Atticus is a beautiful 4-year-old cat that came to us as a stray from the Milwaukee County Domestic Animal Control Center. He is a really striking cat, very large, and fearless. He also seems to not realize that he is a cat. He also happens to be our current front office mascot. This is a picture of Atticus.
At the shelter we typically keep one cat up in the front office for company and for the cat to get some extra attention from potential adopters. We have had a quite a few characters in the front office, like Gomer, who did not like dogs and would attack them like a lion would attack a water buffalo. He loved people but anytime a dog would happen to be in our reception area, Gomer went into predator mode. He did not care if the dog was a tiny Chihuahua or an enormous German Shepherd. In Gomer's mind, they were going down.
Another cat was Charlie. Charlie really liked people food, and if he heard any kind of wrapper or cellophane noise he would be on your lap in seconds. My favorite Charlie episode was once when I heard one of the front office gals shout the name "Charlie" and I looked up from what I was doing to see Charlie run past me with a sandwich in his mouth. He somehow managed to unzipper a lunch bag and remove the chicken sandwich inside that was right at the feet of this gal without her even knowing it. That is pretty talented for an animal without opposable thumbs!
We had another cat named Christy up front and she was the clumsiest cat ever. She had access to the whole front office at the shelter and thought nothing of jumping up onto your desk and walking around, drinking out of your coffee, then slipping on papers which would send everything on your desk flying onto the floor. Or she would run across your keyboard and close files that were not saved, or send incomplete emails. She knocked so many coffee mugs down that we are still finding broken bits from them under things when we clean.
Our Atticus has already proved he has a very unique personality as he was a model for a recent photoshoot with other EBHS shelter animals. He was a natural at working the camera, despite other cats and dogs around him, flashes going off and all kinds of commotion around him. He was so good that he will appear in some animal health advertisements for Abbott Labs. A star was born that day, and Atticus is not letting any of us forget it!
Atticus has had a very full first day up here in the front office. Like I mentioned, he is super friendly, and follows us all around like a dog would. He forced me to relocate my Guinea Pig maternity ward as he was relentlessly trying to get past the gate that I keep across my office and was making the guinea pigs afraid. Then someone came into surrender a dog, and he thought he should go say hello and try to play with this dog who was very stressed and did not appreciate Atticus' attempts to engage in friendly play. He has been at our side answering phones, stamping mail, doing data entry and even kept a handyman company while he was fixing the toilet in our lobby area today.
We had to move a bunch of birds into a front office where they would get some sunshine and hopefully more exposure to potential adopters. Atticus wanted to get a better look at the finches and he knocked down a water bowl and caused fur and feathers to fly. While there were no injuries, Atticus lost a little dignity as he had a wet head for a little while and the birds got a good laugh at his expense.
Atticus is available for adoption, and he is waiting for a new family that will appreciate his unique outlook on life as a person in a cat suit. Many people feel like a cat is a cat, but I can assure you that every cat is has their own well defined personality and can add so much to your life.
