sloughi rescue

A friend’s cat had an accidental litter of kittens in December 2003. I decided that I’d like another cat so from photos picked a Tabby and White male who I named Stan. I should have known from this first photo what I was letting myself in for!

He came home to live with us when he was 7 weeks old. The dogs weren’t overly impressed with this squeaking little bundle of fluff, and Sox was completely underwhelmed by his presence. As he got older, his behaviour got more and more outrageous – he has been by far my naughtiest animal to live with! He would run into the kitchen, jump on the dresser, fling a bit of crockery to the floor and then race back down the hall into the front room and up the chimney where he would hide till I stopped yelling!

He destroyed my beautiful big Yukka plant that I’d had for years (sadly also placed in the fireplace – so he’d have a scrabble at it and then fly up the chimney till he thought it safe to come out). He also liked to 'help' when I was working on the computer by sitting in front of the screen to double check my work for me. I was so happy when he could finally be neutered and out in the big wide world (and so was the rest of the household!).

Interestingly he also took a real shine to Oscar early on, he didn’t dislike the Lurchers but wouldn’t play with them like he’d play with Oscar. He also took over Sox’s role of Jack’s tormentor……Poor Jack! Thankfully now he is a bit older he tends to sleep all day and then is out all night so we all get a bit of peace and quiet. I cant quite believe he is 4 years old already – seems like only yesterday he was racing up the chimney after yet more kitten mischief! He is a real character and very vocal, he often comes in after a night on the town, chatting away to me for ages about all the busy things he has been up to.

I have been asked on numerous occasions how I can be sure my dogs wont kill my cats. As explained above, I can be 100% sure that this is the case, it is simply not true that sighthounds cannot live with cats. There will be many that raced and worked that cannot safely live with anything small and furry – but there are also many that can rub along quite happily as mine have done for years.

Most reputable sighthound rescues will cat test for you, visit the many sighthound rescue charities on our Sighthound Rescue Page for more information.