Dax - Tiny Kitten to Big Cat

We first met Dax a couple of months after we lost Amphi, our 15 year old cat. We had stopped by Dr. Maher's office to pick up some medicine for one of our other pets and there was an adorable orange kitten sitting on the receptionist's lap. He was a little over 5 weeks old and had the bluest eyes we'd ever seen.

My husband held him while we heard his story. Sometime after Hurricane Katrina, a friend of Dr. Maher's was looking at a boat down in Venice, Louisiana, when Dax's little 7 pound mother just jumped into his arms. She was pregnant, so he brought her back to Covington to his friend, the vet. It just so happened that Amphi (our old cat that had just passed away) had also come from Venice, Louisiana. We found her in 1991, when she was about 5 weeks old, and we were on a fishing trip down there. Amphi passed away in late March and little Dax was born on April 6.

The coincidence was just too much to ignore. It was like he was meant to be with us and since his mother was a very small cat, we thought he would make a nice companion for our little Blaze Star. So we took him home that day in May on a trial basis to see if the rest of our pack would accept him.
 

This innocent looking puff ball had the heart and spirit of a lion. He was (and is) fearless. Nothing bothered him. He pounced on everything that was furry or feathery and Blaze Star was his favorite target. We found out later that he used to pounce on his mother, too. We thought that he would grow out of all this boundless energy and that he would mellow out with age. This didn't happen as much as we had hoped.

Dax did grow... and grow... and grow, but he is still full of mischief and he still pounces on Blaze and plays like a kitten.
 

Dax loves water. We guess it's because his "roots" are on the Gulf Coast. You can't take a shower without him accompanying you and sometimes he'll pat you through the shower curtain. His favorite place to play with toys is in the bath tub, so we have to check for mice and balls before we start the water. He uses the tub like a skateboard ramp and runs up and down the sides, then jumps out at a full run. Even now that he weighs almost 20 pounds, he still plays this game.

Another of his quirks is that he will only drink out of a water bowl as a last resort. He wants fresh water, straight from the tap. We spent so much time turning on and off the water faucet, that we decided to get one of those electric cat fountains. He uses it occasionally, but still does his cute head bump tactic whenever we go near the sink so that we'll turn on the water. If that doesn't work, he just parks himself in the sink and waits, while looking sad and licking the tap. If this doesn't work, then he will take his big paw and tip over any cup or glass of liquid that is within reach. He enjoys watching it drip on the floor.