Cat O' the Day: Bruna!

Gorgeous here came to us on April 3 of 2019, very pregnant...and delivered five lovely, healthy babies two days later.  She was a great mother, as virtually all of them are, and the babies thrived.  They were soon joined by Eliza and her three, with whom, unusually, she was reluctant to share a room.  Eliza and her three were moved immediately! Usually the feral mothers co-exist peacefully. 

Bruna let us into her room, wary but understanding that she and the babies were safe.  

Time went on, babies found homes, after twelve months old or older, with two remaining to this day..Bruna stayed in the back three rooms of the house.  One other mom and five were there, and the babies all mixed and mingled.  Bruna got spayed...see the eartip in the first photo. I had thought of releasing her, as she had had a caretaker, but when he came to visit, she did not want to say hello, and we decided she'd be better off here. He had been feeding her at the edge of a shopping center..dangerous and who knows how permanent a situation. We were right: the man never called again.

Bruna finally moved out of the back bathroom (it's big, with lots of windows) into the middle room with the other mother.  Fun was had, at least for the babies.  The other mother was not trusting of humans. I had to put a barrier between the babies when they were too little to jump down onto the condo from the cage, as they needed to be handled in order to learn to trust humans...
Bruna spent a LOT of time on this counter...but slowly, at a glacial pace, started to move around, to use the window seat, to come to the door to the rest of the house...still unfolding,her blossoming. The other cats, including her kittens, come into her space, and one sits with her on the window seat a lot...I can pet him, and thus come closer to being able to pet her...

After she got spayed, and before it got cold, I left the door from the back bathroom to the yard open, but she never ventured out...Will do again when it warms up...I like to be able to pick them up, to not have them run from me, before I let them out, but....we'll see how things unfold. Love you, Bruna!!