The famously violent ‘Lux the Cat’ may have been systematically abused by the man of the house causing Lux to become irredeemably, defensively aggressive. In the words of Lux’s owner at the time, Teresa:
“It truly makes me wonder, looking back, if something else was going on when I wasn’t home; however I can’t attest to that because I wasn’t around….”
Background
Click on this link if you’d like to read the full saga of Lux in several posts. It’s sad and dramatic. Then please come back to this page.
Lux became a celebrity in 2014. He’s a black-and-white cat and he was all over the news at the time because he terrorised his owners who locked themselves in the bathroom to escape him. It’s a long story, Jackson Galaxy got involved and eventually Lux was relinquished and adopted by a woman whose name I believe is Molly Hunt. This is Lux’s current home. Molly has a blog and on that blog is an interesting insight into what caused Lux to become so aggressive. She says that Lux has been fine with her in his new home but out of the blue he attacked her. He is mentally scared.
Lux was a good cat at one time
It should be said right away that Lux was not always aggressive. For the first four years of his life he was never aggressive and he was a great cat. He was a normal cat.
The family who were ‘victims’ of Lux’s aggression were Teresa Barker and Lee Palmer (the father of Teresa’s son). Teresa raised Lux from day one of his life. Lux’s mother gave birth to him in Teresa’s apartment. She cared for Lux and she still loves him. Lux was ‘great over the years’ and her best friend.
A year before Lux became aggressive Teresa looked after her grandma which meant she moved in with her. She’d return to her home where Lux lived every day. Teresa became pregnant and moved in with ‘my son’s dad’. I presume she is referring to Lee Palmer. Lux came with her.
She did not get on with her son’s father who was:
“…constantly yelling at me to get rid of Lux. He didn’t like him. I, of course, refused…Lux never acted like this [aggressively] until my son’s dad moved in, so I’m not exactly sure what all took place or what happened other than that day, but it makes me wonder if, when I wasn’t around, something else was going on. Needless to say my son’s dad and I are no longer together.”
Lux started to attack Teresa – the very person who raised him and who he had a close bond with. Very reluctantly she decided to give up Lux after Jackson Galaxy’s visit. It was painful for her but she felt it was the right thing to do.
Teresa now thinks of Lux every day. She says she named him Lux because it meant light.
“He was my best friend, and he is truly missed. Lux was my world. He was a great cat….I know I was a great owner, and he was a great cat.”
Conclusion?
Reading between the lines Teresa Barker is saying loud and clear that she believes that the father of her son, Lee Palmer, was abusive towards Lux when she was out of the home or was not with Palmer. This is a credible assessment.
I think you can nearly always trace aggressive behaviour in domestic cats back to how they have been treated. Rarely is it a genuine medical issue. It’s often simply a matter of cause and effect. A person is violent towards a cat and the cat reacts by being violent towards his aggressor. It’s logical and to be expected. I believe this is what happened to Lux. I have always believed it.
If you’d like to read the source of this page, please click here.
Thom Hartmann of Thom Hartmann Show had a cat that had spent many months locked in a bathroom. Maybe it was being locked in that bathroom that made him attack bare legs.
When he adopted him he would attack bare legs. He was okay if you had pants on but don’t let him catch you in a towel after a shower and don’t wear shorts. Thom and his wife kept him for the rest of his life until he passed away. Maybe you could ask him to write about him and let you post it here.
Wow, good stories in that the endings were good. I thought Lux was pretty unique but no.
I remember seeing Lux on TV news and how the cops were called because the owners were trapped in the bathroom. I knew Lux had to have been terrorized and abused. I’ve had 2 cats like Lux Momma Kitty and Scar Face. Both acted just like Lux. As long as I didn’t suddenly wake them up or pet to hard they were fine. Loud noises could set them off. I sent Momma to live with my mother and she never showed aggression again. Scar Face never had a family and people here had sicked their dogs on him, kids threw rocks at him etc. But when I moved into the neighborhood he found a friend and love and moved in with me. Scar Face just got old and settled in finally dying in his sleep at about 23 years old.
Hi Cassandra,
I’m happy to let you know that Lux is still doing beautifully in our home. He is a happy, healthy, lazy guy living the good life. We have two other cats among whom Lux is the youngest at 11 years of age. He has not had any sort of “episode” since early in 2019. Thank you for your interest in our boy.
The episode of My Cat From Hell that told Lux’s story reran this morning on Animal Planet. After watching it I read through Molly’s blog and then this entry, running across your comment. It is wonderful to know this happy news! Good luck to you, Dale, and Lux and your loved ones!
Today is Nay 28, 2021. I adopted Lux from my former employer, Bestfriends Animal Sanctuary in Dec 2018. I had been his primary caregiver at the sanctuary for four years. At home he had a few minor outbursts the first few months. For the past two years however, his mind has healed and he behaves like a pretty typical , intelligent and funny cat. We are thrilled that he is our wonderful boy.