Ming the Merciless was important family member
By Lorianne Tibbets Special to The Acorn

FIERCE FELINE- Ming the Merciless was a frightening, but much loved pet cat who enjoyed perching on door jambs and attacking passers-by from above. The cat lived 16 years.

Ming the Merciless came to live with my husband's family as his 16th birthday present.

Only six weeks old at the time, this Snowshoe kitten could fit in the palm of my husband's hand, and couldn't eat solid foods yet.

He was truly the most gorgeous cat any person had ever seen. His fur was a brilliant white, with chocolate brown and tan patches, and was soft as rabbit's fur, and the pads on the bottom of his feet alternated pink and black. His eyes were a sparkling blue and his nose was half pink, half black. His features were perfectly balanced and my husband, Daniel, felt he was the luckiest 16yearold alive.

As Ming grew, he would sleep on the end of my husband's bed, curled up, watching the door for intruders. If anyone came into Daniel's room at night, they were faced with a snarling and hissing kitten. Everyone thought it was cute. That is, until Ming grew into a 20-pound full-grown cat.

Suddenly, Ming's feistiness wasn't so adorable anymore. One of the cat's favorite past times was scratching holes in the carpet. When Daniel's parents de-clawed the cat's front paws, Ming was so resentful of the procedure he started digging holes in the carpet with his back claws.

Ming also liked to greet Daniel's older brother by catapulting himself, claws drawn, onto his thigh. When he wasn't diving head first into the aquarium, Ming also liked to climb on top of door jambs and jump on people's heads as they passed through.

At one point Daniel's family house was for sale and a realtor was giving a tour of the home. She noticed a gorgeous cat perilously hanging by its back claws over the door jamb and reached up to help it down. Ming made a nose dive, claws out, straight at the realtor's head. The woman ran flailing and screaming from the house, and refused to show their property to other prospective buyers.

The family dog was petrified of the cat, and rightfully so. When Ming wasn't attacking people, he was hunting the miniature schnauzer instead. One day, Daniel's mother had to pry Ming's jaws off from around the throat of the dog. The dog would run from the room yelping when the feline would arrive.

It was then the recommendation of the veterinarian to de-claw poor Ming's back claws as well. He was going to hurt somebody and might actually kill the dog.

After Ming lost his back claws, the muscular cat grew fat and lazy and ballooned to a whopping 23 pounds. He got so lazy, in fact, he laid down when he ate, hardly reaching his head into the bowl, leisurely licking each morsel.

Despite having no claws, Ming remained as vicious as ever. His teeth became his weapon of choice, and there was not a single person Ming met whom he didn't bite at one point or another.

While Ming was treating everyone else like a chew toy, he worshiped Daniel. He would follow him around like a puppy, would curl up into his lap, purring for a snuggle, and loved to knead Dan's abdomen like he was fluffing a pillow. It was Ming's adoration of Daniel which was his saving grace.

When I met my husband, Ming was 10 years old and as cruel as ever. He enjoyed throwing up hair balls at visitors' feet, still slept on Daniel's bed, and resisted the idea of anyone else sharing that experience. He was so territorial that any part of my body that happened to come close to Daniel as we slept would get attacked and bitten. I learned this the hard way and soon started to sleep with one eye open.

After we married and had children, even in Ming's old age, his temper never curbed. He bit our infant daughter as she sat in her bouncy seat on the floor. He chased our German shepherd and would bat her about the face if her sniffing got too close for Ming's comfort.

His hips started to bother him as he aged, and he would cry for hours to be lifted onto the bed at night. As time progressed, Ming lost his robust physique. My husband's loyal friend and night time guardian was laid to rest at the ripe old age of 16. Now my husband's family can sit around and tell stories about him for hours.

And even though Ming was merciless in his tyranny, he was loved and adored by one special man, who still misses him to this day. Ming, for that, I loved you too.

Lorianne Tibbets, her family and pets live in Camarillo.