On Taming Feral Cats & Grace

So Mama kitty is in the house.  

She let me pet her and rubbed up against me this morning.  Now normally I like to take this more slowly but she is BIG and the weather has been terrible and it could snow any day.  And I need to have access to those kittens to tame them if there's any chance of them finding another home.  I'm not going to stay here and can't be raising dozens of barn cats.  So I picked up by the scruff of the neck and put her in her own room.  She's not happy and there won't be any petting for awhile.

But she will get used to it.  She'll be warm and fed and realize soon just how safe she really is.  I think she will turn out to be a friendly cat.

I've never had any trouble taming feral cats.  But this is the secret.  Patience and letting them be.  I've had cats live in my house for months and even years who never wanted much to do with me.   Eventually, they came around.  I still have one who will run away if I approach her but every time I sit down she jumps up in my lap. 

There's a show on Animal Planet called "My Cat from Hell" where this guy with tattoos and a goatee and a guitar case full of cat toys goes around solving the cat problems of  stupid cat owners who have no business having cats.  

I could do his job but I'm not nearly as interesting looking as he is.  

The most common problem is these idiots chase the cat and pick them up when the cat obviously does not want to be held and then are surprised that the cat has tried to rip their face off. The secret to cats is letting them decide the parameters of the relationship.   

You want to control an animal, get a dog. 

 Most shelters will euthanize feral cats because nobody wants a cat that just lives there and doesn't give you anything back.   But to me, letting a feral cat share your home is a way to express grace.  You take care of the cat, love it, take care of its needs and demand nothing back from it.   When it is ready to reciprocate, you appreciate and accept, however, it does that.  I believe that is what God does with us. 

 I wish we could be free enough to love others this way.

So now Mama Kitty is hiding and fearful and I wish I could make her understand that all I want to do is care for her and she is better off with me.  Is that  not like Adam and Eve hiding from God in fear when all God wants to do is enjoy a cool walk in the garden with them?  I will be patient with her as God is patient with us.  And pray to have the same patience with people.