Farmer in a Pink Tutu: hank's time to shine

If you ever thought it possible for a dog to be born inside a cat’s body, Hank may just be your proof.

Out of all the “kids,” Hank would be considered the quiet one, the sweet tempered one, the outdoorsy one and well, kind of the needy one.

Hank

No doubt born on the streets, Hank is still a gentle soul. We adopted Hank the same day we adopted Dennis – Humane Society’s 2 purr 1 deal – and he immediately jumped into Sean’s lap when we walked into the cat room. From that moment, there was no doubt he was coming home with us that day. And try as we might, there was no keeping this cat indoors.

Already a couple of years older than Dennis when we got him, Hank had absolutely no interest in his livelier younger brother. No, all Hank wanted was someone to give him a lot of love and a lot of food. He is much more interested in taking a nap than being bothered with playing (and who can blame him?).

Throw a jingling ball at him and he will just watch it roll away. Point the laser pointer at him and he may swat at it a couple times out of curiosity (as long as he doesn’t have to move). And when Dennis and Althea are playing chase, Hank is usually as far away from all that as possible.

The quiet, contemplative type.

He definitely does have his favorite sibling though, and it is not the other feline.

These two are snugglers!

Hank and Althea snuggle together, play together – which really involves Althea running around Hank with Hank meowing every now and then as she does so – and just get along. And none of this stuff happens between Hank and Dennis. Not once. Never has happened.

Hank is an indoor/outdoor cat, unlike Dennis. And we do believe that he was definitely a street cat before being picked up by the Humane Society. Apparently, one way to tell is that a street cat learns to actually eat the things that he catches instead of just playing with it like indoor cats. Well, one fine afternoon, Sean witnessed Hank biting right into a mouse’s head and chewing down on the thing.

When you meet Hank, you'd probably think of him as one of your typical lazy cats because he will most likely be laying around somewhere. However, I have to say that he is actually one fine hunter. When we first moved down to the farm, all you saw were squirrels and chipmunks running around. Almost a year later, I barely see any. I see their body parts. I’ve seen one’s liver sitting in front of my door.

But what about those chickens who run around outside?

It’s weird but Hank seems to know to leave the chickens alone, which is exactly what he does. He has absolutely no interest in the chickens and the chickens have absolutely no fear of Hank. The chickens have even come right up to Hank while he is lying outside and all he does is give them one little “go away” swat. Maybe they are too big to bother with or maybe he just has too many other more tempting things to actually go after.

Hank prefers a life of chillaxing.

So, Hank may be the perfect pet.

He’s definitely the perfect farm cat. Ridding the house and farm of rodents and never bothering the chickens.

He may also be the best cat with children. You know how kids want to grab and pick up and squeeze cats, well, most cats (Dennis) can’t deal with that and just run and hide. Instead, Hank just really, really wants you to pet him. And if that means having to deal with hands that also have to poke and grab, well he’ll deal with all that and with all the patience in the world. He actually can’t get enough.