Living With A Bombay Cat - Cat Breed Experiences

 Written April 2012 for Your Cat Magazine (UK)

It's been  two years since Vixen our seven year old Bombay cat came to live with us. We rescued her from a truly awful situation, she had been neglected, abused and overbred by her previous owner. She's had countless litters of kittens and must have either been thrown out by her previous owner or left home of her own accord because she then started living in our garden. We tried to entice her indoors but she wouldn't come so we began to feed her. It was only when we had the bad snow in Winter 2010 that she plucked up the courage to move in. She was very nervous and wary of other humans and didn't get on too well with our Tabby cat Sox. Over time they formed a strong bond and are now inseparable.  We called our Bombay Vixen due to her pretty pointy face and the name really suited her. When she was still adjusting to domestic life we nicknamed her demonically challenged as she could be a naughty demon, pooping on the duvet, always fighting with our other cat and generally being a little minx. She soon calmed down.
We'd never owned a Bombay before and did some research on the breed, we've since become very fond of the breed and would never hesitate to own another Bombay. Vixen is a lovely cat, she's very affectionate and will always happily curl up on the nearest vacant lap and puurr away for hours on end. She has a very motherly instinct and when we got our Labrador puppy Phoenix at the end of last year she  became very motherly around the puppy. 
Bombay cats are known for being very vocal and Vixen is definitely vocal, Bombay's do meow louder then most domestic cats we would describe Vixens meow as a loud whine. Often meowing for no particular reason. Some cat owners are put off by the noise that Bombay's can make but the meow really isn't that bad, we quite like it and to be perfectly fair our tabby Sox can make just as much noise. 
Vixen is also very fond of her food. She can be very greedy but we put this down to her living outside previously. Her favourite food at the moment is Gourmet Perle. She has a rare stomach condition called Mega-colon which means she has to be kept indoors now as we have to monitor her toilet habits. Because of her condition she needs a lot of veterinary treatment. This isn't a breed trait and our vet said it is a rare condition usually caused by injury. She also has IBS so is restricted somewhat to what she can and can't eat.
 Vixen can be very mischievous and among some of her most mischievous and curious tales are like the time we caught her disappearing up the chimney, just her hind legs and tail were left and we had to quickly pull her back down, and the time we caught her clambering into the tumble dryer, luckily it was switched off so now we have to always double check we know where she is before switching on the washing machine and dryer. She very nearly came to the supermarket with us once when she jumped into our shopping Hoppa and on noticing it was a little heavier then usual there was vixen sitting inside purring away. 
Vixen is very playful and will play happily on her own or with our other cat Sox, she loves to play with toy mice and anything with a good squeak is a winner. She has lost some of her toys as she likes to hide them, two are still missing and we have no idea what she has done with them. She is also a very good hunter and has caught many spiders, flies and well any other household visitors. 
She does tend to sleep a lot and lays in the funniest positions, usually you find her laying on her back with her feet in the air, she's also more happy if she can sleep leaning against you or with a paw on your arm. 
Compared to our tabby cat Sox Vixen is a lot more affectionate, always happy to have a fuss and a cuddle, you can cuddle her for ages and she won't fuss at all. 
Our Bombay has been a real joy, she keeps us entertained for hours on end chasing her shadow and getting the wind up her tail and going hyper. All things aside Vixen is a lovely pet, a true companion and a valued member of our family.