To be, or not to be..... feral

Tonight I was feeding the animals, and generally I go in order of size.  Horses, dogs, cats, then the guinea pig.  While I was cleaning stalls prior to horse feeding, I heard a general ruckus in the barn.  Both border collies, the bearded house dog, and the two tame cats (Sabbath and Z) were all lined up, together, on top of the stack of hay bales in the barn, all staring down into the space between the hay and the wall.  When I heard angry cat noises, I poked my head into the barn aisle to assess the circumstances.  The dogs and cats were all trying to convince the feral cat, Maya, to come out and play.  She wants nothing to do with any of them, and has beat up the two tame cats on several occasions.  The dogs don't seem to realize that barking and talking won't encourage her to come out.  But it was an impressive team effort from all five of them!

The background to this story includes Sabbath's conversion to "tame" status.  He came to me as a recently neutered, short haired feral male, and was very skittish.  I was told by the extensively tattooed woman who delivered him from the cat rescue that his name was Sabbath, because he was black and named for the band.  She also said he sports a white bikini, if you can get him in a position to show you his belly.  Two white triangles near his armpits, and one white triangle between his hind legs.  Sabbath initially spent his time hiding in the feed room, though doing some excellent mouse control.  I neither saw nor heard him at all, but I knew he was there because he ate the cat food and left manure in the litter box.  He was hiding under a stack of pallets in the corner.  Finally, about six months after he arrived, he waddled out from under the stack.  He meowed at me and rubbed against my legs.  I pet him, and discovered he had become more of an ottoman than a feline, plus he had gained so much weight he couldn't groom himself and had terrible mats.  I fetched my de-matting brush and just held it in front of me.  He rubbed his cheek on it, then proceeded to wiggle his entire body through the tines, effectively removing the mats himself while I held the brush.  From that day forward he has been the most sociable, friendly, outgoing, dog-savvy cat I've ever met.  He shows off his bikini regularly, as he adores having his belly rubbed by either friend or stranger.  Perhaps he's trying to convince Maya that tame is more fun than feral? 

Sabbath sunning himself on the picnic table