What makes Bandit so mean?

"His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hellfire blazed behind them...." -Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

This is Bandit. He, as you can see, is possessed. Some say by a French demon (hence the goatee). The adorable, chuckle-inducing exterior of this cat hides an inner master of destruction and chaos. The first signs of it were when he was a wee little thing. In the dark of the night, he would scrape my face raw with his tongue, waking me from a sound sleep. I would turn my face away and he would go around and keep scraping. So I would push him away with my hand, which he chewed on. Enthusiastically. This would happen over and over and over every night.

I believe this behavior is tied to one of his others: he eats fabric. Bandit's favorite dietary delicacies are wool, cotton, fleece and OAK!!!! Yes, he actually chewed on a piece of solid oak furniture and the marks are there to this day. One time, I was wearing a pair of Alpaca socks at home and he started chewing on them....while I was still wearing them! This possessed feline is the most destructive creature known to man - he has destroyed towels, blankets, sheets, countless socks, shirts, shorts, jeans.  For fun, he shreds corrugated cardboard boxes. It is my lot in life to provide a shelter complete with chew toys for this creature, but on occasion, the demon will be quiescent and the sweet lovey baby will snuggle with me and (almost) make me forget I want to file his teeth.

Photo submitted by: Barb
Date last updated: 10/25/05