When Max the cat started to visit Macalester College across the street from his home in St Paul, Minnesota, his parents didn't mind. They liked letting him be free to explore during the day and Max loved the warm buildings, interesting things to investigate and, of course, pets and attention from the students, who were completely in love with him.His mom, Connie Lipton, toldThe Dodo:
He was just socializing with the students on the grounds. He would go over there every day and spend quite a bit of time. It's hard to know exactly. He usually would go out for a few hours at a time and then come home only to want to go back out again soon after.
Source: cool_cat_max_and_gracie/Instagram
From the lecture rooms, to the library and even student dorms, the ginger and white cat had free reign of the campus... Until he was grounded at the end of November.
Source: cool_cat_max_and_gracie/Instagram
With staff and his family worried that he'd get trapped in the buildings or injured by nearby construction work, signs were put up telling students that Max was banned from campus, especially the warm and cosy college library.[caption id="attachment_27557" align="alignnone" width="750"]
'His name is Max. Max is nice. His owner does not want Max in the library. We do not want Max in the library. Max wants to be in the library. Please do not let Max into the library.' Source: Max the Cat/Facebook[/caption]However, Max had quite the fan club, who thought that this was immensely unfair. Pictures of one of the posters appeared on social media and quickly went viral and people heard about the cat's plight all over the world.
Source: cool_cat_max_and_gracie/Instagram
Art, a hashtag (#letmaxin), and even some lovingly made library cards for Max were all over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but sadly, Max's fate was sealed. Now an indoor cat, he has found it quite difficult to adjust to only having the run of one building.However, he was soon out again, sporting a very nice harness and leash! He's had many supervised visits to Macalester College to visit his adoring fans, including the principle, Brian Rosenburg.
Source: cool_cat_max_and_gracie/Instagram
Connie Lipton is also considering training the laid back and sociable feline as a therapy cat, so he can go back to doing what he loves best; being a comforting presence to the students and staff at his favorite place.You can follow Max and his sister Grace's adventures on their Facebook and Instagram pages!
Source: cool_cat_max_and_gracie/Instagram
Watch a video of Max in action below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iP8_uCuubU
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