When Smoky Met Snowball

Since Smoky the feral cat has been home from her forced sterilization last week, our family has been watching her closely. We were curious how she would react to her 24-hour field trip to the Humane Society. Surprisingly, she has still been spending a lot of time hanging out on our porch. I guess it has something to do with the food and water we keep out for her.

We have also been curious how Smoky and Snowball, her son that we rescued, would react if they saw each other. To that end, we have encouraged Snowball to hang out near the front door or his window seat by the front porch. The mother and son first spied each other on Thursday and stared intently at each other for several minutes.

Today, we again opened the wooden front door while Smoky was relaxing on our porch. Remembering that she had previously seen Snowball in the house, Smoky sat patiently and stared through the glass door to the inside of the house.


When we beckoned Snowball to the door, he curiously checked out Smoky while she meowed to him. (Oh how, I would love to know what each cat was thinking.)


Smoky didn't seem upset or agitated by Snowball's status as a house cat. The mother cat even watched patiently as Snowball enjoyed a tummy rub from one of his humans. Smoky definitely seemed more enthralled with Snowball than he was with her. I think that Smoky absolutely recognized Snowball as one of her kittens, but I'm not so certain that Snowball realized that Smoky was anything more than another cat.


Since both Smoky and Snowball seemed to enjoy their interaction, we'll definitely leave the front door open more often so mother and son can communicate some more.