Outdoor kitty friend

**This post is written by Mom**

Hi everyone. Thanks for the well-wishes. No baby bean here yet... should be only 2 or 3 weeks now!

You may remember that I was trying to catch a stray/feral kitty over the winter. I posted about it here and here. Well, after those posts and the day I fed her on the sidewalk, I didn't see her again for months. For several weeks I kept putting out the trap I had borrowed, and I took lots of walks looking for her, and all winter I carried a can of food in my coat pocket, but I never saw her again. Eventually, the lady I borrowed the trap from needed it back, so I returned it and just prayed that my sweet little tuxie girl found a safe place to make it through the winter.

Then, about two months ago, my husband reported sighting her while he was walking to our building after a late shift. It was dark and she was farther down the block so he couldn't give me any details about how she looked, but he could tell it was her from her limp. I was so happy to hear that she was alive and survived the winter! I meant to blog about it then, but I forgot.

Two nights ago, my husband was coming home after a late shift again (it was about 1am) and he called me from outside our building to tell me she was hiding under a car. So I threw on some clothes and grabbed a can of food and ran downstairs. I was able to coax her out with the food and get her on the sidewalk. She looked ok, a little scruffy and dirty, but here eyes were clear. She wouldn't let us get too close, but I again had the impression that she is used to being fed by people. Her ears perked and her head turned as soon as I popped the top on the can. She knows that sound! She was moving quickly through the food so my husband ran upstairs and got one of our carriers just in case and another can. At one point we had her half in the carrier eating out of a can of food! I thought we were going to catch her! But I think we were too ambitious and we spooked her. She ran in the bushes and wouldn't come out again for us. We were both heartbroken, but at that point she had eaten 1.5 cans of food, so we just couldn't lure her back out. I left the remaining half a can for her and went in to bed (it was almost 2am at that point).

Yesterday I retrieved the can from the bushes and the rest of the food was gone so I hope she ate it. Last night I put out another can in the same spot... secluded in the bushes where she had gone to hide and feel safe. This morning the can was nearly empty! We don't have a trap and she's so spooked I'm not sure I want to go that route right now anyway. Our plan is to put food out every night and get her used to coming to the same place, and then maybe try to trap her in a few weeks. Though, of course we are going to be very busy in a few weeks. We won't give up on her though! It's so tough because there are so many dogs and people around all the time. I have no way of knowing if it's her that ate the food, but I can't sit outside every night at 1am, especially in my current condition! And I'm worried that we blew it by spooking her.

For those with experience, does this seem like a good plan? I want to catch her, but I don't have quite the same sense of urgency I had in the winter. It's apparent that she can survive and take care of herself. She's fast, even on her limpy leg. She obviously found a place to get through the cold nights and winter storms. She's not nearly as filled out as Mattingly or Harlie, but neither is she scrawny. And it does seem that she has some experience being fed by people, so I think someone somewhere has their eye on her. I want her off the street, so I'm going to keep trying, but I also know these things take time. I read many stories when I was trying to catch her the first time, and I know sometimes it can take months to build up relationships and get them trapped. So I'm going to try to be patient. Again though, I welcome any advice!

Thanks for making it through this extremely long post! Mattingly and Harlie have a new one coming up later this week... I promise!