A Christmas Present From Kitty, The Feral Cat

She just showed up about six months ago, a graceful white cat with a touch of tan, slinking across the lawn and looking back towards me over her shoulder. I've tried to act friendly but she won't let anybody get closer than about twenty feet from her, then she bolts!

Some evenings I'll sit out on the front porch and try to offer her a bit of fried chicken or hamburg, but even that won't get past her fears. I started leaving tasty morsels on the porch in the evening. They were always gone in the morning, but I was never sure if it was Kitty, a racoon, a rat, or what? All I knew for sure was that something had feasted on it.

One morning as I walked out the front door the first thing I noticed were the feathers. They were everywhere! Then I spotted the bluejay lying on its side, head chewed off, in the center of the walkway about three feet from the porch. A week or so later I was greated by a small decapitated rat on my front walk. Since then it seems like about once a week I find a present out on the walk, mostly small rats but occasionally a bird. I've been making a bigger effort to put out some table scraps every night and she seems to be spending more time in my yard, but I still can't get near her.