Pet's Story or Bio
Rusty was a feral kitten living in the storm drainage pipe at the creek behind the Rustic Theatre in 2022. We would feed and try coax this little kitten out but then setting up for one of our Saturday outdoor events, he suddenly came forward, bold and full of personality and just blended in. He was like, ok I'm ready for you to love me! We adopted him as the Rustic Theatre Cat and took him to ARF for his initial shots. Being a feral kitty, we decided to get a cat window so he could leave in the morning to go explore. As cats are creatures of routine, it was always a delight when he would arrive back every afternoon with much purring and leg circling. Only to discover what he was doing during the day. Rusty would make his rounds and go visit all the local businesses surrounding the Rustic Theatre. He gave freely of his love and popped in to get a scratchy scratch only to move on to his next location. What a Diva at the Film Festival! We had laid the red carpet below the Photo Wall and he just instinctively went and lay down to groom. He gave everyone so much joy! While he would be reticent of big dogs, he was very social with the friendlier smaller dogs that came in. Rusty was a very prolific gift giver and brought us many many gifts, although at least they were still living! Of course all the birds, chipmunks, that one time he brought up a baby rabbit, (I know!!!!) field mice and "the" lizard. Yes, singular. I eventually put a dot of nail polish on its tail to be sure and it was a return gift. Maybe they had a game? But we always caught all his "gifts" and let them go. It wasn't all cotton balled. He was a warrior of his turf. We had some mean outsiders visit on occasion and he had some bad war injuries. Again ARF to the rescue! Late last year, we bought a cabin and relocated Rusty to his new home. He is now an indoor cat and is thriving. He no longer needs to fight to protect his territory or hunt for those gifts. He finds the sunny spots and basks in comfort. He deserves to win this competition because Rusty is a beautiful creature with an old soul that brought so much joy to the local downtown business community of Idyllwild