Portland attack cat Lux winds up at animal shelter while owners wrestle with decision to keep him

[n2doc]

The owners of Lux, the 22-pound Himalayan cat who cornered them, their baby and the family dog in a Northwest Portland apartment last week, has taken up residence in the Multnomah County Animal Services shelter.

The couple contacted Animal Services workers Monday morning and asked them to come get the cat, said Mike Oswald, director of the shelter in Troutdale.

"They are wrestling with the decision whether to keep the cat,'' Oswald said. "They said they are going to think about it tonight and we will talk about it Tuesday."

The decision to give up a pet is a difficult one, but Animal Services is willing to work with pet owners, he said.

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http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/attack_cat_lux_winds_up_at_ani.html#incart_river

I hope Lux finds a new home with people who won't torment him.

[TwilightGardener]

1. These people are flakes.

[Loudly]

2. Something about them bugs Lux. Maybe he needs to try a senior couple. n/t

[TDale313]

3. Beautiful cat.

Hope Lux finds a good home. These people need to do the right thing and accept that their home is not a good fit.

[LisaL]

6. But clearly not a Himalayan.

It's black a white bicolor longhair cat. He is also only 13 pounds, not 22.

[In_The_Wind]

13. You're right about the cat not being a Himalayan.

Tortie Point Himalayan Female

[LisaL]

15. Yes, my own cat is a Himalayan.

They usually have a very placid temperament.
They are not known for being "attack" cats.

[LisaL]

4. This guy admits he kicked the cat. So does he really wonder why cat is behaving the way he does?

[RebelOne]

23. Yes, he admitted kicking the cat,

but that was while it was attacking the child. I would have done the same thing if any family pet was attacking my child.

[frylock]

24. what would you do if your child was attacking the cat?

because it appears these people did fuckall.

[LisaL]

31. Attacking the child? Please. The kid barely had a scratch on him.

Kid pulled the tail of the cat. What would you expect the cat to do? It was defending itself.

[MerryBlooms]

5. Lux deserves a proper non-abusive loving home.

With all the press this story has received, I doubt he'll be an orphan for long. He's a beautiful cat, plus, I read Lux has Jackson Galaxy in his corner.

[JayhawkSD]

11. Jackson is pretty cool

I sometimes get annoyed at the show's staginess, but when Jackson does his little bit about how he feels about cats and that by solving these problems he has saved a cat's life I always get teary-eyed. He may be staging other bits, but that is totally sincere.

[MerryBlooms]

14. I think his show has done a lot of good

teaching about cat behavior and living with cats in general.

And, me too on the teary eyes. I know he shares his home with rescues... he's sincere in his passion.

[Lizzie Poppet]

7. This is actually very, very bad.

MCAS is a very high kill rate shelter (virtually the only one left in Portland). They may not be willing to adopt Lux out (except to another shelter) since he is "violent," for liability reasons. If he weren't something of a celebrity, he'd be a goner, but they may not be willing to endure the horrible publicity. They may also be willing to adopt him out to another shelter.

Hoping for the best for Lux: a loving forever home away from these imbeciles.

[LisaL]

8. Hopefully they will be too scared to put the cat down due to all the bad publicity they would get.

Surely somebody can adopt the cat?

[Lizzie Poppet]

10. I hope so!

MCAS is a government agency, so perhaps not as susceptible to bad publicity, but it could still make a difference. If the dipshit owners elect to give him up and the shelter puts him up for adoption, I suspect they'll have to have a lottery to see who gets him. I live in Portland, and Lux is a pretty hot topic of conversation right now.

[LisaL]

12. Yes, it's a beautiful cat.

Hopefully he is put up for adoption and finds good owners.

[LisaL]

18. At least to the press, they are saying they plan to adopt the cat out unless owners change

their mind. To someone who doesn't have small children.
http://www.kptv.com/story/25001020/viral-sensation-lux-the-cat-dropped-off-at-animal-shelter

[JayhawkSD]

9. I am willing to bet that the cat hissed at the baby first

Probably hissed several times in previous incidents, and the parents did not take that as a warning sign that the baby was doing something that the cat was not going to tolerate much longer.

Cats seldom use the paw swipe as the first alternative. 1. Avoid, 2. Hiss, 3. Swat with claws retracted, 4. Draw blood.

Unless the cat is badly socialized of course, on the point of being feral, but they had him for four years so that's doubtful.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. Lux needs an owner that knows how to handle cats. n/t

[Tanuki]

17. I hope the cat will get a better home next time around. Maybe some parenting education would help

those clueless fools. They allowed their 8-month old to chase the cat around and pull its tail, physically abused the cat when it tried to defend itself, and were reduced to a panicked call to 911 when the cat responded predictably to being kicked. Great example to set for the kid.

[Brigid]

19. I had not followed this story closely . . .

So I did not know that the child had been allowed to harrass the cat. Interestingly, I once had a half Himalayan cat named Hamlet, which is likely what Lux is. They look a lot alike. Hamlet would not tolerate harassment either. Lux needs a quiet home with people who understand cats.

[msanthrope]

22. Bad parenting, and bad pet parenting. nt

[Mr Dixon]

20. SAD

I hope they find and home for the cat but it seems unlikely.

[Blue Diadem]

21. He'll be better off in a home where he doesn't get kicked or his tail yanked.

My god they didn't even know how much he weighed, claiming 22lbs when he is only 13lbs(per link up thread). I feel sorry for their little dog too after watching a video of the Mom saying the baby goes after both the dog and cat. I so want to tell her they aren't stuffed animals.

[MadrasT]

25. I would take him in a heartbeat if closer.

I love cats with attitutes.

(Although that is no Himalayan.)

Hopr he finds a safe loving home where he can be more comfortable.

[Rex]

26. He cornered them? Total owner fail imo.

I herd cats, even ones as big as Lux. If you are uncomfortable around an animal, that animal will become uncomfortable around you too. I'd have that cat playing with me in all of 5 seconds...I can tell he needs attention.

[Warpy]

27. I hope he finds a home without small children first

and owners who won't use their feet to move him around.

And from that picture, I see a few things that make me hope their vet checks his neurological status. There might be something going on with him besides living in a house with a kid too young to know not to pull kitty's tail, parents who left the kid unsupervised, and a man who kicks cats.

[Brigid]

29. What do you see?

Just curious.

[Warpy]

30. Disconjugate gaze

and quite possibly unequal pupils. It's probably nothing but if he were my kitty, I'd want him checked out.

My "attack cat" was evaluated by the vet who said he thought from her workup that she had a mass of some sort in her brain, whether a bleed or a tumor. I had her put down, one of the hardest goodbyes I've ever had to say.

[Brigid]

32. So sorry about your cat.

A thorough exam of Lux is certainly in order, especially since he has been abused.

[LisaL]

33. To me, poor cat just looks scared.

[Brigid]

35. Oh, I'm sure he is terrified.

Poor baby.

[gollygee]

28. I raised two baby/toddlers around a mean cat

Nobody ever kicked or hit the cat, and nobody was allowed alone with the cat to pull her tail. Even mean cats don't have behavior like this unless they're pushed pretty hard IMO. My cat was cranky and mean, and she'd scare people and was super territorial, but we cohabitated with her for 15 years and no one ever needed to call 911 on her.

[Warren DeMontague]

34. A good chunk of DU felt they should have gotten rid of the kid-how dare they disrupt kitty's routine

While saddling the planet with another homo sapien!

[LisaL]

36. There is not a single person on this thread that said they should have kept the cat.

I personally don't think they should keep the cat. I hope it finds good owners.

[Warren DeMontague]

39. On the previous thread, it was suggested that they should have deferred to the cat's opinion

On whether or not to have a baby.

[gollygee]

37. Really?

I think pets can be lovingly helped through the addition of a baby and even our mean cat was able to stay with us through two of them, but if it came down to it, baby trumps cat.

[Warren DeMontague]

38. they should have considered the cat's feelings before "deciding to upset it by bringing home a baby"

Im sorry, i love cats, but they're CATS. They're not people, and expecting that some couple will decide - as certain posters here suggested - NOT to have a baby out of sensitivity to their kitty's feelings, is INSANE.

Some folks have anthropomorphized their fur babies a bit too much, if you ask me.

[gollygee]

40. That makes me think of this

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Hard to say if the kitty is enjoying it, or not.

Knowing what I know about cats, no. Not enjoying it at all.

[mainer]

42. I agree, some people are insane about their fur babies

I like cats well enough. Dogs better. But if a pet threatened my kid or grandkid, there's no doubt which creature my loyalties lie with -- and that's the little human who was born under my protection.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. I admit, the thread about the 4 yr. old mauled by the dog set me on edge around this stuff, too.

I understand about "blame" or "not blame" vis a vis an animal, but an animal that tears a little kid's face off... IMNSHO you don't screw around with that, much less fall all over oneself about the "poor poochy!"