I enjoy putting a dish of kibble out for this neighborhood cat when I find her waiting at the back door, which of course mainly happens on workdays (since most days are workdays). I'll put the dish out, then go back upstairs to finish getting ready for work, and by the time I come back down to roll my bike out, the bowl is usually empty. If it isn't, I put the remaining kibble in a plastic bag and bring in the bowl. Sometimes several days go by where I don't see the cat at all, but a trail cam tells me that she does come by often, just not at the right time to catch me looking for her.
I used to put a small pile of kibble on the ground for her and leave it there. If The Fuzzy One left any uneaten, it would go to other neighborhood cats, and also squirrels, jays, and crows. By the time the raccoons and rats showed up after sundown, there would be nothing left but the scent of kibble past. My neighbor, whose lily pilly tree shows up in the background of the photo above, felt that it was a bad idea to attract the corvids because they would prey on the nests of birds that might be in the lilly pilly or his other tree, a native live oak.
So I've been more diligent about leaving food unattended, but if I'm around the house on the weekends I'll put a bowl out for The Fuzzy One and even leave the back door open so she can come in and nap in civilized comfort in the basement area and go back out when it suits her, and she likes to hang out with us when we're doing laundry or puttering in the garden.
I'll put a camera trap on her food dish every now and then to see if crows or ravens are coming down to snack on leftover kibble, or if any other non-cat critters are showing up in the daytime. So far, so good.
* * *
