Why you wakin’ me up?

Pheline & Photographer

Momonator

I’ve shown some photos of this little character before, but he’s got such a fun personality and so visually interesting, that it’s easy to snap photos of him.

Whenever he gets let out of the house, he scurries out onto the grass, gnaws at it like a ravenous cow, goes over to the flagstone path, writhes around on it for a few minutes and then disappears beneath a big patch of rose bushes to lounge in the shade.

Staring Contest

Oh boy, if I could just get to the other side of this clear thing that I can’t get through, we could play!

How I loathe thee, impertinent hirsute scallywag.

I could be all cute and stuff, and crouch down, and swish my tail back and forth, and then I’d pounce and surprise you!

Life was idyllic prior to your appearance, you scurillous fur brained varmint.

Yippee! If those bipeds would just let me outside, we could like wrassle and chase each other around.

Be gone, irksome rambunctious hairball.

The brown one is a mischievous brat and the grey one loves it when she gets let out to be free from his pestering.

Furball McGillicuddy

I was playing hockey with my nephew in their driveway on the weekend. He went inside and as he went in the back door, he let Momo the cat out. 

Now Momo is a furry, fluffy, fuzzy feline.

Almost instantly he was writhing around on his back, in an effort to shed some of that mane.

Ahhhhh, that feels a bit better.

Then it was off to see about catching some mice.

No luck.

Then it was back to meow at me and get a scratch behind the ears.

Oh boy! Birds!

Even less luck catching them.

Cute little critter.

Then the boy came back out, and he put an end to Momo’s outdoor adventure by putting him back in the house.

Momo

The neighbours were out for a walk in the park and were approached by a tiny kitten. So small it was having difficulty walking through the grass. It came right up to them and made lots of mewling noises. They waited around for a while to see if there were any others, but he appeared to be the only one. It didn’t take long before they decided to take him home.

Since they already had a cat called Mimi, Anand decided this one should be called Momo.

The vet told them that he was about four weeks old, and from a feral litter. Surprised that no other members of the litter approached them, the vet said that often with a litter of barn cats, if there are a dozen, 11 will have nothing to do with people, and one will be downright friendly towards humans.

While it was perhaps really foolish of him to approach people so brazenly, on the other hand, it was perhaps an amazingly smart survival strategy. He would now go on to have a really good life. Certainly compared to any of his litter mates living along the cliff would have.

From a tiny little fuzzball that looked small in my hand, he’s grown into an amazing character. His fur is absolutely the softest I or anyone else has ever felt.

He’s got lots of it, and most impressive is his mane, a ruff that encircles his neck.

Funny thing though is that come spring, you can hold him down and without any protest, pull big tufts of hair from his coat. His most striking feature is a long tail that would make a lemur envious. It can move in about three directions at once.

He’s incredibly floppy, and will jump up on your chest, and without any preliminary prancing around or kneading, will just flop down and go instantly to sleep.

I’ve found him lying on the floor, on his back, front legs pointed in one direction, back legs in another, sound asleep.

Couple that with really neat markings, a very distinctive meow, and a really nice personality, you've got a winner cat.

Mimi hates him, but that’s because walking around the house she risks an ambush at every turn. He takes any and every opportunity to pounce on her. He’s not being mean or trying to establish who’s boss, he’s just desperate to play with someone.

Funniest thing is that he may have been a feral stray, but I suspect if you took him to a cat show, he’d win every award.