Larry Letterio's Blog

Chester Cheetah doing a little turn on the catwalk

Time to cover another homepage topic: Cats.

Being that today, August 13, is Chester Cheetah’s 1^st birthday I thought I’d make the introduction.

If you know anything about Bengal cats, you know they’re verbal. Really, really verbal. Chester’s life began in Colorado, meaning that, in November, he had to board a plane and fly about 1,300 miles to his forever home. May God have mercy on the souls of the other passengers sharing the cabin of that plane — having endured 3 hours of non-stop “Braack, Braack, Braaak, Braaak…” How can such stunningly loud noises come from such a tiny critter?

I don’t want to get on that plane, Boss.

We got home in the evening and Chester was given his own room in which to cool down – away from the Rottenweiler and Calico cat. The Braacks continued into the night and continue unabated to this very day.

What? Me worry?

A fun fact about Bengals: They love water. Once freed from his private room, Chester began exploring. First stop–my shower. He’d sit outside the stall until I opened the glass to grab a towel, then he’d jump in to splash around like a lunatic; oblivious to the fact that my “Adonis-like physique 🤣” was still occupying the space. Next stop–the bathroom sink where he’d jump up and whack at the spigot water. The game is to spit out the toothpaste without hitting Chester.

As he got more comfortable, he started gathering his toys and dropping them, one by one, into his water dish. The peak of the water games was his finding a stored case of Costo bottled water, gnawing the lids off, spilling the opened bottles, and splashing around in the mess. There is no disaster prepping when you live with a Bengal.

Then there’s the bravado. Bengals in general and Chester in particular have an over-abundance of self-confidence. If you could animate the left side of a Dunning-Kruger graph and form it into a single living feline, you’d have Chester. Having mastered his Bengal Mind Control over the Rottenweiler and the Calico, he sought a bigger challenge. He bounced up the stairs, pushed out a window screen, jumped onto the porch roof, then jumped from the roof into the yard and off to the woods. At 1 a.m., after 13 hours of our searching, he simply strolled back onto the porch looking like the cat that ate the canary.

Perhaps he did.

Finally, there’s the athleticism. Chester’s floor routine would make Kerri Strug blush. His high jump (floor to refrigerator top without a running start) is a thing of legend. Long jump?  Forget about it. He easily covers the length of the room in a single bounce. But what’s most amazing is his mid-flight body control.  Twisting, turning, flipping, spinning… all to land casually while glancing back at you with a “That’s right, I just went there.” look.

I kind of expect to hear Béla Károly shouting, “You can do it, Chester” as he crouches down to start his next routine.

My advice to anyone who’s up for it? Get yourself a Bengal. They’re great with other pets, will entertain you endlessly, they fill up the room with their presence, and have joyful personalities. All while you jam your face into a pillow to muffle the screams of, “What the f*** was I thinking when I got this thing?!”

So Happy Birthday, Chester! We wish you many, many more.

Kilroy Chester Was Here