Lucifur.

Cobby body, black fur, golden tawny eyes.

Nicknames: Lucy, Luse, Bean Bag.

How he came to live with us: One night my brother phoned me, could I come to the wharf and rescue this kitten please? A friendly kitten had come up to the wharf crib room and seemed tame. The men my brother was working with however wanted to "Put it on the conveyer belt with the wheat, and see what happened." What would have happened was the kitten would have suffocated in the ship hold under a ton of wheat. I heeded my brother's words, and went out there post haste.

All I had to put him in was a ratty cardboard box, and he soon burst free of it. As I nervously drove home the little devil walked up and down my dashboard, looking at the passing scenery.

This bit of devilment, plus his excess of fur coat, won him the name Lucifur.

He walks in moonlight.

Indeed, he seemed to have enough skin for two cats, which is why I also called him Bean Bag. He was like a bag of fur. You could grab handfuls of it, and he still had heaps of room. Eventually he grew into it all. He and Cinnibar were about the same size, big!

 Unfortunately he was neutered a little late, so took up the habit of spraying things. And cat pee is damn hard to get out of carpets/cushions/bed clothes/hair. I read up, and eventually discovered it was probably a nervous habit, he didn't like the uncertain hours I kept as a shift worker. Here are some of the things I read that supposedly kept pets from spraying a certain area.

Cianne Pepper.

Orange Peel.

A paper plate with a few kitty bickies glued on (cat's won't spray near food).

Keep litter trays clean regularly, add an extra one every time you get another cat. More if possible.

Don't wash the area with an ammonia-based cleanser, as ammonia makes up the cat's spray smell. They will think another cat has sprayed over their mark and spray there even more.

Try and maintain a set routine, feeding at the same time etc. This is especially important for inside cats.

Lucifur and Cinnibar both like to eat grass. I have tried several times to grow it indoors for them, but they dig it up in their enthusiasm. Cinni and Lucy balanced well together, they were the same weight, so could happily fight each other all day with no injuries. Kismit would just climb on top of the curtain rail, where they could not go, and look at them with amusement.

The hunting instinct was strong in him. Once, when he was intent on a bird out side the window, I foolishly picked him up to say goodbye ( I was off to holiday up north for a few days.) This despite the warning signs of paw kneading, tail lashing and low vocalization, all 'I am a little highly strung right now' signs. I picked him up, he bit me. I had a nice dose of cat scratch fever and some ripper bruising to show for my idiocy.

He was involved in the Great Stamp Debacle. Instrumental, no doubt. I came home to find my stamp collection strewn about the house, and a roll of absorbent paper shredded upon the carpet.

Here he is with Kismit. They are the same size in this picture, he was still a kitten. The stamps and shredded paper are about them, and they are looking at Cinnibar, who is off camera, a stamp stuck to his foot.

At night in bed, Luce liked to sit to the left of my head and chew my ear a little, Kismit sits to the right and Cinnibar sits on my chest. I had an all round bed warming committee, the curses came thick and fast should I decide to move!

He was a big sweetie, and liked to be picked up and carried around. For such a big cat, he had a kittens mew, a tinny little thing that got him mostly whatever he wanted, when he wanted it!

So Lucifur is now a farm cat, though he has roamed into the nearby township of Walkaway, and visited the school and post office there. So I guess that makes him a bit of a city cat as well!