Enigmatic cat is enigmatic (now with pics)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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A few months ago I wrote about this weird little black cat that was hanging around, learning the difference between a meow and a hiss, and totally crushing on one of our cats. Well, Enigma is still around, still hitting on Mystery, and still an enigma.

We’ve settled into a routine where he comes to the door twice a day to eat. He also just seems to like singing duets with people. He still hasn’t let anyone touch him (that I know of), but he’ll come over to the door, sit a few feet away from, and strike up a conversation. He doesn’t hiss much anymore, either.

He’s been persuaded to come inside a few times. AFAIK he’s upstairs in the house right now. His first item of business is generally to go find Mystery and meow at her. She’s not really that impressed, but she lets him come over and touch noses with her. It’s kinda sweet, actually. Like a guy from a romance serenading his lover under her window.

No wait, he does serenade her under the window. She spends a good deal of her sleeping time in the library, which is windows just about everywhere that isn’t bookshelves, and he goes over to whatever window she’s closest to and sings to her through the glass. He really is a musical cat, our Enigma.

Twice now he’s encountered Tikva, the other cat. Tikva is not happy about him. Tikva is pissy and hissy about him. Enigma has wisely decided to leave her alone for the time being.

Enigma is still an enigma. We don’t know where he came from, if he was pet, stray, or semi-tame, or how old he is. Or when he’s finally going to start feeling comfortable around us. Or how long we’re going to have to wait to get him fixed and checked so that we don’t scare him off for good.

In the meantime, meow.

The pics:
Enigma and Mystery. I *think *he’s the one on top of the chair. Probably.
Mr. Mewsical by himself

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sigh also dyslexic poster is dyslexic

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Quite Handsome. They could be twins.

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Black Cats are my favorite!

RIP Herby

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Cute story and pics.

Some of my bestest kitties have been monochrome cats.

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Fixed it for you.

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Thanks. Now I feel slightly less silly.

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I was just about to post a cat thread. Mind if I post here?

The SO’s cat is weird. He sleeps on her all day. When it’s time for me to go to bed he gets all excited. ‘Oh, boy! Johnny’s going to bed! I’m going to go sleep with him!’ Nutty.

The other thing is this: We have one of those oil-filled space heaters in the living room. Since this is almost Canada, it does get a mite chilly in Winter. When the cat gets tired of lying on one or the other of us, he would go sit next to the heater. (In the middle of Winter he’d stick his nose in it.) Now that the weather is warming (lows in the 30s and 40s, highs in the low-50s) we haven’t turned the space heater on. But the cat still goes over and sits by it as he did when it was toasty. i don’t know what he expects. Maybe he just thinks he’s warm there.

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His lazy ass is waiting in case the heat turns on.

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I like how they assumed perpendicular cat loaf positions for the camera. Very fashion-forward in their little black suits :slight_smile:

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It sounds promising that he will come inside at all. The few feral cats I’ve known would usually freak out if they wound up inside or trapped on a screened in porch. If you think you might be able to keep him indoors for a day or three after, getting him fixed might actually make him more sociable. I have a rescued female that I worked with for months as a kitten and was never able to touch her until after she was spayed, and now she is very affectionate, between bouts of skittishness. Neutered males are usually more calm and less prone to wander, and less prone to injury in fights.

Good luck with the handsome Enigma!

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Wait, what?

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Also, arrangements are being made for a trapping and vet visit. (My mother suspects he has some sort of intestinal parasite, because he’s so skinny and hungry despite eating all the time). I wonder if he’ll still be as romantically inclined towards Mystery without his tom-parts.

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UPDATE: Enigma is fixed!

Some facts that have finally been determined:

-he is 1-2 years old
-he has almost certainly been feral all his life
-he’s got a clean bill of health

He doesn’t seem to have been too traumatized by the trapping- he’s still showing up to eat and sing, and he’s come into the house a couple of times already. He didn’t like when he tried to run into the crawl space and found I’d already shut the door. (What is it with cats and crawl spaces, anyway? Scared cats always seem to end up there). Oh yes, and he’s got a large blue collar now. And Mystery’s got a pink collar. So that should work to tell them apart until they lose them (and if he’s anything like Mystery, he’ll lose his collar at some point).

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Enigma was broken? He looked fine in the pictures!

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Progress: this morning Enigma let my mom pet him. Yay!