A family in Portland is trying to decide whether to keep their cat after it attacked a baby and forced the family to take cover in a bedroom.
An Oregon family says they're not ready to give up on their pet cat, even after it attacked their baby and forced the family to take cover in a bedroom.
The 4-year-old cat, a 22-pound part-Himalayan named Lux, might look harmless, but its owners say it has a "history" of violent behavior.
Emergency dispatchers in Portland sent officers to contain the cat after receiving the family’s frantic 911 call.
CALLER: "He's charging us. He’s at our door, our bedroom door."
DISPATCHER: "One moment, okay?
CALLER: "Do you hear him? That was the cat."
DISPATCHER: "Yeah, I hear him. Keep the door shut, okay?"
When police got there, the family was too afraid to come out of the bedroom to let them in.
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Officers eventually got inside and were able to snare Lux and put him behind bars -- in a crate.
The family says that even though Lux is just a cat, they were genuinely scared.
"He started hissing and -- just rarrrr, like yowls, not like a meow, but yowls,” said Teresa Barker, the cat’s co-owner. “He was really like crazy."
Lee Palmer, Barker's boyfriend and Lux's co-owner, says the animal attacked after their 7-month-old child pulled its tail. The baby was not seriously hurt.
Palmer says he's taking the feline to a veterinarian. A pet psychologist also is due at the house.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
