Quentin, Son of Jeb

Like father, like son.--Proverb

Quentin has his mother Ginny's coloring and his father's physique, including Jeb's short tail. Is it heredity or environment which makes us who we are? I mean cats. Which influences their personalities more, heredity or environment? Or is it both, equally? Or does it depend on the individual situation?

I believe that Quentin was next in line to become the heir to Jeb's feral cat colony. That is, had Ginny's kittens been born feral, I suspect Quentin would have usurped his older brother's (rightful?) leadership role in the colony, just as Jeb had done with his brother Mosby, when the time came. The strongest cat rules. But I changed the course of history by having Ginny's kittens born indoors.

Then I intervened again in Quentin's feline passage rites into adulthood, so to speak, meaning there would be no aggressive alpha male behavior allowed in this household. You see, both Quentin and his brother, Darcy, are first-generation housecats. Neither one has ever even expressed an interest in going outdoors, although Quentin did manage to open the front door once, merely to see if he could do it--and then he just stood on the deck, as if wondering what he was doing there. I digress. When Quentin was about a year old, one day he started bossing his siblings around, but I put an immediate stop to his aggressive behavior. And Quentin, who knows that I am truly the head of this household, realized that while all cats are created equal, the human rules. Okay, cats rule, but I am still in charge--most of the time.