Baxter von Triptrap Luthy-Shull

Baxter von Triptrap Luthy-Shull saw the love of his life walk into the McCracken County Humane Society, and wasn’t about to let her get away.

Dusty Luthy Shull, ace sports writer for the Paducah Sun, was checking out the cats at the pound on a Friday afternoon. She was looking for a female tabby. “Then this little guy starts climbing up the cage fence, meowing,” says Dusty. Female tabby? Not even close. This was a tom in a tuxedo!

Dusty got the insistent kitty out of the cage. “He crawled right up my coat and sat on my shoulder,” Dusty remembers. “I left him there at first because I wanted time to think, but by Monday morning, I was miserable thinking someone else might adopt him and got there right when they opened to take him home. That was January 28, 2008.

“He needed a snooty name because he wears such finery all day (he’s always in tails),” Dusty explains. “He talks with a snooty European accent, can sit on your shoulder like a parrot and he won’t rest until all flies and bugs are dead in the house.”

But when Baxter first came home from the shelter, he was one sick cat.

Baxter had a long, stubborn respiratory infection. “He started sneezing, leaving actual green mucus everywhere. It was disgusting!” Dusty says it took several courses of antibiotic pills and antihistamine injections before Baxter recovered, only to get an eye infection. But, as you can see from the photos, he is now the very picture of feline health.

Truth be told, Baxter wasn’t the only one with the sniffles. “My husband, Adam (Sun entertainment reporter), is allergic to cats, and since I got Baxter while we were dating, he couldn’t really protest,” Dusty says. “So, Adam suffers through congestion when he’s at home, although we’ve tried to keep Baxter out of the bedroom and we vacuum frequently. We also stocked up on Claritin. About the time Adam gets frustrated, Baxter does something cute, and all is forgiven, though.”

Dusty is glad she went back to the shelter that Monday morning in January. “Baxter is my child,” she says, “pure and simple. During the ice storm, we stayed with a friend, and while Adam and I were at work, Baxter got scared and hid deep within a couch. When we got home, we couldn’t find him and thought he escaped outside. We spent 30 minutes calling for him, first in the house and then in the snow and ice outside. I was in hysterics, thinking he was cold and scared in the tragedy. I actually was to the point of planning to take off work to recover from the sheer grief of my loss.”

We can all imagine the relief when Herr von Triptrap peeked out from behind his cozy couch cushion!

Your writer wondered if Baxter could handle the fame of being the iPet of the Week. Dusty assured me he could.

“Baxter is so excited about this,” she says. “He really thinks his stock will go up with the ladies….I might have told him he’s actually going up as iDate of the Week.”

Shhh! We won’t tell! Rock on, Baxter!

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