While walking their dog in Austin, Texas, with her boyfriend, Erin Breean became aware of the odd cat for the first time.
Breean told The Dodo, “It’s hot here, so we walk our dog very late at night – it was midnight. “We’re maybe two blocks from our house, and there’s this cat sitting out at the end of a driveway. We frequently walk our dog, so we are very familiar with all the cats in the area, but I had never seen one like this.
The cat seemed friendly and well-fed, so Breean figured he belonged to someone, but was maybe lost.
“He came right up to us, and he was rubbing all over our ankles,” Breean said. “But when my dog came over to see him, [the cat] tried to attack him and chase him down the street a little bit. So we separated them, and my boyfriend took our dog home.”
Breean stayed outside with the cat for a few minutes to take photos. She wanted to post them on the Austin Lost and Found Pets Facebook page, in case someone was looking for him.
“The cat sat with me the whole time, rubbing on me and rolling onto his belly to get belly rubs, and he was just so over-friendly,” Breean said.
The cat, whom Breean began referring to as Greg, followed her when she made an attempt to return home.
If you live across the street or whatever your home is, I was like, “Hey buddy, don’t follow me home,” Breean recalled.
But Greg showed no signs of leaving. In fact, he planted himself at the front of Breean’s house, and stared through the window at her when she went inside. Worried he might be hungry, Breean laid out some food and water for him, and this seemed to encourage him even more.
“He sat by that narrow window for over an hour,” Breean said. “Eventually I was like, I just have to ignore him or he’s not going to go back to his house, or wherever he’s from.”
Breean and her boyfriend believed Greg had finally left when he vanished from the front window. Yet again, they were mistaken.
After preparing a snack in the kitchen, Breean remarked, “I laid back on the couch and was utterly surprised when I observed someone gazing in on me.”
Greg was now staring at them through a window at the back of the house.
“He was just sitting out there, watching us on the couch watching TV,” Breean said. “He sat out there and yelled for nearly an hour. He tried to get in through the dog door, and then he curled up … and went to sleep.”
The next morning, Greg was there again — and he stayed for most of the day. He also went on the nightly walks Breean and her partner took with their dog Murphy.
He would accompany us on our mile-long stroll with our dog, trying to pursue him the entire time, Breean recalled.
For four days, he would not let Breean out of his sight.
He didn’t stop looking out the windows the entire time.
“You could come down at any time in the night … and all you’d see were these glowing eyes,” Breean said. “He would peek in through the blinds. It was completely hilarious and completely creepy … and then after a while, we’d expect him there and look for him. He was always watching you.”
She didn’t want to take Greg to the local shelter or vet, which she imagined would be stressful for him, especially as he seemed healthy and taken care of.
“My own cat Max is super friendly, and he’s been known to go into our neighbors’ houses, let himself in [and] hang out with them, so I didn’t want to take him [Greg] to the humane society or the vet or anything [until I knew he needed help] … because I wouldn’t want someone taking Max somewhere,” Breean said.
She occasionally felt inclined to invite Greg inside, but she knew it would be a horrible idea since he may assault Murphy once again.
Fortunately, an Austin Lost and Found Pets volunteer stopped by with a microchip scanner, and they were able to track down Greg’s owner using the information on his chip.
My guy was wondering what Greg was doing the other day, Breean recalled. I said, “Man, me too.”
Breean shared the tale on Catspotting, a closed Facebook community for cat enthusiasts, when thinking back to the Greg days, and the post quickly gained popularity.
Breean continued, “He was determined to get in the home, whether it was to move in with us, contact his parents, or kill my dog. “I don’t know which.
“I’m not sure which. But he was very determined.”
