Oh Dog! I have a VERY special guest today! Otis went from feral kitten to a leader among cats and a blogger with a mission. He has a wonderful story to tell, so put your paws together and help me welcome Leader Otis!!!!
Rumpy: Oh Dog! Thanks so much for being my guest today! How about we start with you telling us about you!
Leader Otis: The details of My early life are a bit of a blur. My parents were two feral cats living under the house of an elderly cat hoarder in Edmonds, WA.
Rumpy: Oh Dog! That doesn’t sound like a very good life.
Leader Otis: When I was about four months old, I wandered into a nearby backyard and encountered two humans that seemed to take an interest in Me. Having had very little interaction with humans up to that point, I didn’t trust these two at first, but one day something changed. As I was walking through their yard, I looked up to see the humans looking out the window at Me. I froze, locking My gaze on the one with longer hair. She returned My stare and performed a very slow, calm and deliberate blink with her eyes. I was fascinated! We kitties express calm and relaxation with the slow blink. Could it be that this human knew non-verbal cat language?
Rumpy: Oh Dog! Was this your calling?
Leader Otis: I approached the window and sat down below it, staring up into her eyes. She repeated the gesture. Almost involuntarily, I returned the blink and then, bewildered, I wandered off across the street. In the days that followed, the humans seemed to be outside whenever I entered their yard. They were always talking to Me and offering Me food. After about five months of this, the humans started calling Me “Otis”, which I accepted as My name.
Rumpy: Well I can see why. They had food!!!
Leader Otis: I also decided that it would now be safe to let them touch Me. Once I had made physical contact and marked them with scent from My cheek glands, I claimed the humans as My own and dubbed them “Guardians of Otis”.
Rumpy: What an honor!!!
Leader Otis: They then swept Me up in The Capture and took Me into The Promised Land. Well, actually, they first drove Me to The Bad Place where they removed My testicles. I must admit that was a bit of a shock, but now I’m much happier without them.
Rumpy: *giggles*
Leader Otis: There is much more to this story, and all will be told in time. The most important thing to know is that after The Capture, I was introduced to Brothers Henry and Oliver. We lived together in The Promised Land and watched the Guardians of Otis help more than 23 cats from the cat hoarder’s house over the following four years. We saw much suffering and loss among those kitties and we decided that we needed to do something about it.
As I had lived in the wilderness for the early part of My life and had a firsthand understanding of what uncontained kitties go through, I became the natural choice for The Leader of this new movement. Brothers Henry and Oliver agreed to act as My high priests to help Me spread The Good Word about keeping kitties safe, healthy and happy, and The Cult of Otis was born.
Rumpy: An impressive and worthy undertaking! So, tell us about these ‘Guardians of Otis.’
Leader Otis: Hmmmm…this is a tough one. The obvious answer is that they have thumbs and are able to open cans of food for me, but I guess what I like best about My humans is that they are trying their hardest to do My bidding and help kitties in any way they can. My only complaint about My humans is that they sometimes don’t understand what I am telling them to do. I mean, I know they would never defy My wishes, so when I tell them, “Give Me treats now!”, and they don’t comply, I can only assume they don’t understand what I am saying.
Rumpy: It is difficult to train humans. *sigh* And speaking of treats, what are your favorites?
Leader Otis: I’ve met very few treats that I don’t like, but My all-time favorite is Liv-A-Littles freeze-dried chicken treats. I’m drooling just thinking about them!
Rumpy: I think I’d love them! Well, tell us about your use of social media.
Leader Otis: Well, I don’t use the full range of kitty social media. We cats send social signals with body posture, vocalizations and scent marking. One of the ways we scent mark is by spraying concentrated urine on things to claim them as our own. I used this form of social media when I was alone in the wilderness, but I haven’t felt the need to use it since I was brought into The Promised Land.
Wait, were you talking about human forms of social media? If that’s the case, I do have a Cult of Otis Facebook page and a Twitter account. I’ve barely used Twitter though both because it cuts into My nap time and also because the postings are called “Tweets”. Bird’s tweet, not cats. Brother Oliver keeps telling Me I should get over that and use Twitter though. We’ll see.
Rumpy: I agree with Brother Oliver. You’d find there are many that would follow you on Twitter. And let’s not forget your blog! Now I have one last question for fun. If you was a dinosaur, what kind would you be?
Leader Otis: I’m not sure if there ever was such a thing, but I think I would be a Tabbysaurus!
Rumpy: And I’m sure you’d be an amazing one at that! Well thank you so much for being my guest today, and thank you for what you’re doing to help cats! You ROCK!
And friends, you can find out about the work of the Cult of Otis at the Cult of Otis blog.
Dogpaddling Through Life 
Nice to meet you lovely Cat, Leader Otis! Thank you dear Rumpy, you are so nice as always, have a nice week, greetings and love for you all, nia
Hello sweet Nia! I hope your week is nice also!
Pleased to meet you Leader Otis! Thanks for the interview Rumpy!!
xoxo Chloe and LadyBug
Hi Chloe and LadyBug! Hope you go check out Otis’ blog!
Nice to meet you Otis. Lovely story. I hope the cult of Otis gets many followers 🙂
Oh Dog! So do I!!! Thanks Chabs!
Hi Leader Otis!!! *waves paw* lovely to meet you and to hear your story how your human took you in the Promised Land! Very beautiful story! Wow, your favorite treat ‘Liv-A-Littles freezed dry chicken’ sounds yummy! *drools*
All of your pics are so adorable! I love them!!! Very cute! 🙂
Rumpy, thanks for this great interview of Otis!!! I enjoyed it alot!!! 🙂
Thanks Kevin! Isn’t Otis awesome!
What a gorgeous cat.
With an amazing story!
Thanks Rumpy for introducing Otis to us. So sweet of you 🙂 Have fun!
I hope you go check out his blog too!
Fear the Otis Tabbysaurus. The funniest part I read there was Otis’ social networking… and when he was brought to the Bad Place.
He sure has some great human subordinates. A cat having humans follow their bidding is just wonderful.
Huggies and Cheese,
Haopee
Thanks Haopee!
Hi Otis ~ we enjoyed reading your story. xx
Hey guys! I’m glad you liked it. I hope you go check out his blog!
Never underestimate the power of the slow blink! Otis you are a lucky kitty to have made it to the Promised Land 🙂
Wasn’t he though? Those Guardians are great!
Otis is a beautiful cat, and oh so lucky. 🙂
Indeed he is Heather!
Rumpy Dog, thanks so much for this wonderful interview of Otis. I learned many things that I didn’t know about him before. Your blog looks fantastic too – I’m going to follow your posts from now on!
Oh Wow! Thanks so much!!!
As one of Otis’ devoted followers, let me give you thanks for helping Otis spread the word.
YAY!!!! Thanks so much!
Rumpy!
Me has been to Otis’ blog and he is PAWSOME! thanks for sharing him with everybody on your blog!
Kisses
Nellie
Wow! I’m glad so many already know about Otis! Thanks Nellie!
What an awesome pussy cat you are Leader Otis. I am glad that you are happy and well loved. Hello lovely Rumpy. Thank you for that I really enjoyed irt. xxxx
Yay! Thanks Charlie!
Great story! Nice to meet Otis! 🙂
He is quite the charismatic leader. woo woo woo!
Those are great pictures of Otis–I especially like the last one. And that’s interesting about the non-verbal cat language.
Ferals take alot of work, but many can be homed.
Rumpy, kudos on an excellent interview. We’ll check out Otis’ blog.
Great! Thanks so much!
Otis is such a fine feline example of “leading the way” to help others! Lead on, Otis!
You tell ’em granbee!!!!
We bow to Leader Otis! A great interview, Rumpy.
woo woo woo!!!!!
Wonderful interview and nice to meet Otis. He is one handsome cat!
He is indeed! And some Guardian in his life is an excellent photographer!
Welcome Otis! 🙂
Thank you my friend!
Rumpy. Thanks for having Otis tell his story. You and Otis make quite an awesome team!
I dunno….. I have enough trouble with June Buggie…. to have a cult of kitties around might be a little too much for even me!
Nice to meet you Otis.
Hello there! Thanks for stopping by.
I couldn’t imagine a more charming–and laugh inducing–little leader! A pleasure to hear of Otis. 🙂
He does have a charismatic charm!
Otis, it’s so good that you’re helping other kitties who are in the same position you were in. Nice to meet you.
He is truly a leader among cats. woo woo woo!
Haay, O! U haz hansum tabby face liek me! We tabbies haz 2 stik 2gedder. Ai will B looking fur U on Facebook! Grate innerview, ag’in, RD!
Hey BobButtons! I’m glad you’re gonna be friends!!!!!
Wow Otis! You’re soooooo cute! Love yeaaa! 🙂
Thanks for all of the kind words everyone! And many thanks to Rumpy Dog for helping Me spread The Good Word!
It was my pleasure!
Reblogged this on Travels with Fred and commented:
This story is similar to the one that Frank told me…..it’s a great interview!
Oh Dog! Frank too? Does he have a cult?
Otis does rock! Great guest post!
Oh my gosh, to hear from their perspective is just so gorgeous 🙂 “they took me to the Bad place where they took off my testicles” !!!
But then the Promised Land, oh gorgeous 🙂
Bless you all!!!