my cat's relationship with feral cats ? (kittens, male, food, meowing)

[JedsterxD]

i asked similar questions regarding my cat but no answers that helped me understand my cat's behavior.
a brief history of me and my cat: i found my cat when i was walking with my friend. he was a stray cat and before i took him in (after begging so many times to my mom at that time) i made sure he wasn't owned by anyone. luckily he wasnt and he became part of our family.
he's a very sweet, gentle and patient cat and because he was stray he became an outdoor/indoor cat. he comes and goes whenever he likes (surprising me with his lovely presents). one day, i saw two/three cats around the garbage area and i thought nothing of it until i saw a whole bunch of kittens and i realized they were mostly feral cats as they always run away whenever i give them food or dont want any interactions with humans whatsoever. however, my cat saw me give these cats food. after that, i started to witness a lot of interactions between my cat and these cats and im hoping some of you can understand and give me an insight of my cat's behavior and relationship with them. ill try to keep them short as i can and some of them may not be in order.
first: as my dad and i were driving my bf home we saw our cat walking casually across the road with 3/4 cats (black, black and white) and i was certain that those cats are the same cats at the garbage area and this was during night time.
second: my sister and i saw our cat and a certain black and white cat walking together at night or early in the morning. our cat would be on top of our shed and the other cat on the ground.
thirdne day i saw my cat sitting face to face with a black cat near the garbage area. they were just staring at each other and i thought it was a perfect opportunity for me to interact with the cat. i brought some treats and slowly crawled towards them. the black cat saw me and i expected him to run but he didnt. my cat slowly walked towards me and wanted to be petted, occasionally looking back at the cat. he stayed with me for 10-15 minutes until he went back to the cat. as he was walking back, i slowly crawled towards the black cat but he ran away. i was disappointed but in the end, i felt like my cat was showing the cat that im harlmess and that he trusted me. idk lol.
last one: this happened just an hour ago. i was watching BBT when i heard meowing in my backyard. not the typical meow but sort of a low and long meow. i looked out my window and saw my cat. the thing is; my cat never meows to be let in and i thought it was very strange and unusual for him to do that. i went down anyway to open the door for him but as i was about to unlock the door i saw a black cat climbing up on our fence and my cat followed suit. after 30 minutes, my cat came back but he didnt meow. he waited outside our house until i opened the door for him. when my cat settled himself in my room i heard something climbing on our fence and i saw the same black cat again and he was just chilling there lol

there are a few more of these kind of interactions but i just wanted to mention the ones that really hit me and i hope someone can explain these kind of behaviours. i know it may be territorial stuff but the first encounter and the rest just didnt add up. is my cat part of the feral cats living in the garbage area?
if someone can explain this to me, i would appreciate it
thank you

[Lyndarn]

Has your furbaby been spayed?? That could explain the visitors? You are lucky my friend..as your fur buddy doesn't act feral at all..as they always avoid any HUMAN CONTACTS..For them' they fear and have no trust at ALL!!

Alternative would be your besets fur-friend IF out on the streets long obviously exhibits some sort of authority to those other cats?? But that would not explain why he/she would even allow to be handled by humans??

Since you haven't mentioned male/female gender have no clue how to answer you question...hugs..

[JedsterxD]

Originally Posted by Lyndarn

Has your furbaby been spayed?? That could explain the visitors? You are lucky my friend..as your fur buddy doesn't act feral at all..as they always avoid any HUMAN CONTACTS..For them' they fear and have no trust at ALL!!

Since you haven't mentioned male/female gender have no clue how to answer you question...hugs..

sorry i guess i forgot that tiny detail lol
my cat is male and he is already spayed

[mawipafl]

What comes to my mind is that your cat is not a stranger to the feral colony. Sometimes (many times) people drop off unwanted cats in colony areas, and that could explain why yours is friendly to you and yet buddies with the ferals - maybe yours wasn't just a stray, and instead had been ditched by an owner.

I don't think your act of feeding the ferals in the presence of your cat was actually any sort of trigger to start your cat's interaction with the ferals. I'll bet he knew they (including the kittens) were there long before you did. Your awareness of this "new" behavior may be explained simply by the fact that you have a new heightened awareness of the ferals.

However, the feral black cat observing the interaction between you and your cat was a case of the black cat learning something. But I don't believe your cat was purposely showing the black that you're harmless. Adult animals purposely teach the young certain things by having the young observe, and although it does happen, it's rare for an adult animal to purposely teach another adult. It could be that your cat is one of the rare ones or it could be that your cat was just doing what cats do - in their own little world when they want something they go for it with a never-you-mind attitude about what other cat may be around. When I'm tossing treats to my cats their primary and secondary and tertiary goal is to get the treat before it runs away (it is an inbred instinct that food has an ability to run away), and their fourth goal is to think "get My treat before anybody else does". With your cat wanting to be petted, that was his goal and he probably was not thinking about the black cat at all.

Your cat's long and low meow could mean a bunch of different things. It could mean your cat is telling the black "this is my turf", a territory thing. But maybe not. I wouldn't jump to any conclusion and remain neutral in your thoughts until you can watch more interactions between your cat and the black. If the black is also a male, the two could be trying to establish a pecking order. If the black is a young male, he may be learning how to be an adult male by watching yours - your cat may not mind this or he might find it annoying. If the black is a female, that changes things. Presuming the feral females are not spayed, even though your male is neutered, that doesn't always remove the desire to procreate. Before your cat was neutered he may have learned an association that when a female cat is in estrous, he's supposed to behave in a particular way (even though he no longer has the physical burning desire to do so).

1) Was your cat already neutered before he became part of your family or did you have it done?

2) How old is your cat? Can you guess the ages of the black and the black-and-whites?

3) Have you been able to figure out which of the others are male or female?

I love observing behavior, and one piece of advice is to remain neutral and not actually analyze small bits and pieces to conclude one thing or another. It's putting all the bits and pieces (all the small events) into one big group that helps an observer start to get a better idea of what actually may be happening. It's also a good idea not to make any specific conclusions, but to think about all kinds of possibilities. We can come to wrong conclusions if we start with a particular theory and then apply our observations to that theory while we're seeing the events. In other words, if your theory is that your cat's long and low meow was a territory-protection cue, then whenever you hear it again that's what you'll be thinking instead of noticing what else might be going on.

One thought I do have is that your cat's personality makes him not a threat to the colony which is why he can hang out with them, at least with most of them. It could be that he doesn't care at all about territory, theirs or his, or he might only care to protect a very small territory - he may consider his yard as his or only consider his door to inside the house as his or may be so laid back that he doesn't have a territory he feels he needs to protect.

Gather more observations. But don't jump to conclusions. If the ferals become more unafraid of you, it could be that you're witnessing a rarity of your cat purposely teaching OR the ferals as individual learners could be getting used to your presence. The black cat appearing in your yard could mean he/she was following your cat OR following your scent because you are a food provider.

[JedsterxD]

you sir/madam have become my hero xD i was hoping someone can explain these things to me but i was surprised to see your long answer which i am grateful for
ill keep a look out whenever my cat is outside more and observe where he goes etc
as for your questions:
1) he was neutered when i took him in along with my deceased black cat. the thing is though, those cats werent there before i took my cat in or maybe i just didnt notice them. i only started to notice them when it was decided that the area they are currently living in will become the garbage area. it may be possible that my previous black cat interacted with them at one point and i didnt notice it.

2) im not exactly sure how old my cat is but the last time i went to the vet (last year) he said that my cat may be around 5/6 years old. i remember the kittens were a mixture of black, black and white and just white colour and their parents were black, and white cats. im guessing the cats ive seen my cat hanging around with are the offsprings and they may be just around 1/2 years old.

3) unfortunately, until now i have no idea if they are male or female. i cant get close to them to figure that out

i havent provided the cats with food for a long time as ive been busy but they seem to be healthy and i watched the kittens grow.
thank you for taking your time to answer my question

[RcHydro]

I think we've all chased the opposite sex from the wild side. I guess cats are no different.