Ready to rumble

SPUNKY 18- POUND CAT GIVEN A CHANCE

When Marissa Shirley first met Murray, she left the room with scratches on her arms but a desire to take a chance on the 18-pound cat.

Murray was adopted out twice and returned for bullying other cats, Shirley and her husband, Drew, learned.

Shirley says she was skeptical, but massive Murray and his strong personality intrigued her. The couple brought the cat home just knew he was staying for good.

Murray loves being the center of attention, greeting guests at the front door and waking Shirley up at 4

“He's very much a cat, wanting affection on his own terms, but he can also be very doglike,” she says.

Murray became the star of the party at a baby shower Marissa Shirley hosted last summer. He rolled around on the floor next to the bride-to-be, playing with ribbons and paper

“Once he got a bit tired of that, he started making rounds through the 20 or so guests, demanding that they pet him,”

Murray also loves napping in his favorite chair, sitting on the kitchen counter and lying by the sliding glass door, watching squirrels, birds and the occasional feral cat run

Shirley says Murray can be cranky, but his personality rules. “He’s hard to resist,” she says.

Waiting out the storm

HOW A 1-POUND KITTEN SURVIVED A THUNDERSTORM AND ONCOMING TRAFFIC

One rainy night on Whitehurst Drive, Kim

Pierce saw a tiny ball of fur. Cars were passing over the fur ball, and Pierce knew she had to do something. Not sure what the fur ball was or if it was even alive, she quickly made a U-turn to ensure cars couldn’t hurt it. Stepping out of her car and stopping oncoming traffic, Pierce rescued a 1-pound kitten.

After returning home, she turned her guest bathroom into a safe space for the shivering and damp kitten. Although he was only supposed to be a guest, Luigi soon became a part of the household.

Barely 5 weeks old, he couldn’t eat cat food and didn’t like milk bottles from the store. Pierce and her partner, Alfonso Cevola, had to syringe feed Luigi a mixture of kitten milk and wet food for six weeks.

“[Alfonso] just fell in love, he was the one who was up doing the 4:30 a.m. feedings,” Pierce says. “He's been a part of our family ever since.”

Pierce works with the feral cat group at Southern Methodist University, feeding and taking care of campus cats.

The couple’s two older cats, “welcomed him in the way that cats can welcome another cat into the fold,” Pierce says. They took turns “mothering” Luigi, cuddling, grooming or playing with the kitten.

While Luigi has grown, he still maintains a small, boxy shape. “I'm convinced he's part dwarf,” Pierce says. Along with his boxy body and head shape, he runs like a rabbit with both back feet moving in unison, a characteristic of dwarf cats.

Despite his size, Luigi is self-possessed and confident in his domain. He doesn’t walk; he prances. When he’s not eating, he’s capturing his toys and sneaking them off as if they were real prey.

In the morning, he enjoys sitting in Cevola’s lap making biscuits, or he curls up with his big sisters.

“He just won our hearts,” Pierce says.