Mr. Cat now meows at me.

[Ocelot II]

This morning he came running up the sidewalk meowing when he saw me come out to pick up the newspaper (so of course I fed him). Later in the afternoon he appeared on my deck when he saw me take trash to the alley, and meowed quite insistently (so of course I fed him again). I think this is more progress in his "domestication" since adult house cats meow only at people or their own kittens, and ferals don't meow much, if at all. Until now he only ever hissed in a rather perfunctory way when he thought I was getting too close. Now he "talks" to me, basically saying, "Feed me, human!" Progress!

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Yes! They meow at humans. Making progress! Is he touchable?

[Ocelot II]

4. I can't touch him, but he touched me when I held out a piece of chicken

and instead of taking it with his teeth he pulled my hand closer with a claw. So I've been able to get very close.

[PortTack]

2. Cats have 100 different meow sounds that evolved specifically to talk to their humans

They will change their meowing until they get the desired response, food, attention, play. They don’t actually meow at each other..trilling, hissing and other sounds are used to communicate with each other.

Such interesting creatures!

[TlalocW]

3. We've added another cat

To the apartment complex that is getting fed by various tenants, including me. I've decided to start setting traps for them so I can take them to see if they're chipped, and if not fixed, to fix them. I get the feeling they're either domesticated outdoor cats who are fixed because we haven't had any kittens (or maybe they're all males or all females), but I don't know if their owners abandoned them, or they hang out because we're soft touches. Anyway, the latest one is actually friendly and likes to be pet (the others run when you approach) so I was actually able to put it in a carrier and take it to be scanned. No chip, but it's fixed. It needed some time to warm back up to me, but a couple of days of food, and all was forgiven. He's name is Kenny. Another tenant named him that because he has one droopy eye like his dad, who was also named Kenny.

TlalocW

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Thank you SO MUCH for doing this.

[ailsagirl]

6. You rock!!! Thank you

🐈👍🐈‍⬛💕

[zuul]

10. Most vets will clip off the tip of the ear of a feral cat that is being returned outside.

If the vet know you plan to release the cat after spaying/neutering, they will clip the ear. It doesn't harm the cat, but it helps kind people like you to know if the cat has been altered. You don't have to get really close to see if a cat has been tipped. You can tell from a distance.

[TlalocW]

11. Well, the interesting thing is

That the cat has a part of his ear "clipped" or lost from a scrap, and I took a picture of the cat and sent it to my niece who is big in animal rescue, and she said that it doesn't look like any clipping she's ever seen.

And I know clipping the ear helps with all this, but it also annoys me that there's a bunch of asymmetrical cats running around.

TlalocW

[question everything]

7. How does Pixie react, if at all?

[Ocelot II]

8. I make sure she doesn't see him. She's prone toward epic hissy fits

when she thinks her territory is being invaded.

[Ocelot II]

9. He meowed again this morning when I served him his breakfast.

Guess that's what we're going to be doing.