Not all feral cats want to live in a loving home.

This is what a grumpy cat told me the other day.

He had been taken into a home after being injured in the street. He was taken to a vet to be fixed up, and then welcomed into a loving home with another cat and humans who wanted to give him the opportunity to enjoy cuddling and human companionship and safety.

He preferred to stay under the bed.

They did not ask their existing cat what she thought of bringing the feral guy into the home. She was not amused. She told me he smelled funny, he was rude, and he was stinking up the house. She thought he should live outside.

He agreed.

The human and I tried to show him what it could be like if he started interacting with humans, but he did not get it.

I asked him to show me how he had lived before being injured. He showed me a big tree and grass—he really liked being outside—and he showed me food bowls being put down by human hands. But he had no connection to the humans. He just liked the food.

And he really wanted to go back to that independent life.

The human was sad to let him go. The house cat was not.

We can offer human interactions to animals, but they don’t always want to embrace it.