f you are a cat lover then we are sure that you’ve heard of Monty. He is a beautiful cat who is especially well known on social media. PurrfectCatNames.com had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Monty’s pet parents and get to know a bit more about this lovely feline. Join us to meet Mikala, Michael, and Monty
for a special interview: Monty is a beautiful and very special boy! How did you choose to adopt him, or did he choose you? Can you tell the story of how you two first met at the animal shelter?
One day Mikala saw Monty on a cat shelter’s website and we both thought he looked so adorable, yet a little sad. The next day we went to meet him at the shelter. He was walking around among the other homeless cats outside their cages just playing by himself. I gently lifted him up and instantly something very magical happened. Normally you can’t just go and pick up a cat you don’t know and lay him in your arms like a baby with the belly up, but I did! Monty was so calm and started kneading in the air. Monty and I looked each other in the eyes and from that moment on we were best friends. Love at first sight does exist!
There was no doubt in our minds that Monty should come and live with us. So he did!
How did you choose Monty’s name?
Monty wasn’t “Monty” back then. His name was “Bandit” but Monty wasn’t a bandit so we immediately changed his name to Monty because he reminded us of Monty Python’s song “Always look on the bright side of life”.
So Monty is named after the happy Monty Python 🙂
Monty is a cat with chromosome abnormalities. The message Monty shares is that he may look different but is fantastic in every way. What are some of the unique things that you especially love about Monty?
Monty is just always happy! The way he is always acting like a happy kitten is fantastic! He wants to take part in EVERYTHING I’m doing and if he can’t reach the high shelves, he will start meowing until I lift him up. A few minutes later he will meow and I will carry him down again. He trusts us completely and that is amazing! One of the sweetest things Monty does is when he wants me to go to bed. He will meow at me until I ask him “what do you want”. Then he screams at me and I will have to follow him to see what he wants. He will walk in front of me looking back to see if I still follow. Then he usually shows me to bed where he jumps up on it and starts kneading, purring very loud and scream MEOW until I lay down in bed. His tail gets really puffy and that’s called “puffy tail syndrome” some cats get when they are really excited and happy. At first we thought Monty was unsure or angry because of the big fluffy tail but he was purring and happy so we got really confused. When we are in bed Monty will lay in my arms and if I stop petting him he will meow very loud at me to say: “cuddle me dad!”
Monty is always sleeping between my legs the entire night on a big blanket with his extra soft baby blanket on top of it. It gets so hot every night because Monty will tell me if I haven’t got the blanket on my legs!
How would you describe Monty’s purrsonality? Is he outgoing or shy?
Monty is very outgoing for sure but only if Mikala or I am there with him. We have been out on events promoting shelter animals and animal welfare with Monty just a few times and he actually loves it! It is so funny to watch him all confident walking around giving everyone headbonks but if he suddenly can’t find me or Mikala he will start meowing. He just need us to be there 🙂 We are a bit overprotective about Monty because he have shown us many times that he loves being out but we don’t want him to get over stimulated.
Monty is a very gentle cat, but also has a very strong personality. When he wants something he screams until he gets it 😉 For example if he wants to cuddle his tail gets really puffy, he starts kneading, purring and screaming (meowing) really loud until we give him attention and cuddle with him. He also gets some really weird ideas sometimes. Suddenly he wants to go way up high on the closet! Usually it is way early in the morning and then he starts to scream while scratching on the closet. The only thing we can do is to lift him up, wait a few minutes and then lift him down again. Monty is always happy and feels completely safe when Michael is around. If he gets nervous or doesn’t like one’s presence he will let us know with a simple meow, but will never use his claws!
Does Monty have other cats to play with or is he an only cat?
Monty is the only cat. He is actually not that found of other cats but dogs on the other hand is very interesting 😉
When did you decide to share Monty with the world? What was the first reaction? Or the best reaction that you loved the most?
It was all a coincident that Monty ended up going viral on the big Internet.
In the beginning we didn’t know why Monty was leaking in his sleep and we were afraid that it was because he didn’t like living with us even though he seemed very happy. The vet had never heard about a cat leaking in his sleep and thought it sounded a bit crazy. Well, it was but when a cat pees outside his litter box you have to react because the cat is trying to tell you something. That’s why we decided to find a loving foster home for Monty only to see if the peeing stopped. The only thing other than a foster home was to do a full scan of Monty’s bladder to see if all was okay but it was a big thing to do and we didn’t want him to go through all this. We shared Monty with our friends on Facebook and in a few days Monty was all over the Internet. We got calls from all over our country (Denmark) saying that they wanted to foster Monty and we actually met with a few families until we picked the right one. The day we were about to leave Monty with his foster family we felt like something was wrong! Something inside of us was telling us to try the scan instead and we actually couldn’t leave him! We were already so in love with him and even though it was only a foster home it felt wrong! We needed to make a scan of Monty’s bladder and then we suddenly saw why our boy was leaking in his sleep! It had nothing to do with us. It was just the way he was made.
We informed everyone about the news. Everyone asked about updates and we decided to make a Facebook page for him. On Monty’s page we are sharing his message about adopting shelter animals, the importance of spay/neuter and of course his favorite message: “Looking different doesn’t mean you can’t be fantastic!” and “We are all PAWsome!”
Monty has received a lot of e-mails, messages and even letters. The most touching one someone ever wrote to Monty/us was about a woman who had had breast cancer. She told us how she could relate to Monty’s message about being fantastic even though you are not perfect. She was missing a breast and by that she felt that she wasn’t but it was okay. When we read that letter we cried <3
We understand that Monty needs special care, a little TLC to be comfortable during the day. How do you add this in to your regular routine?
We really have no choice, since Monty requires love. However, he will also suit himself. We are mainly sitting by the computer, in the couch watching a movie or sleeping. No matter where we are he will follow to be with us. Right now as I’m writing this he is lying next to me on my desk in his favorite basket. So he is always in reach for some cuddling.
Monty has his own website and he is on jewelry too. He’s also all over the globe via the Internet! What do you think Monty will do next, what does he want to do?
Well it is for sure a good question, because until now nothing has turned out as we expected to and that is meant as a good thing. One thing is for sure; we will continue to build this Monty brand and grow his website so that we can make a more significant difference in the world. We live by the philosophy that if we are not living to make the world a better place then our time here on this planet will be a waste. That is for sure a huge philosophy to live by. However, every journey starts with one step and our next two steps are: a children’s book about how we met Monty. This book should teach children that difference doesn’t mean you can’t be fantastic and also teach them to be good to animals. The last big step we are working on is a soon to be finished Monty App in which you are to cuddle Monty where he demands it and avoid obstacles. We are very excited about the game.
Can you share a bit about what made you decide that now was the best time for you to adopt a cat, made you go to the animal shelter?
It is funny because we actually just felt like Monty was our furbaby! We had no choice but to adopt him 🙂 It felt like the only right thing to do. We saw Monty on our local animal shelter’s website and we instantly felt a connection. We needed to meet him and the next day when he was laying in my arms, there was no doubt in our minds! Monty was our baby 🙂
What is your website URL?
Yes, that is right. The new site will be up and running soon. It will among other things contain a blog with various posts about cats, smart tricks, great stories and of course Monty. The website will have the same URL: www.montyboy.net. While it gets build we are using Etsy as our shop host. We are linking and forwarding to this URL:www.MontyJewelry.com
