We've had Phatty and Tiger in our lives for several years now, a pair of cats who have alternately brightened our lives and soiled our floors with uncanny regularity. The pair of overgrown Maine Coon moggies are brothers, and we rescued them from a well meaning but clueless household at about age two.
As a result of their upbringing in their crucial formative years, they have both been lacking in vital kitty skills, like grooming, climbing, coping with the outdoors and of course toilet training. They do of course try very hard to make for their lack of education but really have yet to grasp some of these essentials.
So why would my wife and I want to end up with such dysfunctional cats? Simply, they are two of the most engaging, affectionate, attention hogging cats ever.
Both boys are pretty big as far as house cats go, Phatty the larger at about 9kg, Tiger maybe a kilo lighter. Their personalities are of course a lot bigger,taking over whichever room they stalk in to, demanding attention and/or food from any two legged potential provider.
When we first met these boys they were terribly underfed, Phatty was completely pear shaped and poor little Tiger was so scrawny his freshly shorn legs looked like cotton buds. Thankfully my wife, having grown up on a farm literally surrounded by animals was able to turn these guys around with a vastly improved diet and exercise. A few weeks later they were unrecognisable from the timid bags of bones that had come home from the rescue shelter originally.
