Family Trapped in Bedroom by Extremely Grumpy Cat, Forced to Call 911

Did they try calling the cat? That's a sure-fire method to get them to go away.
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If the Internet wasn’t proof enough, a Portland family’s cat decided to prove that cats are the dominant species on this planet, and it pretty much succeeded. The cat became enraged, likely because it had either too much or too little attention paid to it, or both at the same time, and it trapped the family in a bedroom until 911 intervened.

The irritable little criminal was Lee Palmer and Teresa Barker’s 22-pound Himalayan, Lux, who “just went off” after Palmer apparently “kicked the cat in the rear.” To be fair, if I slapped someone’s seven month-old in the head, I wouldn’t be surprised to get a kick—especially if I slapped it with a hand full of cat claws, which is what Lux did to Palmer and Barker’s son, Jesse.

I’m still not exactly a fan of kicking animals, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that Palmer means he nudged the cat away from Jesse with his foot. Either way, the cat then completely lost it and chased the family (including their dog) into a bedroom, which probably went something like this.

They were unable to get out of the room, which is because the cat kept charging them every time they opened the door. Most cats just trap you in a room by laying too close to the door and getting annoyed when you try to open it, so this new technique was an unwelcome innovation.

When Palmer couldn’t get ahold of Animal Control, he was forced to call 911. I’m guessing that was part of the cat’s plan to break his spirit. You can listen to the 911 recording and see how irritable the cat is in the local news segment below:

If you listen closely, you can hear the amusement in the 911 operator’s voice, and Palmer actually laughs when cautioning that the police should be careful, so at least they’ve got a good sense of humor about it, and no one got hurt. Police wound up subduing the cat with a snare meant for dogs, because it is apparently the Hulk of cats.

After the incident, the family is unsure of whether or not they’re going to keep Lux, because of course you’d hang onto a cat who attacks your baby, has “a history of violence,” and forces you to call 911. Somebody check in on that family again; I think the cat might have some kind of blackmail on them.

(WBTV via Jezebel, image via My Own Grumpy Cat Meme)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.