Steve the cat's human family will tell you that he is very weird. So weird, that his little quirks helped him make it to the quarter-finals of America’s Favourite Pet.
He runs around with grapes that hide his face, he sits on other cats like a human would sit on a chair and when he hasn’t finished his food, he will cover it with Ziploc bags, underwear, envelopes or anything nearby.
“I've never met a cat so unusual. I’ve never been so smitten by somebody like Steve,” said Daina Makinson of Puslinch, who adopted Steve last September.
“Sometimes it makes us laugh so much, we don’t have time to get the camera to take a picture.”
Makinson felt entering the competition would be a fun way to celebrate Steve’s weirdness. She said while Steve has made it to the quarter-finals, there are still over 500 cats that Steve is up against.
“Steve has done very well so far. He’s won the first four rounds of the contest and is currently sixth in his group in the quarter-finals,” said Makinson adding that free public voting for the current round closes on Thursday.
For Makinson, her husband and her father, Steve is more than just a weird cat. He’s a family member who brings joy to their lives every day. Makinson said Steve came into their lives in a time when he was really needed.
“Our cat Tiggy had just passed from cancer three days before Steve showed up at our home. When we looked out the window we thought it was Tiggs who was a black and white cat with very similar markings to Steve,” said Makinson adding that the family was heartbroken when Tiggy passed away.
“My dad said ‘I looked out the window and I thought I saw Tiggy.’ I said, ‘That’s not possible. She's been cremated.’”
Then again in September while sitting outside, Makinson and her family saw Steve looking at them.
“And I said, ‘Oh my God that looks like Tiggy.’”
Steve was about six-months-old when the family took him in. Makinson said the family had to really work at luring the feral cat into the house. Steve later went through an entire medical examination at the vet to ensure he’s okay.
“It was hard to get him into the house, he’s petrified of two-leggeds. But once he came inside and he met our three other cats, he became part of the household. It didn’t take long for us to find out that Steve is a weird cat who does odd things,” said Makinson.
Makinson said her family first realized Steve's weirdness’ when they noticed him covering his food.
When Steve would be fed on Makinson’s bed, he would pull the covers on his food if there was some remaining so the other cats wouldn't get to it.
“This is just some paranoia I think he has from being a feral cat,” said Makinson.
“He was alone. I don’t know where his mother was but he created some weird habits when he was outside. We think it comes from his wildness that he tries to protect his food even though nobody else is trying to get it.”
Makinson felt entering the competition would be a fun way to celebrate Steve’s weirdness.
America’s Favorite Pet has contestants from across North America. The contest is sponsored by Dogster and Catster Magazine and aim to raise money for Peoples Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to help injured and orphaned animals.
