciting news. Then Mr. L told me about my “problem.” When Junior popped out from under the house, a darker, smaller kitten ran from under the house to behind the garage. I checked the game camera.

This little girl appeared on camera for the first time Thursday night, really Friday morning:

From what we can tell, our neighbor’s across the street have determined the local mama cats like to give birth and raise kittens in their yard. Our yard appears to be the place where the teenagers and young adults gather after mama boots them onto their own devices.

In other news, Rossie allowed me to hold her for 20 minutes the other night while Sneaky was in the parlor with us. Rossie hissed at Sneaky, so I suspect Rossie may have been a little jealous of Sneaky sharking around my chair.

Rossie has a long way to go before I think she’ll seek us out, but she seems to be making positive progress. The household is more peaceful for all cats involved. For now. I’m bringing Sneaky inside more and trying to get the other cats familiar with her. Ajax felt a need to assert his Alpha Catness (he doesn’t look like an alpha cat, but he acts like one), and that got interesting. Mr. L reminded Ajax who the Alpha Cat really was and removed Ajax from the room.