From Strangers to Friends: Befriending Our Neighbor's Cat

The pandemic has given me time to become more aware of our surroundings including cats visiting our home. Last year, I saw this cat for the first time and named her Sylvester because of her black and white hair. She was trailing on the water drums of the apartment next to our home. I was surprised that she didn't seemed scared with my presence, instead of running away, she stayed still and stared back at me.

I thought the cat was a he until this year, I found out that she was pregnant.

This cat began walking inside our premises after one cat with a fancy collar from the neighborhood frequently visited my aunt's house. At first, she would distance away when she sensed that I would come near her though after giving birth in our backyard, she have become friendly and approachable towards us.

She was so friendly unlike my aunt's cat who have developed some phobia towards us, especially me (lol), because I used to scare him away with a broom when he chases my feet when he was still kitten. When the black mama cat would see us coming, she would come near and slow down while staring at your legs as if she was having some second thoughts if she would rub her body into it. My mother dislikes it, not because she doesn't like cats, but because the cat headbutts your legs and bumps her body with full force. Haha! This cat is like a bull. On the other hand, I really like it when she does that! I can really sense her friendliness towards people even though she's a tough gangster towards other cats. I missed cats being friendly on me, our cats are usually scared with us due to my father disliking cats.

The black mama cat also has a weird meow compared to the cats in the neighborhood. I always hear her when I am here inside my room and I'm glad to finally know who's meow was it when I saw her last year.

And speaking of being a mama cat, she gave birth to two kittens.

Unfortunately, the black kitten died. I was sad since I am looking forward to it because I've been longing to have a black cat in the neighborhood ever since. Well, fortunately, the siblings has survived and looked healthy. There was one afternoon where we played with the kitten with a twine rope and he/she had fun playing with us. The kitten was full of energy, we gave up after several minutes of playing with the tiny kitty.

Just look at that lively meow!

Like the other kittens we had in the past, the kitten loves to walk around the plants, even stepping over the baby aloe veras. Meanwhile, the mama cat loves chewing the ends of the lemongrass. Lol.

I remember someone telling that it's not good to take photos of kittens and puppies because they'll die. Do you think that's true? I don't know if I should believe this or not but I like taking photos of kittens ever since and most of them died. Last year, all the kittens I took photos of died. And this year, the black kitten died as well. Maybe I should refrain from taking photos while they're still too young?

Anyway, let me end this post right here before the mood gets sad. I am really happy I have finally made friends with our neighbor's cat and they love spending their day in our backyard. :)