Sugar is a beautiful white female. I found her sleeping in a box in my breezeway last winter (2001). She seemed feral and would not come near me. But she would show up for food. After awhile she came when she knew I was out--but never close enough to touch. She was so clean and dainty.

 

As Spring approached, she also seemed quite popular with the male cats. Something had to be done so I decided to trap her. It wasn't easy. Several time she went into the trap, daintily stepped over the trap, ate the tuna, and left licking her lips. Finally in March I got her and took her to be spayed. None too soon as she was in heat . I hoped to keep her in the house after being spayed and slowly tame her, but she was so freaked out in the house. She wouldn't eat for days and seemed so distressed I let her go. I didn't see her for weeks and thought that was the end of it.

 

 

Then she showed up to eat. Very skittish. If she even saw my face in the window she would run and hide in the garage. One thing I noticed is how easy it was to sneak up on her and I realized that she is deaf. this was confirmed on the fourth of July when the other cats would run away at the sound of firecrackers and she jut looked at them like "what is the matter with you?" Gradually as the weather warmed, she would venture out of the garage and watch me and the kids play outside with the other kitties. She became braver and braver, following me around in the garden. If we left the door open she would come into the house to eat. Then one day in July she was laying in the sun and one of the kids pet her. She thought that was pretty nice.

After that it was easy to convince her to come into the house to eat and sleep at night. Now she is just one of the gang.