Gabriel

After his feral mom, Grace, Gabriel is still the shyest of the family that includes Ash, Saffron and Yale. Until recently, he tended to stick pretty close to mom. In the last couple of months, though, he's started to strike out on his own.

When Leslie introduced me to him last week, while he wasn't ready to come down from his safe perch above the door, he allowed me to slip a few treats up on the plank in front of him and even take his picture without causing him to bolt. After making the appropriate number of treat offerings, I was actually able to go as far as offer a fingertip for sniffing without a flinch.

This may not seem like much, but to those who've worked with feral, semi-feral or just plain scared cats know that being granted permission to reach that far into an animal's personal space is huge. That first finger tip to nose tip touch is just a start, true, but it can signal the start of a beautiful friendship.