Vampire Ginger. She only comes out at night.

Ginger, howling at the moon

When the first group of feral feline squatters moved into my yard, I fed them and basically tried to leave them be to do their thing.  Unfortunately, their thing was multiplying like rabbits and before long, they had overrun the place.  Live and let live wasn't working.  So the furry little squatters were spayed or neutered, whatever it took to keep them from multiplying.  Then I planned to revert back to live and let live.

But before the 'Great Spaying Exodus", one cat had a litter of five kittens on my porch.  Then she disappeared and I adopted her kittens.  So much for live and let live. 

This litter of five is different from the outdoor cats.  In fact they are different than any cats I've ever met.  Either they think they're human, they think I'm the mother cat or...they think they're my familiars.  My guess is they're a mix of all three.  Another interesting thing about this "tame" group is that they've retained their feline family trait of not liking humans.  They do tolerate the other humans living in the house but they tend to be  wary of them.  When company comes, the cats scatter in a panic and hide until the visitors leave.  They also dislike other cats.  Since Tommy's been moved indoors, they barely tolerate him.  Fortunately, I think, Tommy is bigger than the rest and a "tad" conceited.  It would never occur to him than anyone could dislike him.  Naturally, it would occur to him that he's hungry.  This hunger occurs to him at frequent intervals, twenty four hours a day.

Anyway, the feline fab five were quite upset when Ginger, the wounded feral was moved onto "their porch" to recuperate.  Fortunately, she's quite familiar with Tommy and he's been showing her the ropes.  Even so, Ginger's progress from outdoor cat to house cat has been slow. 

Ginger finally got bored enough on the porch to begin making midnight forays into the house.  These recon missions only happen late at night after all the other humans are asleep.  And there lies the problem.  Ginger is having an extremely hard time adapting to strange humans.  She's discovered a "safe" place under a couch and rarely comes out until it's dark.

Occasionally, I'll get exasperated in the morning and start moving the couch.  This will flush her out of hiding and cause her to bolt out onto the porch to hang with the others.  But.....before long, Ginger will be back under "her couch".  Until the sun goes down and the moon rises.  Hmmmmm..... 

Maybe I should hang a couple cloves of garlic under the couch..........