PORTLAND, Oregon (WTVR) – The 22-pound Himalayan housecat that forced a Portland, Oreg. family to call 911 earlier this month and was turned over to an animal shelter is now back at home with his family.
"Lux" after the rampage.
The Barker family turned Lux over to the county animal services on Monday because they said they were overwhelmed with his behavioral issues.
A shelter spokesperson, after observing Lux, said some cats can "only take so much."
“This is a very shy, somewhat high-strung cat. He's in a very high-stress situation,” Karen McGill, an animal care technician, explained. “Apparently they live near a train station so there's loud noisy trains going by. They have a small child who is learning to crawl, is very vocal.”
The family met with shelter officials and an animal behaviorist on Thursday to decide whether to take Lux home or give him up for adoption.
Mike Oswald with Multnomah County Animal Servicestold KATU that Lux was healthy and showed no evidence of abuse, so he went home with his family.
Additionally, OregonLive.com reportedthat Lux would be featured on the upcoming season of Animal Planet's "My Cat From Hell." In fact, cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy will visit Portland to work with the family. According to news release for the show, Lux will also be spending some time with cat guardians in Austin and San Diego.
The Barker family said called 911 after Lux scratched their seven-month-old baby and then went after the family dog. When the man of the house gave “Lux” a swift kick in the rear, things took a turn for the worse, the family barricaded themselves in a back bedroom and dialed 911.
“I have a particular emergency here,” he told a 911 operator. “My cat attacked our seven-month-old child and I kicked… the cat in the rear and it has went off over the edge and we aren’t safe around the cat."
When asked if the child needed medical attention, the father said the boy “just had scratches on his forehead.”
But what really had him worried was the hissing and snarling cat that had the father, mother, baby and dog barricaded in the bedroom.
“He’s trying to attack us. He’s very, very, very, very hostile. When I leave out of the bedroom to let the police in, I’m going to have to fight this cat.”
When police arrived they spotted the cat run to the kicthen and jump on top of the refrigerator. Officers then used a snare and eventually got an upset “Lux” into a crate.
