Chester The Cat

Chester is 3 years old. We adopted him from a local rescue shelter a year ago. He loves to play with drinking straws!

We lost both of our previous cats in road accidents 3 years ago and the house just didn't feel right without a kitty. I plagued my husband for months to get another one but he kept refusing, however he had his eye on a new motorbike so we struck a deal, a cat for a bike! I explained to the shelter staff that we already had a 100 lb German Shepherd who was used to living with cats but I needed to make sure we adopted a cat with attitude, one who knew how to put a dog in it's place.

Chester is a big cat (about 15 lbs.) and was found as a stray wandering around local farms on the edge of town. His coat was very dirty and the shelter staff had shaved his back as his fur was matted. We have lots of coyotes in those areas so I figured if he'd managed to handle wild coyotes he'd certainly have no bother with the dog! Sure enough he jumped straight out of the cat carrier, took a leisurely stroll around the house, 15 minutes later he was stretched out on our bed like he'd lived with us forever. He's such a sweetie and even my husband loves him to bits (even though he pretends not to).

By Tracie from Calgary, Canada