‘Beware the cat’ – family’s sign after pet attacks postmen
THE prospect of a fearsome cat may conjure up images of a majestic lion stalking its prey or a graceful tiger waiting to pounce.
But in one Monmouthshire town the ferocious cat causing consternation is a domestic moggy named after a celebrity chef.
So while many homes come with a warning at the front door about a potentially angry dog the family of black cat Heston – named after culinary heavyweight Heston Blumenthal – have had to put up a sign up to warn people about their cat.
The five-year-old Heston is very protective of his home in Caldicot and visitors often think the family has a guard dog – not a small black cat.
If there’s one thing Heston can’t stand it’s people posting letters and parcels through the letterbox or entering the path or garden in front of his house.
He has snapped at a number of postmen in the past – including one who left with blood on his arm – and one person even thought he had been bitten by the family’s guard dog, only to find out it was actually the cat.
Some of the neighbours call Heston the “devil cat” and owner Bruce Robertson has now put up a sign at the front door to warn people about Heston.
The sign reads: “Beware! Guard cat on duty. Do NOT put fingers through letterbox.”
Steelworker Bruce, 58, said: “When the post goes through the letter box Heston puts his paw through to grab the post.
“Heston doesn’t like people coming in the garden and once the mechanic came over to deliver my MOT certificate and he thought we had a guard dog, not a cat.
“I heard the mechanic shouting from the bottom of the path and Heston was there, hanging onto his leg. He just wouldn’t let him up the path.
“Some of our neighbours even cross the road to avoid him.
“Once someone said to me ‘Your dog bit me’ but I had to explain that we don’t have a dog.”
Bruce believes Heston’s habit of attacking hands through the letterbox comes from when his son, Shane, 21, was playing with him as a kitten, putting his hands through to see the cat’s reaction.
The family also has a parrot who likes to tease Heston by sometimes calling him Kessy.
“Heston stares at the parrot until he stops and then off he goes,” Bruce added.
“He has this side to him where he will go for people he doesn’t know but he can be lovely as well.
“He has a brush and he loves to be stroked with it so when I stroke him he goes all soft and is a really pleasant cat.”