Ami was more than 1 year old when we brought her home and made her our official cat.
She is my 1st adopted-from-stray cat and I would love to share some of the differences she has on her compare to those homegrown cats I owned before.
When she was still wandering around our meat shop, we take to her friendly nature and gave her fresh raw grounded meat for breakfast while the neighbor supply her with daily fish, not bad for a stray cat I'd say. Eventually that leads to her breeding in our shop twice a year, all the while staying with us and never leave the vicinity of her supplier shops. These time spent with us made her closer and much fonder of us. During her 2nd batch of litter with us, probably due to her increased weight the delivery didnt go well and we took her to a vet to get help. (We prepared a box in a dark quiet corner for her but after awhile she jumps out from the corner dragging her kitten still wrap with the womb and umbilical cord, we cant just leave her like that.)
3 months later the same thing is about to be repeated but this time we decided to sterile her before she can mate again. Then comes the long story of how she move between home and shop in our car every other morning till she finally settle down at a warm corner of our home ( beside the exhaust of our fridge) sleeping half her days away.
Ami is therefore well trained in several aspects in which gives her the characteristics of an independent stray cat way.
For one, she can defend herself against most dogs, she'll run away but she doesn't freak out like a crazy cat when she sees our dogs.
Probably because she had to live with the climate sometimes she didn't get into the shop when we close, she doesn't mind getting wet at all and I once saw her napping while it drizzle outside.
Another thing would be her gourmet side. Being accustomed to the varieties of food available at the shop bazaar, heavily seasoned food drives her crazy and she would begs for them. We give in mostly but only share with her small bite of the stuff. So far we know she likes, Roasted Pork, Braised meat, Fried food, and most human food. (The Salty Dog!)
