Hi All,

This is a tail about the cat of a friend's son.  He and his family
live in Las Vegas and his mom was about to be married to one of
Lynda's and my oldest friends.  There was a pre-wedding celebration
and barbecue at her son's home where I met their cat.

Now you'd think there was a contradiction between a cat that wouldn't
stand for any human contact and a cat that wanted to be in the middle
of any social gathering, and that's exactly what there was.  This cat
wanted to be in the middle of the party and made himself at home on
the coffee table in the living room.

The hosts made a point of telling everyone that if they wanted to pet
the cat, they would do so at their own peril since the cat would take
a swipe at them with claws fully extended.  Naturally, I couldn't
resist the temptation and went to stroke the cat, but not from the
front, from the rear, just in case he took it into his little head to
give me a few souvenir scars of the encounter.  He whirled around and
was faster than I was as he left a few claw marks on my hand.

At this point, I asked the hosts if he did this to all their guests.

"Guests?  He does it to us too!"

The family didn't  seem to be, to use a overused adjective,
dysfunctional in any way that I noticed.  They just had a cat that
would scratch and bite when stroked or when someone attempted to play
with him.  They had had the cat in their home for several years and
though I can't imagine how he got that way, he definitely wanted to be
in on any family gathering but would drastically chastise any attempts
at a show of affection.  Definitely one of the strangest cats I have
ever met.

--
Regards and Purrs,
O J