The Grifter

Claudia M. Hosky of Washington, DC, said, "This is Lucian The Grifter. (Yes, his tag actually says that!) He roams the Cathedral Heights neighborhood in search of birds for pouncing and friendly neighbors." 

Heather McGann, the cat's owner, shared, "Regarding my fluffy, white, blue-eyed Persian rascal, who is named Baron von Lucian (BvL), he was dumped on my desk one day when I was working in the Middle East at a university near Dubai. His previous owner, a professor, had bought him for his new bride  But, as so often happens, when dating is not allowed or strictly monitored, they didn't really know each other and it all came out after the wedding. Two months later, she left him. Every time the professor looked at him, BvL broke his heart. And he is not shy. so he wouldn't leave the professor alone to this thoughts. My husband and I intended to find him a home. We thought such a cat would be easy to place, but there are abandoned cats and dogs all over the UAE so it was not to be. When my contract was up, of course I couldn't just leave him so he traveled back to the States with me. " 

"Though we live in a condo, we do have a rather lovely garden/patio. It's actually larger than our condo. I think it might be 600 square feet and of course BvL is a part of what makes it lovely. Alas, he refuses to stay in our condo or even our garden and he roams. He has his rounds of people he visits. And Claudia's parent's home is one of them. He thinks everyone is on this earth to do his considerable bidding. He has become a little famous in our neighborhood and people ask after him all the time. when he has withheld his love and not stopped by. He does not like winter, so he rarely ventures out of the condo in the winter. but come spring he starts his meandering."

"Once he was kidnapped...I am not making this up. My husband got a ransom call. We had to go to the police and they tracked him down for us. He was returned safe and sound. Evidently, the kidnappers wanted to keep him, but he screamed and meowed all night (he knew he was in dire straights and these new servants would be too much to train and he preferred his old servants), so they decided to give him back if we would pay a nominal fee to reimburse them for their expenses...people are incredible! No shame."