by Bob
(Pennsylvania)
Loki on my mantle and in an extra large pet bed
I got Loki after my ex wife and I filed for divorce. She was staying in a spare bedroom on my second floor until she found a place of her own. During that time, she brought home a kitten that was to go with her when she moved. It's a long story, but she ended up moving away with her parents and wasn't able to take him.
When she finally got her own place, I suggested he stay here, as by then he was almost four months old and accustomed to my house, and I didn't want to traumatize him with a move across the state. I asked her for information about him, and she told me that she got him from a friend and that he was "part Bengal".
I dismissed it at first, and just thought he was a mackerel tabby, even though he is more spotted than striped. His belly is orange and spotted. His neck, chin, and muzzle is white, and his fur is ticked. The end of his tail and the bottoms of his paws are black. His ears are large, and he has the mascara marks and cheetah tears that give him a wild look. Then there's his size. He measures about 24-25 inches from nose to the base of his tail, and his tail adds another 12-13 inches approximately (he was hard to measure, he kept trying to eat the measuring tape).
When he stands, his shoulders are 14-15 inches high. He's bigger than my other cats, and he's just a little over a year old. As a reference, the oval picture frame in the above photo of him measures 24 inches high by 19 inches wide. The bed he is shown lying in sleeps three of my other big cats comfortably.
I don't know where the "part Bengal" idea came from, but I do know that there is a Savannah breeder about 10-15 miles away, and that kittens born with undesirable traits are given away as pets without a pedigree. I have other large cats, but this big boy has them all beat, and he still seems to be growing. His build and muscle tone are different than the others as well. When he walks he looks more like a wild cat than a domestic pet.
But when it comes to his personality, he's 100% kitten. He's very active on the cat trees and climbing furniture, to the point that if he continues to grow, I may have to bolt them to the floor and walls to keep him from knocking them over. He will chase the laser pointer frantically, then stare at the wall and cry when I put it away. When I awaken and find one of my work boots missing, I know it was dragged down the hall by the laces, and I know exactly who did it. Which leads to his name.
She had given him a different one, but I named him Loki after the Norse god of mischief. The name most definitely suits him. Now, Loki is definitely a moggie, he's not a pure bred of any kind, but I wonder if somewhere down his lineage is one of those "undesirable" Savannahs that became someone's housecat.
I don't know what his heritage is for sure, and it doesn't matter. He's funny and loving, and that's all that counts. I prefer random bred moggies with amusing personalities to pure bred show winners anyway.
Bob
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