Awww, there she is! I remember you talking about her! And she does look like an absolute adorable cutie patootie indeed! *chuckles* But yes, seeing this picture now definitely fortifies the thoughts I already had when talking with yo about her; that is not a wild-born feral. Two weeks for an adult cat to let you near her and touch her, being more or less used to being talked to, and those looks she has, and a natural tail-less Manx; that's a cat who was dumped or ran away from somewhere.

It's definitely good to know she has found a home she likes with you though! I'm sure that she is not just catching away all the mice just for food, but also to thank you a bit for taking care of her, since you put out food for her and all. I'd say both of you are lucky >^_^<

I thought the same thing. She flops over and shows me her belly. I've actually petted her belly a couple times. Last night she made sure I knew she wasn't going to let me just stroke her for nothing. But she grabbed my hand with her claws so gently. It made me think of my old cat. She grabbed looked at me, released, and stood up and walked away. XD Definitely, not a born feral. There's also the fact that she meows at me. There are a few floofy (really long haired!) ferals around and they never meow at me. In fact when I toss meat or food to them they won't take it unless I'm not looking at them. They'll come fairly close, but never within touching distance. Just enough where I can see them.

But I don't doubt she's getting rid of the mice just to help out. >.< This morning there was a dead shrew in front of the front door. (I forgot to mention that.) I guess she thinks I'm not eating right or maybe I need more food. :) I threw her gift out when she wasn't looking. I wouldn't want someone to turn their nose up at something I gave them. XD I really wish my landlord allowed pets because I would attempt to coax her inside where it's warm at night.

Ah. Yes. That's definite. She is NOT a wild-born feral. Ferals do not even show you their tummy, let alone allow you to touch it. And also, her eyes, her nose and the inside of her ears are waaay too clean for her to be a feral. She is a human-raised cat, no doubt whatsoever about it.
*chuckles* Aw, and she left you a mouse! That's really sweet! She must indeed have thought your diet needs adjusting, or with so many mice around the place, you're not a good enough hunter so she must help you out! I can imagine you would want to keep her inside for a nice warm place to sleep, too! But I'm sure she will still do real fine; she looks amazingly healthy. I've had indoor cats who looked worse than that, with mucky ears or eyes when they caught a cold or something, she she is just so amazingly clean!
*chuckles again* Also, in regard to your question in the comment below here; she IS indeed a calico. A tabby calico even, as I can tell from the black and grey patches in her fur. Calico cats are always mainly white (at least two-thirds white) with a few large black and orange patches (or bluegrey and light orange patches in the case of a Dilute, or gray/black tabby patches and red/orange tabby patches in the case of a Tabby Calico). Tortoiseshell cats are mainly black and orange mixed together in messy way with here and there a bit of white, mostly on the paws and/or the chest/tummy

Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed about her... How clean she was. No ear mites, no gook in her eyes... She was way too clean to be a stray. Petting her tonight I found she's also missing a chunk of ear. T.T It's a clean slice so I wonder what kind of life she had before she came to live on my porch. I mean she was deathly afraid of me, and she's scared out of her mind by Fox. Even if he's inside behind a closed door. She actually quakes looking at him, but she doesn't do it to my son. Just grown people and anyone who isn't me. I wish I could have pets because I would coax her inside, and that would be the end of it. She would be so spoiled rotten she'd end up like Miss Sassypaws... *gets batted* Alright! Alright... Miss Sheboom! Whom I have to get back to work on. :D

Yes, she is certainly not a feral, she's way too clean for that. She's a stray, a runaway or a dumpee, and not even for very long either. Yipes, but yes, it does seem like she may have had a very bad experience with an adult male human in the recent past, alright. But it's certainly good that she at least trust you this much, and I'm sure that even when you can't keep her in the house, you will be able to keep her in the yard and have her be somewhat of a semi-pet, so to speak, an outdoors pet who lives in your yard and under your porch and who will be pampered and fed and spoiled by you >^_^<
*sniggers softly and boops Sheboom's nose* Now now, Miss Sassypaws, like I said, be nice to the sweet lady who will be making you look even more awesome than you alrea-... *is pounced on and batted with forepaws and getting his ears chewed*

reminds me of a tortoiseshell short hair we have. it took months of my grandpa spending time with her in his storage building (where she stayed for a time), for her to finally gentle down, now she's indoors after having babies last march, and she'll let any of us pick her up and love on her, just strangers she don't like. She's a good cat too, although in a way it sucks that she's indoors now because she's a good mouse catcher..then again, inside, we have 11 cats (her, her 5 babies, and the 5 we had previously), only half actually catch mice. We don't get many, but they're clever so they hide when the cats are out (they're very rambunctious so, like at night we put them in a bedroom to sleep), and come out when they're not, we get big mice too, if itw asn't for the appearance, size-wise you'd think they were small rats

Wow! 11 cats! That's a lot of love. Yes, this little girl was super hard to get her to trust me not to hurt her. Now, she loves to be petted. She won't allow me to pick her up, but in time she probably will. If I sit on the ground she'll sit in my lap, but not if I'm sitting on the bench of our porch. She's still skittish, but loves when I give her food and attention. She's just a sweetie. Is that the name for her coloring? Tortoiseshell? I was wondering. I kept calling her a calico, but I guess she isn't. :D I just love animals and cats especially. I have an affinity for them the most. I like dogs, but they don't keep my attention the way a cat does. :)

yeah she'll get better. Yours is a calico, but ours is a tortoiseshell, a sub-coloring of Calico. They're mostly black with speckles of orange and white, whereas calicos are white with bits of orange and black. Also fun fact, calicos like yours, and tortoiseshells, are mostly female, I think it's like 80% or something.


Also something weird with ours...none of her kittens were tortoiseshell. They were all tabbies. one of her babies, a long-haired one, has flecks of orange in his fur, but he's still primarily gray with black stripes.

That happens. I've heard that cats can have babies from a bunch of different males. (Don't know if it's true or not, but it's a thought.) I had a black cat once that gave birth to an orange tabby, a calico, and two little cow colored kittens. They were just so cute. Yeah, I heard that most calico cats are female. I heard that the males are usually sterile. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but it is interesting.

Allow me to blow you away with my actual scientific knowledge about cats. I studied for the papers I needed to start a cattery, and I had to do a bit of veterinary studies alongside those, and I just studied even more purely out of interest.
*puts on a pair of tiny kitty-sized glasses and clears his throat*
Ahem. Since cats are solitary animals, they do not have regular cycles such as herd animals have. So they have a thing called 'induced ovulation'. Since there is never a 100% chance there will be a tomcat around when a queen goes into heat, they will not ovulate when going into heat because there is no chance the eggs will actually get fertilized, so they will not ovulate automatically during their heat cycle to ensure the eggs won't go to waste. The Fallopian tubes will only release the eggs when the queen gets a sharp impulse, which is why tomcats have the barbs, to deliver that impulse at the end of a mating, to induce the ovulation so there is in fact already genetic material inside the queen by the time the eggs get released, and they will be fertilized. Due to this, it is indeed also very much possible a queen can carry a litter of kittens that can have as many as three to four different fathers, since every mating the queen goes through will give her that sharp impulse that will trigger her ovulation, so more eggs will be released and fertilized, which can be by different tomcats.

Secondly. Calico cats are females because the gene for the calico coloring is sex-linked. The gene for a pure calico coloring, which is two-thirds white with a few larger black and orange patches is combined with the X chromosome, and it is also recessive, meaning there have to be two X chromosomes with a calico gene to make a queen a calico. In very, very rare cases there are tomcats who can show the phenotype of calico coloring, but that means they have two X chromosomes with the calico gene, and a Y chromosome that defines them as a male. Due to this, a calico tomcat can indeed exist, but will always be sterile due to the third chromosome.

(The same actually counts for red tabby coloring. A red tabby cat is always a tomcat, since it's sex-linked. A tabby calico can have tabby-like markings in the red patches of her fur, but a true tabby, with red fur and the distinctive tabby stripes and markings, will always be a tomcat.)

*giggles* just wanted to comment and say that's fascinating.

*chuckles and bows, taking his tiny glasses off again* Why thank you, I am glad I could enrich your knowledge a bit >^_^<

hehe. yeah I love to learn about stuff.

Aww, she's adorable! I love cats. I once came across a tiny black ball of fur on my front pourch when I was about 7 or 8 (I don't exactly remember, that was obviously many years ago)

I was a little nervous so made a clicking noise. It was a little kitten! She only stayed with us for a few day before the rightful owners found her. I could not remember her name, but I will never forget those, lovely green eyes of hers.

Aw! That's sweet. I wish someone would claim this one. She's a sweetie, but I can't have pets. So, I just feed and give her water and love. She really is a sweetheart once she warmed up to me. I just worry about all the wild animals that are around. I don't want her to get hurt.

such a pretty kitty

She is a real sweet heart. I feel bad that she has to stay outside, but the weather is fair no snow and not too cold. Wish I could have animals in my house. T.T

well what my grandpa does, is use a carrying crate and cut a hole in one end and place some towels in the bottom for bedding

That is a great idea! I think I will make one from one of the old plastic totes I have in the house. Cut a hole in the lid and tape the whole thing up. That would definitely keep the rain and (hopefully no) snow out. Thanks so much for the idea!!

you're most welcome

Hopefully, you can get her to trust you enough to stay inside or at least be indoor/outdoor. They have longer lifespans than outdoor cats.

Typed that with my own calico kitty in my lap

Sadly I can't bring her inside since the landlord is a stickler on pets. No pets allowed... T.T Not even a beta fish. But I make sure that nothing comes on to my porch except for her. I would love to have another cat and she's such a sweet heart. I go out a few times a day to pet her and give her love. If we find another place that allows pets I'm going to have to figure out how to catch her so that she can be an inside cat. (My last cat was 15 before he passed away. My brother's cat is going on 19 now and still going strong.) But I love cats and so want her to be my cat.

If you do find another place, you could try a live catch trap or setting food inside an open carrier for a few days before closing the door. Once at a new place, if you want her to be an indoor outdoor instead of just indoor, she'll need to be inside for at least a week so she doesn't try going back to the old place upon being let outside. My sister once moved, her cat got out too soon and was found at the place where she moved from

That happened to me once with my old cat. He got loose and went back the new owners had thankfully let him inside. XD It was kinda funny. I would definitely try a live trap or just getting her to trust me enough to pick her up and put her in to a carrier. Which might work, because she was sitting on my lap last night outside. :D But she would become an inside kitty. I don't want to worry about her while she's outside.

Glad she's getting friendlier and I hope you can take her with you if you do move

wonderful of you to offer her food and love; I bet she's an abandoned one, and I hope in time she'll trust you enough and join you in your home:)

Sadly I can't bring her inside since the landlord is a stickler on pets. No pets allowed... Not even a bird or fish. T.T But I will make sure she is perfectly happy and safe outside. Nothing comes on to my porch except for the raccoons that adopted me last spring. (They're cute little things, but they're big now... They used to knock on the door. XD )

My mom's doing the same thing with a girlcat she calls "Spot." She's a feral, and had a litter of babies when she first showed up. Mom took a lot of time and effort to get those kittens homes, and Spot spayed. Spot's still a wild and feral cat, but she's got food left out by my parents (Dad has a soft spot for any animal that's not a dog, and Mom loves everything that needs nurturing), and various safe spots around their house, so she's been doing quite well for herself.

I haven't given her a name yet. She's a cute little girl, but sadly I can't bring her inside since the landlord is a stickler on pets. No pets allowed... Not even fish. T.T But I put out food and water and gave her a nice box to sleep in. She's been doing great keeping the mice away. :D