I’ve just been going back over this thread and I realised I haven’t shared much about my cats. My 18 year old cat is the most unique cat that I have ever owned! Fred came into our lives as a 6 month old kitten who had been physically abused (kicked and pushed around) by his first owner (a lady who didn’t really want him and when she and her partner separated she left the cat and he was due to be taken to the RSPCA). I knew that with his background and temperament he wouldn’t be adopted so my partner and I took him in. For the first 2 or 3 years that we had him he would freak out and pounce on any females’ bare legs, digging his claws in and drawing blood. We had to warn all female visitors!
Other interesting things that Fred has done include:
-growling and pouncing on people walking past our house
-following us all the way to the nearby corner store a few blocks away so we ended up getting a harness and leash for him to come for walks with us
-going to the window and growling when unknown cars pull into the driveway
-running down the driveway to greet our car when we come home
-loving car trips - Fred would always try to jump in the car whenever we would go anywhere so he frequently went on short errands with us as well as accompanying us on 5 hr drives to visit our family
-jumping onto the bedside table and knocking everything off and onto us in the bed - including cups of water - until we would get up in the morning and give him whatever he wanted at that moment
-attacking a lost blue heeler that had wandered onto our property by jumping up onto the poor dog’s back and digging his claws in - it looked like he was trying to ride the dog
-randomly hitting any other animals that annoy him or are in his way
-to this day no one can pick up Fred or he will bite and not let go
-when he was sick at the vets, they had to wear a bite proof metal mesh glove when opening his cage to tend to him - they said that it is only usually reserved for biting dogs not scratching and biting cats!
Family and friends have always teased that Fred is a cat who thinks he is a dog with all his behaviours! My partner and I say that he isn’t our pet but rather a cat who lives in our house! We have given him a good life and that is worth it. Listening to his purrs while he sleeps on his heated pet bed on his own armchair that the other pets know to avoid. I truly believe he would have been put down if he had been taken to the RSPCA that day as a feisty aggressive kitten.
