On a warm summer night four years ago, my daughter in law tripped on something unseen on my front porch steps, bending to see what was there she discovered a little orange tabby kitten. He was only 3 or 4 weeks old, too young to be outside roaming the neighborhood. When she brought him in the house and put him in my hands it was love at first sight. I lifted him to my face to get a better look and he began to lick my face purring and rubbing my cheeks and lips like no other cat I had ever held before. I was horrified when I discovered some terrible person had cut all his little whiskers to the nub. Upon further inspection I found this little orange angel had been badly abused at such a tender age, his ears stuffed with dirt and small stones and dirt had been forced into his rectum. My heart went out to this little boy! I had my own mother cat who had recently had a litter of 4 that were approximately a week younger than this little foundling. Though I knew he would not be received too happily buy the mother cat, Baby, I chose to keep him.
I took him into the bathroom and proceeded to get the dirt out of his little ears and to clean him up. You would think he would have resisted this effort, not my Loco, he purred and purred as I dug the dirt out of his ears and washed the filth off his little body. I noticed he was very bloated and knew I had to get the debris out of his bottom. I got a few cotton balls and moistened them with warm water, applied some dish soap to them and began to massage his rectum, getting a few drops of the soapy water inside. He continued to purr and show me how much he appreciated my efforts to give him relief. After a couple of hours in the bathroom using the cotton balls he began to pass some gas, I was never so joyful over gas. As he opened up I was able to finally get some soap in there and stimulated him to the point where he was able to push some of the pebbles and dirt out. By this time it was 4:00 am and I needed to get some sleep. As much as I wanted to take him into my bedroom I knew that would cause Baby great concern as the nesting place for her own kittens was a nice private hideaway I had made for her in my closet. I placed a dish of water, some softened Kitten Chow, and a nice soft blanket in the bathroom and headed for bed.
I was greeted in the morning with so much love from this tiny kitten I actually wept! As little as he was he nearly tripped me as he was rubbing all over my feet and trying to climb up my pajama bottoms into my arms. I picked him up and we had a little love fest as he licked the tears off my face and rubbed his soft whiskerless muzzle into my cheek. I was overjoyed to see several piles of stones and finally a real bowel movement in the litter box, I had saved him. My mother cat was none to pleased to have this interloper in her kingdom and hissed and growled at my newfound love. Understanding her need to protect her own precious babies I did the best I could to allow her to deal with him without hurting him. A tenuious peace treaty was reached and little Loco found acceptance with my two pit bulls.
I learned the next afternoon he was the baby of a neighborhood feral cat and belonged to my next door neighbor. I was crushed to have to return him to the people that had hurt him so badly. After a stern lecture and a promise that I would be checking on the condition of this kitten I tearfully gave him back. That didn't last more than 6 hours! I heard a scratch at the door and there he was again, looking for me to let him in the door. I picked him up and marched next door preparing to give these people a piece of my mind, not a very nice piece either. The man who answered said they didn't want the cat and the little girl couldn't have him anymore. I was overjoyed and he became mine that day. I named him Loco as he was crazy in love with me and had come from Spanish speaking neighbors, a prophetic name indeed.
Four summers later I have a bond with this cat like no other bond I have had with an animal before. He is the naughtiest cat I have ever known, his instincts are strong and his behavior is that of a wild cat much of the time. He is also the most loving, caring, sensitive cat I have ever been around. He is the leader of my little pack of 4. Sadly a careless daughter let the mother cat out and I was never able to find her which was heartbreaking for me and the two kittens of hers I chose to keep. This was the turning point in Loco's social status, going from the "redheaded step child" (the others were black and tortie) to the "leader of the pack" overnight.
His behavior is outrageous. He can open cabinet doors and regularly gets stuck in my food cupboard, he upends everything in the cabinet in his exploration. It is impossible to defrost any sort of meat where he can get it, he eats any raw meat he can find, chicken is his favorite. The garbage is his personal favorite place to find things. He will retrieve small pieces of vegetables for batting toys, nibble on leftover food of any sort, and shred any paper or plastic products that I cannot recycle that are in the trash. Needless to say, no garbage can be left overnight. He insinuates his way into any effort to prepare food, I constantly am placing him on the floor as he insists he has more culinary skill than I do. Moving Loco isn't simply a matter of giving him a gentle push and him jumping down, it is a battle of wills. As I am pushing him toward the edge for him to jump down he is pushing me back, when his efforts at the tug of war prove fruitless he begins a boxing match. He sits on his hind legs and swipes at me with his paws getting quite angry that I dare to oppose him. In frustration I give up picking him up and putting him on the floor myself, depending on his mood this scene is repeated until he gets bored.
Nail trimming is a regular part of cat care in my home and he hates it. I always choose him first as his behavior is so funny and so outrageous, the other cats already know that I am not giving in by the way I handle him. At first he looks very annoyed, ears flattened and eyes half opened he lets me clip the first one or two with little fuss. Then the fun begins, the first line of Loco defence is hissing, as I gently press his paw to reveal the nail tip. I laugh at him and continue my clipping. His next escalation is wiggling and hissing together, the wiggling proves fruitless his hisses become more and more ferocious. By now there are only a couple nails left and he begins to growl, spitting and seething with rage. I am usually laughing so hard at this point that I can barely finish. He never tries to hurt me or scratch me, he just wants me to know how much he doesn't appreciate my clippers or me.
Sharing a large food bowl with the others, he has a way of telling everyone to back off when the bowl gets low. He places both of his front feet in the bowl, sits down comfortably and proceeds to get a snack, looking defiantly at anyone who passes by. I purchased one of those self filling water dishes that gurgles when the water is released into the dish from the reservoir. Loco does a very particular dance of pawing and hopping around before he taps the reservoir to release more water, it doesn't matter how full the dish is, he must add fresh water. He gets the funniest look of satisfaction on his face when that gurgle sound is made. When the dish gets too low, he just knocks the entire thing over to alert me to the need for fresh water.
As humorous as these things are, the way he relates to people are most unique and hilarious. Loco runs to the door like a dog whenever someone approaches, as the door opens he sniffs and follows them to their seat. Jumping up on the couch beside them he will sit and stare at people like a very badly behaved and rude child. Most find this amusing, but I have friends and family that are afraid of cats and find nothing funny about this. (With 4 cats it amazes me they even visit.) Just like a dog senses fear Loco knows those who are afraid of him and does all he can to intimidate them. I shush him away from the person like a good hostess, banning him to the other side of the apartment or one of the 3 cat houses. Of course this does no good. He will return to the area and stare again at the person, literally staring them down like an angry human. The more they cringe the more intense the stares. As soon as I turn my back he is right on the couch next to them pretending to be nice and buddy up to them. I know he is only pretending as you can see the intimidation in his expression. Even the fearful have to laugh at this little orange terrorist. I had a neighbor that used my phone who was terrified of him. He would follow her and jump on whatever chair she attempted to sit on, when she chose another chair, he raced her to the new chair and hopped in it. When he would see her coming in the door he would jump on the table holding the phone and sit right on top it daring her to touch it. Locking him in the bathroom is useless, he cries and scratches at the door, making such a fuss the terrified person feels guilty, asking that I free him. Quite a character my Loco.
When I must leave the house to travel for a day or two he gets angry with me for leaving him. Upon my return all the other kittys meet me at the door happy with tails straight up in the air. While I am petting them and rubbing their tummy's which they present me with as soon as I drop to cat level, Loco broods and stares at me from a distance. No matter how I beg he will not get near me. When he is ready he approaches me, anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of hours later, depending on how mad he is. I already know that he is going to pounce on my outstretched hand from past experience. He grabs my hand with his teeth, just enough to let me know how upset he is with me, sinks his nails every so gently into my hand and rabbit kicks my forearm with a vengeance. After a few minutes of "Loco torture" he hops us bounds across the room and engages in yet another staring contest with me. Finally deciding I have suffered enough he comes to me and licks my face, hands, neck, and any other exposed skin he can find purring up a storm. He is my shadow for the next several hours not leaving my side even for a moment.
Crying is not allowed when Loco and the rest are afoot. All my cats surround me when I cry, each having a regular spot where they sit to comfort me. Loco's spot is right on my chest. He licks the tears off my face as they spill out of my eyes, knocking glasses out of the way when he gets all the tears off and then attempts to grab them before they make it out of my eyes. Quite a scene, my big fat black cat Romeo is on my lap rubbing his face into my belly, Dimpy my little black calico takes her position on the other side standing on her hind legs pawing at my ears, and Lilly my white calico climbs right up on my head and neck nipping at my cheeks so I will stop. Needless to say it is so comical that I don't cry long.
I don't know if it is because he is a feral, that his adopted animal parents were the dogs, or the way I raised him, but this kitty is no regular cat. His behavior is funny, his attitude can be arrogant, and his demeanor intimidating to the fearful. He is my companion, friend and family member. He found me and was determined to become part of my life, for that I am eternally grateful.