Housecats are, according to wildlife biologists, one of the most predatory invasive species that can be brought into suburbia. But they are so soothing and they purr and love attention. And right now an incredibly elongated rescue from 4 years ago is on my shoulder making me sweat more profusely, while she is purring quite loudly.

Probably wants attention and of course to be fed.

Yes.  Which is why all my cats have been in-door kitties.  We have a screened in porch; that's their outdoors.

Enjoy your buddy.  

My current only cat, Mandy, is not a lap kitty.  She wants to be petted, but on her terms -- stretched out on the floor.  While I'm reading, she hops on the footstool beside the chair to be petted, but she won't get in the chair with me.

I have indoor kitties but there are a bunch of outdoor ones that show up demanding to be fed. I've managed to tame 2 of those.

Sounds as if you are a favorite destination for feral and semi-feral cats.

Yeah, there's a Millennial cat lady I know who probably has more feral and semi-ferals, and yet another fellow electronics geek that actually has deep enough pockets to have a near industrial scale trap / neuter / release program going, so I probably rank 3rd out of the regional "rural cat collection club".

I'm sure the feral and semi-feral cats in the area really appreciate you all.

Why did you get into feeding feral and semi-feral cats other than the obvious fact that they needed someone to do so?

MerlinsDad said:

Why did you get into feeding feral and semi-feral cats other than the obvious fact that they needed someone to do so?

That was what they needed. That, and they control rodents. Pack rats can destroy the wiring under the hood of a car and turn it into junk overnight.

With cats on patrol, I haven't had any more destroyed vehicles.

Yes, they can. Some car manufacturers use soy based casing on wiring, which smells like food to rats.

They gnawed up so much wiring under the hood of a 1986 Lincoln Town Car that it just had to be scrapped for parts. Admittedly it had nearly a quarter million miles on it, an had been driven for almost 20 years but the night the rats got to that wiring harness it just shorted out so much stuff and severed so many wires that splicing them would have taken months or years.

To keep another car running I managed to get hold of some stainless steel wire loom material that could be spiralled around wiring bundles. It was rather expensive and a lot of work to install it.

It’s very expensive even if you can do it yourself. It is even worse if you pay someone else to do it.