Feral Baby & Indoor Cat Interaction

Wondering what everyone’s take is on this:

I have a 15 year old indoor baby that each day I take out for a short walk along the sidewalk in front of my door to give her a little outside time. She’s not one for toys these days so this is my way of enriching her life. She loves to watch the birds and swat at the occasional butterfly.

There is a feral baby I’ve been feeding for a few months now on the other side of the gate that’s about 20 feet outside of my front door. No contact yet, he lets me get sort of close but not too close. I purchased a trap, contacted a local rescue and made a few attempts but no luck yet. I’ll keep trying.

Sometimes, while the feral baby is eating, my indoor baby comes outside and I give her pets and let her smell some grass, but don’t let her get anywhere close. They’ve made eye contact a bunch of times during this and he’s watched me pet her, pick her up, etc.

Today, the feral baby came over to my side of the gate after eating and sat, so I sat on the ledge of my doorway - the door was propped open a bit for me to be able to sit. My indoor baby comes down and pops her head out, so I let her come out right in front of me and feed her a churro treat and give her lots of pets while she purrs and rubs on me - all while the feral baby watched.

She wants to take a short walk so we walk down the sidewalk away from the feral - who then comes to the sidewalk and follows us. I stop and crouch down to my indoor baby, petting her, but moreso to protect her and make sure nothing happens. The feral baby comes up a few feet away, and they spend a few minutes looking at each other and smelling the air towards each other. There’s no signs of aggression, no puffed up tails or arched backs - to my eye it just looked like curiosity. He then walks away.

Do you think him being able to see my interaction with my indoor baby on a consistent basis has translated in anyway to me and her being a safe space? Or is he just being a cat and making sure my indoor baby isn’t a threat to his food source?