One day a feral cat started showing up around the house. We named him “Gatito” and started leaving food out. When things got cold, we decided he needed a house (with a heat lamp and web cam of course!)
About a year after that another cat started coming around. We named him “Tuxi” because his coat made him look like he was wearing a tuxedo (little did we know “tuxedo cats” are actually a thing!)
Tuxi needed his own heated house of course, even though Tito’s could easily hold 6+ cats. Meghan took an active role in making Tito’s house, Lexi in Tuxi’s.
Both cats were caught/neutered previously in their lives by someone, because they each have the tell-tale “left clipped ear” of a cat that has been through a TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) program.
Sadly, despite all the food and heated shelter, the love is unrequited; neither cat has ever let us pet them. They are truly wild (and wildly cute).
UPDATE: Tuxi does now let us pet him, though he is still a little skittish sometimes. 4 new cats moved in too. Raisin (a small black cat), Ninja (an older black cat with a wounded hind leg, Penguino (another tuxedo cat who could be related to Tuxi), and Lightening (the biggest of them all; he reminds me of a Main Coon but he’s not quite that huge).
Lightening, Ninja, and Raisin had not been neutered. We found a great local charity, TAILS to help us trap them and get that taken care of. They also treated Ninja’s injuries. Lightening and Ninja are off to new homes (most likely a barn somewhere – just as well, they could both be a little mean) but Raisin came back. So now we have 4 cats handing around (Tito, Tuxi, Penguino, and Raisin). Lexi is making some progress starting to lightly pet Raisin.