He came to us after having been a stray and then was treated by a vet for a number of scratches, some of them deep. Like Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, he has a couple of gnarly scars on either side of his head. He is a large cat, but apparently he wasn't the alpha out on the street.
Part of my morning routine is to greet him by leaning down to bring our faces closer. He purrs, puts a paw on my cheek and drags his face across mine. Then we go to the kitchen to put some kibble in his dish.
Inigo is enthusiastic about playtime, and he enjoys interactive toys like Da Bird and a laser pointer but can also entertain himself with a ball or a catnip toy. If he's feeling feisty he might "attack" our ankles to let us know he wants to play, but it's always a gentle tap and it's hard not to laugh.
He's happy to see us when we get up in the morning, but doesn't intentionally make noise to get us out of bed early, and he's not destructive.
He's mostly good about using the scratching post, once we got the message through to him about what it was and what it's for. Not jumping on the kitchen counters took a little longer, but he's been good about that, too, lately.
One of my favorite things is when he dives under the flap of my shoulder bag and thinks he's hidden.
Inigo is an earnest, gentle fellow who is generous with giving slow blinks and a raspy purr. He spends a good deal of time lounging on desks and tables, and at the two-week mark he added "lap cat" to his repertoire.
His circumstances are like Inigo Montoya's, but as we got to know him more, I think his personality is a bit more like Baloo from the Jungle Book - he's big and gray and he has teeth and claws, but he doesn't like to use them. He's a chill dude, a little goofy, that likes to hang out, eat, and play.
If he were a person, I think he'd be an English major, and probably a hipster.
Inigo is fostered in Cambridge, MA through the Gifford Cat Shelter in Brighton. Please contact them if you are interested in him!
