Erin Arnold wondered if she was making a mistake adopting a so-called working cat from the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals when six people were needed to get the cat into a crate so Arnold could take him home.
Arnold can’t say she wasn’t warned. She was drawn to the handsome cat, named Ratatat, by a RISPCA Facebook post showing his photograph and saying, “This is Ratatat. You may look at him and think, ‘”‘Awww such a cute orange boy! I bet he’s so sweet and silly!’ WRONG. Ratatat may be cute, but he is not sweet. This cat has a thirst for blood. Humans, animals … it does not matter.”
Arnold read the post and thought Ratatat would be perfect for patrolling her small farm and keeping pests out of her garden. And then she met him. Ratatat wasn’t purring but hissing at his perceived tormentors. “I thought, ‘What am I getting myself into?'” Arnold says.
What is the working cat program?
Ratatat was part of the RISPCA’s working cat program. It’s a program for cats that can’t be placed in homes as indoor cats, because they haven’t been socialized and won’t do well in a traditional home setting, according to Olivia Warburton and Cathy Simonini of the RISPCA.