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Rare cat settles in Texas
Feline escaped at local gas station
Cosmo One
Kim Shelton of Texas holds Cosmo, her cat that escaped from a delivery man in Forsyth County last month. Cosmo was captured and returned to Shelton. - photo by Submitted
A Bengal cat that escaped last month in Forsyth County while en route to Texas hasn’t changed his ways.

Kim Shelton of Granbury, southwest Fort Worth, rescued the cat named Cosmo from a Florida breeder who could no longer keep him.

The man Shelton hired to drive Cosmo to her home lost him during a stop June 5 at a gas station at Atlanta Highway and Peachtree Parkway.

Bengal cats are a cross between Asian leopard cats and domestic cats. Their markings resemble small leopards.

Shelton said Cosmo has “made at least three getaways out of my backyard” since arriving there late last month.

“He’s climbed over the fence and he’s been around visiting all the neighbors,” she said, adding that the cat still has his claws.

Shelton said Sunday she went to retrieve Cosmo from a neighbor’s yard, but he wasn’t there when she arrived. She later found the cat on her roof.

“I have a brick house,” she said. “I don’t know how he got up there, but I got a ladder and he climbed down.”

The cat stirred local interest last month during his weekend escape.

Shelton started making connections over the Internet with Forsyth residents and cat lovers in her search for Cosmo, who she feared would be mistaken for a wildcat and harmed.

Within days of his escape, however, Cosmo was caught in a cage set in the woods next to the gas station, where he had made friends and dined on doughnuts.

Shelton then hired a different driver who brought the 2-year-old feline to her on June 22.

She said Cosmo is recovering from flea bites and an ear infection. Rule-breaking and minor ailments aside, he’s doing well, though he may need to gain some weight.

Shelton said Cosmo’s original owner told her he weighed 16 pounds. By the time he got to Texas, he was down to 9 pounds.

“We fattened him up for a few days and took him to my vet and he was up to about 10,” she said. “He’s still a little thin.”

Shelton said Cosmo is getting along with her four other cats and that he and his biological brother, Bijou, whom she had previously adopted, have had fun playing together.

“I’m so happy to have him,” Shelton said. “My husband’s happy to have him, and he’s just one of the kids.”

E-mail Julie Arrington at juliearrington@forsythnews.com.