Pud the cat is the star of this Shepparton shop

Aug 4, 2021

If you see Pud the cat now, lording over his shop, greeting customers and encouraging pats, you would never guess at his beginnings.

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Despite how it looks now, life has not always been easy for the Russian blue cat.

Owner Tracy Hayward said Pud arrived at her shop in High St, Shepparton, as a wild cat about three years ago.

“He was skinny, he was ragged. He was scared,” Tracy said.

“You couldn’t get close enough to pat him.”

Pud turned up at the door with three other cats, but two of them went missing quickly.

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Pud and the other remaining cat hung around for longer, but that other cat went missing about two weeks after it had kittens.

This left Tracy to hand rear the kittens from a young age.

She is pretty certain Pud is the father of the kittens, and she still has three of them, but unlike Pud, they live at her home.

Pud, however, is not a fan of the car, and instead prefers to live at Tracy’s shop, Sabac Giftware.

He has his own bed, scratching post and kitty litter tray out the back of the shop.

“He was wild. We felt sorry for him and fed him,” Tracy said.

“Then he let himself in.”

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These days Pud has free rein and can often be seen at the door greeting customers with a meow as they enter, or cuddled up somewhere having a nap.

If Tracy is working in the back in the office, Pud can often be found there with her.

“I try to do the paperwork and he climbs up with his muddy paws,” Tracy said.

According to Tracy, Pud has two jobs: “He greets our customers and he sleeps”.

One of Pud’s favourite spots to sleep, especially on a cold winter’s day, is on the front counter next to the till — right under the heating vent.

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Tracy said Pud, who she thinks is about five years old, also liked to sleep on the chairs in the shop.

“It’s not very often he’ll sleep on the floor,” she said.

Pud is quite a hit with most customers, according to his owner, with plenty wanting to have a pat of the shop’s furry staff member.

“Normally they want photos and pats,” Tracy said.

“We have more customers come and visit him than me.”

Pud also particularly loves children, just sitting beside them and accepting their pats and snuggles, Tracy said.

He has also been known to surprise customers — with Tracy telling of one woman who went to grab him on a chair thinking he was an ornament.

It is a long way from how he was when he first came to the shop.

Tracy said when he first arrived it took about three or four months before she could pat Pud on the head, and even longer before she could pick him up.

Now he is all about the pats.

“His life revolves around sleeping and cuddles,” Tracy said.

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Despite his home being a giftware shop, where many things are breakable, Pud does not seem to have any problems getting around his domain that you might associate with some cats.

“He’s a really laid-back cat,” Tracy said.

“Even at Christmas when we had all the trees up and all the balls everywhere, he couldn’t care less.

“When it got a bit crowded in here he’d sleep under the (Christmas) trees where people couldn’t see him.”

Tracy is at the shop most days with Pud, but on Sundays when it is closed, someone — often her partner, Simon Walkden — comes down to feed him and spend time with him.

Simon is a courier driver and Pud can always spot when he is in the area.

“He knows when his truck is coming,” Tracy said.

“When he’s delivering . . . across the road, he’ll meow.”