Astro is not feral anymore

When we moved to this house in Maine in August 2022, Astro was the one feral cat left over from a litter of four “barn cat” brothers, two of whom disappeared a year or so before we moved here, and one (Sputnik) moved close to my neighbors (fed by them but still wild and feral) and he still hunts on the property.

Astro was the only one who came around, and decided to move into the barn on a cold night in January 2023. So much happened since.

Astro in hunting mode, December 2023

I introduced Astro on this post. and our friendship continued in this story.

Around January, as the days went on, Leilani, our horse, declined, and I spent more and more time outside with her when I came home from work. One of those nights (then he only approached the house in the dark), I saw Astro looking intently at the barn, wishing he could go in…. and as I moved away, he managed to enter, and after he examined all the wonderful hay in there, he never left!

Astro by the barn door, thinking about moving in.

He became very friendly in a very short amount of time. I had had experience with feral cats, kittens, and of course wild horses, and I know feral cats don’t “turn around” and become friendly often, unless they are kittens, or very old/frail. Astro is 3 years old, at the top of his game, and he still was becoming incredibly friendly and craving connection and contact.

By February he was hanging out with me on the front porch during daytime, and let me pet him on the stairs of the barns (him being higher and close to his escape route made him feel safer). He became this ball of love who was always up for pets and friendly chatter. He also drooled from all the excitement.

As winter turned to spring, he started to be visible more during the day, and the dogs got to meet him. At first they would bark, even if they saw him out on the porch thru the window. But in truth Astro was not bothered by them too much, and soon enough the dogs understood he was becoming part of the family. Having lived with cats before, both dogs knew cats and were actually a little afraid of them.

And then we discovered that Astro LOVED the dogs. Soon enough, when we walked outside thru the barn, Astro who by then had moved downstairs and took catnaps on a cardboard cat bed, greeted the dogs with rubs and enthusiasm! The dogs were shocked at first, they never had a cat be friendly with them before.

At some point early on I figured Astro would love some brushing and so I bought a brand new brush for him, and from day 1, the brush became a very enticing gadget that allowed our friendship to move to the fast track. He loved being brushed! I could show him the brush from some distance away, and he’d run to get brushed! He still does that.

Thru the summer Astro became more and more friendly, and started coming into the house thru the open door from the barn into the house. Later in the summer when we installed a screen with magnetic closure, he learned to come thru that in one day (he was scared first, but he does conquer his fears quickly).

Day after day, Astro stayed around longer, and gone were the days when he hid till dark. He was eating near us, hunting mice, hanging in the barn, walking around with the dogs, and doing all the other great cat things cats do.

A friend of mine told me she was sure he was a Norwegian Forest cat, and to look them up. I did and he fit the description to a T!
- Friendly but independent and adventurous….. yep!
- Great hunters … yes! (we have had the talk about no birds… so far he’s only killed 3, but he brings mice in every day).
- Intelligent… he is super smart!
- Calm, medium energy … absolutely, he is pretty calm for a 3 y/o cat.
- A collar - of extra hair - at the neck… yes, as a matter of fact it makes him look like a lion :)
- Heavy tufting between the toes….it’s like he’s walking on his fur. It’s to keep his paws warm in really cold weather.

The list went on and on, describing him perfectly, except… that they don’t mention how loving and cuddly he can be. So maybe he got that gene somewhere else.

Bodhi was so tentative with Astro for a long time. It took Astro’s patience and persistence for Bodhi to come around a bit more and enjoy the connection.

Astro started coming for walks with us every day. The dogs were not walking a lot or fast; Masai was too tired by then. So Astro could trot over with us, mostly to the other side of the driveway. He would not follow us into the woods and around, but he’d be going off on his own adventures and reappear later on.

Before the dogs declined and left us in September (I have not been able to write about that, honestly not sure I ever will), Astro starting coming in the house and sleeping in the house at nights. We had made a deal (I did all the talking) that for his safety he would be in at nights, even on a full moon, warm summer night… the very best time for a hairy and hot cat to be out lounging on the driveway, but also not the best time for a cat to be out.

Astro for the most part agreed with this deal, except some nights he just would not come when called, no matter what. I would leave the barn door open slightly for him on those nights, and he would always be sleeping on his cat bed in the mornings.

Astro loved Bodhi

But one morning he wasn’t there.

I absolutely panicked and threw on some clothes and went out to call him. I walked everywhere in the vicinity, and even the horses followed me around, concerned in some way. I walked back to the house and sure enough, about 20 minutes from the time I started calling, he showed up. And that’s when I had the little chat about the fact that we were his family now and he needed to come home, he couldn’t just fall asleep somewhere because it felt good (it had been a beautiful, warm night), and it wasn’t just him on his own anymore. I don’t think he heard me, as most cats do what they want, but he was always on his bed on those occasional nights he didn’t stay inside, from then on. (UPDATE more than a year later: he has never missed a night in the house since the summer of 2023).

Sleeping in on a rainy summer day

As Masai declined, Astro started spending more time inside the house at nights, and he started following me upstairs in the bedroom. He had never been there, and when he jumped on the bed one night and then proceeded to cuddle with me, as if he had been doing it for years, it definitely was an unbelievable act of trust; he also seemed to know I needed some extra care at a challenging time. He was definitely being a bright light.

Astro with his head on my shoulder, right from the get-go. He jumped on the bed, rolled around a bit, and when I made myself comfortable, he did too.

I have the tendency to start a blog and then not finish it till later…. Now it’s December of 2024, the dogs have left us over a year ago, and it’s just Astro. He’s sleeping on my desk as I write, in his basket. It’s been cold lately and he’s going in and out of the house multiple times a day (guess who is at the door opening and closing it). He’s gotten very comfortable with both of us, but runs at the sight of anyone else. He’s very comfortable with the horses and walks by them every day, crossing into their paddock to go hunt, but he does move away if they try to approach him.

Almost every day I wonder how did I get so lucky to adopt a cat so fabulous in every way? He is truly the best cat.