Woman feeds a tiny hissy cat who showed up on her porch, the cat refuses to approach her, but after a week, she waltzes inside and instantly gets adopted by the indoor giant Maine Coon: 'My Maine Coon thinks I got her a baby'

Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor

Jul 6, 2026 7:00 AM EDT

Sometimes, it takes a while for a stray cat to trust you. Other times, it's instantaneous.

I'm sure that most of you already know this, but just in case you don't, let me tell you from experience: gaining a stray cat's trust is something that takes time. It is a rare thing for a stray cat to instantly walk up to you and ask you to pet them. Nearly never happens. Always an honor when it does. It's about giving them time, space and respect, and even then, it could take… forever.

Even our building kitties, who a couple of neighbors and I feed daily, took their time trusting us. With one of them, it took a week. With another, a month. And with the third - our newest, a very loud ginger with a giant pair of puffballs - months later, I'm still working on it. Still, it's worth it. I know it is. Eventually, one of us will manage to get close enough to trust him and TNR him, which is what he really needs right now. And when it does finally happen, when they finally trust you, it always feels like the biggest surprise.

It took a week for the kitten whose story was shared on r/CatDistributionSystem to trust her new human. Not long by all accounts. But to her new owner, it felt long. And in comparison with how fast the kitten bonded with the Maine Coon in the house, well, a week is downright forever. One day, almost out of nowhere, she decided that she trusted the human enough to walk into the human's house. There, the kitten met the Maine Coon, but instesd of being intimidated by the huge cat, she walked right up to him and decided that he was her new best friend. And the rest is history.

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"Look at this thing that showed up this morning"

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It always starts like this, doesn't it? We always say that we won't do it, we won't adopt the kitten who has clearly chosen us. And then we do. Because that's just how the CDS is.
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"The progression of Pepper deciding I am safe"

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"Pepper Update: She’s Officially a House Cat"

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Sometimes, things are simply meant to be. It seems to us that she was just checking if you were safe enough to get to the other large catto in the house.
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