This morning, when I went upstairs to check on Marlow and her kittens, I decided to be sneaky and disarm her first with a neko fly toy. She played quite vigourously inside the closet with the toy, then I took the wonderful black sheet and picked her up in it. I carried her over to the couch and sat down with her in my lap. She allowed me to pet her for just a few minutes, and we had a bit of a talk.

I told her I understood that she was a very good protective mom, but that I was there to help her and not hurt her. I wanted to be a part of her life and not have her drive me away at every turn. I was no longer restraining her at that point, but I could feel her essence and she wanted to be with her babies, so I let her go. She went immediately to their side.

I took a can of cat food (need to go shopping later for cat food) I took a deep breath, made sure not to meet eye contact with kitty and put my hand down into her sacred place. I could sense she was watching me closely- but there was no hissing-spitting or swearing at me this time. I placed the food on the plate and backed away and she went to eat. YAY! Of course this will have to be done repeatedly before she will even allow me to come in and spend time with her and the kittens, but it is a big step because it tells me, she is not feral or she would have attacked me as I entered the room. She just wants to protect her babies and perhaps she had more of them in the past and something happened to them. One thing I have learned all these years working with strays. Cats hardly remember the good things we do to them, but then NEVER forget the bad.