I’m on the third floor of an apartment building and recently started putting out bird seed on my balcony.

A couple of little squirrels are among the visitors and they look very small, possibly young. My cats watch the squirrels through the sliding glass door and sometimes bat at them through the glass. 

The part that worries me is that these little fluffs don’t seem afraid of them at all. One in particular will come right up to the door, sit there, and look at them like this is a tiny polite meet-and-greet.

My concern is that this could be dangerous for the squirrel. I don’t want them learning that cats are harmless, because obviously these cats are only harmless because there’s a door between them.

So my question is: should I be worried about this? Is there a chance this squirrel could start associating cats as non-threatening because of this setup? Should I stop putting out bird seed, move it farther away from the door, close the blinds/window when the squirrels come around, or is this not really a problem because the glass barrier makes this a totally different situation?

I’m not trying to tame or befriend the squirrel. I just don’t want to accidentally make it too comfortable around predators.

My cats have a tiny squirrel fan club. Should I be worried?