Major, the P.D. Cat

Major is the “Purr-fect” mascot for the Stilwell Police Department. This lucky girl was rescued after being thrown away, now she welcomes visitors and some call her a comfort.

It was July 3 when officer Dillon Martin drove by just in time to see her be thrown across the street, said Lt. Jesse Akins.

“He brought her back to the police department and she stuck,” Akins said. 

“It’s fortunate he drove by when he did or she might have been run over.”

Karen Smith said when she came in to work the next morning the kitten was curled up on dispatcher Tara Lanning’s chest.

“Can we keep her?” Lanning said.

It was a surprise to Smith.

“If everybody else is okay, I’m okay with her,” said Smith.

They were.

“Tara said it’s her emotional support animal. It helps her de-stress between calls,” said Smith.

People come into the police department to file cases.

“Some have said she’s kept them calm. If anyone who comes in doesn’t want her around I notice and ask. Most say, ‘no, let her stay,’ ” said Smith. 

Major has a little crate she sleeps in that is in the dispatch office.

“I definitely think Dustin Green is the papa. He’s taken her over. We all buy toys but Dustin is the big spoiler. He also got her vaccinated and spade.”

Green is a dispatcher.

“I catch them watching Cat TV of birds and other cat interests,” said Smith.

She’s very “purr-sonable, Green said.

“She follows me around and I carry her like a baby. She thinks she’s everybody’s friend,” said Green. 

A tiny badge hangs from her collar.

“She’s kind of spoiled. People are around here all day and night,” he said.

Major doesn’t like the dark.

“We trained with all the lights out for a building search training and she started howling,” Green said. “She won’t go outside, she seems afraid.”

Her favorite place is to sit in the window and look out of the door. She doesn’t ever try to go outside, said Smith. She doesn’t seem to like it.

Major catches insects and plays with them. 

“She loves to chase the plastic fish on the kids fishing pole, and plays with her toys,” Smith said.

Green said she likes to hide and sits in empty boxes.

Smith said, “She gets treats, and time out if she misbehaves. We hope she’s here a long time.”

The Smiths have two cats at home, one is 15.

“Bella was up in a tree and our daughter Becca was about 14, when she asked her dad to get it down. He told her it would come down when it was ready,” said Smith. “She told him the dog was keeping it up there.”

Her next strategy worked.

“Dad, you’re a fireman, you’re supposed to rescue cats in trees,” his daughter said.

So he got a ladder and got her down.

“Becca brought her in the house and she’s been there ever since,” Smith said.

It was a chocolate Lab who was barking at the kitten in the tree.

Chad Smith said, “We took her in to calm her down and she’s never left. The Lab and the cat became best friends and they would lay together until  Shane (the dog) died.”

He sees how people seem to want to pet Major.

“We’ve had a couple of people come in here who were emotional and she would come over and they’d pet her and say she calmed them down,” Smith said.

His grandson Quinn Philpot immediately found Major when he stopped by with his mom Friday morning, and began petting and playing with her.

“She’s cute, and soft,” said Quinn.