Tigger

Although I must have seen this big ginger & white cat in the front courtyard on more than one occasion without knowing who he was, my first proper introduction was via Brigid. She'd remembered my description of Fred, where I likened his manner of requesting a pick-me-up to that up a small child with outstretched hands and a chant of "Up! Up!", and asked if I'd met this other "up! up!" cat in named Tigger.

Brigid said it had only happened a couple of times so far since he's can often be a bit on the aloof side. Get him in the right mood, though, and he's apparently more than happy to climb right up for a good old cuddle. Unfortunately, he really doesn't care for other cats, so getting him in the mood for a little love before the other cats in the front courtyard start crowding around to grab their share of the attention can be a bit tricky.

Tigger was surrendered to RAPS when the woman he'd lived with moved to a place that didn't allow pets. He was brought to the sanctuary from the No. 5 Rd. shelter because he looked too cranky at first to be a candidate for quick adoption and he was too big to comfortably hang out in the adoption centre cages for an extended period of time.

Once he'd settled in at the sanctuary, Tigger turned out to be a very friendly guy. Leslie says that he'd get quite anxious, though, when other dominant males came too close -- so anxious that he'd forget that the human holding him was his friend. He's been with us a couple of years now, so maybe he's a little less likely to forget himself and get his humans caught in the crossfire.

When I met him last week, Tigger was pleased to see Brigid and me. He wasn't quite in an "up! up!" mood, but this seemed to be due at least in part to him sensing other cats moving in, attracted by the humans. Interestingly (and luckily for us), he chose to express his dislike for the other cats simply by pointedly turning his back to them.

Got to agree with Leslie's thought that he'd make a great "only" cat in a household.