[LMB] OT: on-topic off-topic - cat indifferent need not apply

[James Nicoll]

On Wed, 2 Apr 2008, Elizabeth McCoy wrote:

> At 1:43 PM -0500 4/2/08, Mark Allums wrote:
>
>
> Ours came from the pound, and was dubbed "Mike." He's part Maine Coon
> cat from comformation and fur, and too blighted elegant to be a Mike.
> Or even a Michael, really. Ivan, though, suits him. O:>
>
I have a former lost cat called Cleo. He has a girl's name because he 
always turned up with a crowd of younger cats around him and I just 
assumed he was the mother. Once I caught him and the vet shaved off the 
armor-like mats in his fur we discovered that he was in fact male, 
although since he was neutered he wasn't even the father of the cats he so 
carefully took care of.

It turned out that he just likes other cats and the more attention they 
need from him, the more he likes it. He treats all of my cats like kittens 
(except for the psychotortie, who he avoids). He is particularly fond of 
the autistikitty Eddie, who none of the other cats will have anything to 
do with, and who apparently needs to be kept an eye on 24/7.

I am not sure any of my cats remember how to groom themselves any more. 
I've seen them walk up to him and demand grooming (Ophelia will usually 
then attack him when she's groomed enough).

One interesting thing about him is that while he is protective of the 
other cats and will, for example, wrestle Nameless (who is only the size
of a kitten) with one paw so as not to crush her (again) and while he 
adores my exgf, he sees me more as a chew-toy, the one person he can let 
loose on. There's nothing like waking up at 3 am to find a giant cat 
trying to disembowel one's arm.