Is it normal for a stray cat to follow you around?
There was a stray cat that hung around my house. The cat seemed cool so I fed him with the leftovers from my lunch (a meaty fish) and I accompanied it while it was eating in my lawn. When I went back inside it bumped its head to my leg and I gave it a short, friendly pet.
The next day when I left for a nearby grocery store I found the same cat sitting down on the carpet on the porch. It meowed at me and bumped its head to my leg again and I returned it with a tickle to its chin. When I started walking it began following me and sometimes running quickly ahead of me and climbing a nearby tree before following me again, occasionally stopping right in front of me—and I stumbled after it. It seemed to be distracted by the appearance of another cat though, with which it sat and just stared at each other, and then it stopped following me. I didn't find the act annoying though, in fact I found it flattering!
It has been visiting my house again since then, just sits there on the porch and meows when it hears the door being opened. Sometimes I spare my lunch or dinner for it to eat. I don't plan on adopting it as a pet, though, at least not yet because I'm just not prepared to have a pet.
So yeah, back to the question—I'm just curious whether it is normal what the cat does. I'd also appreciate it if you could share some suggestions as to what I should do with the cat—is having a pet cat a pain in the backside?