Rescued street cat lives rockstar life in Irkutsk
A rescued street cat enjoys a rockstar lifestyle of bar-hopping and romance in Irkutsk.
Cats often become inhabitants and mascots of the most unexpected places. While furry guardians at the Hermitage or firehouse cats are no longer surprising, rockstar cats are a rarer breed. Ozzy lives at the Accent rock school in Irkutsk and behaves as if his whole life is an endless tour of nightly strolls, unexpected disappearances, hanging out in bars, and romantic intrigues with well-bred furry beauties. Today we tell his story.
Ozzy has his own bed and all other feline amenities at the rock school.
Rock «n» roller and conqueror of female hearts
«Ozzy is a real rocker with us. His main schtick is not sleeping at home and seducing women,» says Denis Moiseyev, director of Accent.
It was his wife who found the small, unfortunate kitten on a street in central Irkutsk and couldn«t walk past such a cutie. He was a tiny, squeaking fluffball but had already clearly mastered the basics of picking up.
«My wife was walking about her business, and Ozzy just threw himself at her feet somewhere near the market. The kitten ran out of an abandoned house and showed her his signature trick. He has this trait: he flops on his back, rolls around, presents his belly, and does his utmost to show how cool he is. Well, that was it, Maya melted and picked him up,» Denis recalls.
Could anyone resist the charm of this little one?
This happened in the summer of 2024. Ozzy was no more than a month old then. The girl brought the kitten home, but she couldn«t keep him — Maya has a terrible cat allergy. Standing in the stairwell, she called Denis and asked him to come out. He was, of course, very surprised by this plot twist.
«I didn»t know anything, I was sitting at home. My wife calls and says: «Listen, we have a problem, come out to the stairwell.» I go out and see this tailed wonder running along the corridor. I ask her: «So what are we going to do with him now? Couldn»t you have left him there? Someone just as kind-hearted would have definitely picked him up.« Maya suggested placing him in the school,» Denis continues.
The grey kitty melted Denis«s heart fairly quickly, and he agreed. He says it was immediately clear from Ozzy that the cat was smart, savvy, and cool.
Ozzy is a conqueror of female hearts.
«Did you try to find him an owner? Or did the cat immediately go to Accent as a permanent resident?»
«No, we didn»t try. Many people wanted to take him, but I «fought them off» hard. He«s pretty, smart, and also a real rock »n« roller,» the interviewee answers.
The school«s staff decided the new resident must have a sonorous rockstar name. So he became Ozzy, named after Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne.
Ozzy was named after Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne.
Goes to bars and has a romance with a museum cat
The name turned out to be prophetic: the cat immediately began to behave like his legendary namesake. He didn«t bite the heads off bats, of course, but became famous for other rockstar feats. Furry Ozzy doesn»t deny himself pleasures and is ready to party until morning.
«When the cat was still small, I bought him a collar with an address tag so Ozzy wouldn»t get lost. He likes to go for a walk in the evening and most often returns towards morning. At first, he went quite far, and caring people constantly called me and asked me to pick up this guy,« Denis recalls.
Once, passersby picked up Ozzy on Karl Marx Street near Slata. It was two in the morning, when Denis was already fast asleep. The guys who found the cat offered to keep him until morning, but Denis got up, quickly tidied himself up, and came for the furry rascal.
«Another time, I picked him up from the Angara Hotel. A bartender called me and says: »Your cat came to our bar.« I rushed over, also in the middle of the night, arrived, and there were women sitting at the reception. I say: »I«m here for the cat,» and they immediately beamed: «Oh, what a wonderful cat you have, so gorgeous.» They took me to the back room where they«d put the cat from the bar for a while. The door opens, I see a big sofa there, and on it lies this body with a completely brazen look, as if he owns the place,» the interviewee laughs.
Ozzy has also had to be picked up from hookah lounges, cafes, and even museums!
Ozzy often drops into the Rasputin Museum, because his lady love lives there — a black cat named Asya. She came to the museum in the winter of 2022, arriving at its doors herself — dirty, hungry, and scruffy. The institution«s staff took pity on the little one; she would have died on the street, so they took in the kitty and gave her a simple, affectionate name.
As the museum«s social media recounted, Asya is an indispensable employee. She greets guests, accompanies tour groups, catches mice, and charms everyone with her acrobatic studies. And Asya, as they say at the museum, loves to »shvonyat«sya» — to stroll and drop in on neighbors. That«s how the kitties met.
«Asya herself came to Ozzy several times, we saw them together here. And Ozzy, judging by the tracker, visits her constantly, squeezing through the fence to his kitty,» Denis smiles.
Ozzy«s daily routine is simple: during the day he eats treats brought by both the rock school»s staff and students, checks on how the teachers are conducting lessons, and, of course, sleeps a lot. Loud music, guitar riffs, and even drums don«t bother the cat. Denis says that at one time Ozzy loved to sleep right in the bass drum — the largest part of a drum kit.
Ozzy used to even sleep inside a bass drum.
But from time to time the cat gets tired of people and noise and looks for a quieter, calmer place. Ozzy has his own bed where he sleeps before a long night out.
As soon as dusk falls on the city, Ozzy has a good dinner and then goes off to explore evening and nighttime Irkutsk.
«You can set your watch by him. When 7 p.m. comes, Ozzy asks to go outside, leaves, and wanders somewhere all night. I come in at 8 a.m., he»s not back yet by then. Then our teacher Alexander comes at 10 a.m., and by that time Ozzy shows up. He flops on his back, demands breakfast and pets, and then sleeps most of the day, saving up energy,« shares Denis Moiseyev.
This ritual repeats every morning after a night of revelry.
«Blood everywhere and Ozzy with wild eyes»
Ozzy loves to seek adventure on his grey tail. Once in the middle of winter he decided to play with a plastic bag at the Chkalova bus stop. Some kind woman picked up Ozzy so he wouldn«t get hit by a car and called Denis.
Ozzy is a born hunter.
«It was either Saturday or Sunday evening, I was delayed at the school, I had to finish something. A woman calls, says Ozzy was playing with a bag right in the middle of the road, she took him and is warming him so he doesn»t freeze. I had to drop everything and go get him. And once Ozzy brought a pigeon and devoured it right in front of us,« Denis recounts.
Ozzy once brought back and ate a pigeon he caught.
Ozzy started hunting as a teenager, and by the age of 7–8 months he became a real pro at it. Catching a mouse is no problem for him, but snatching a pigeon that was almost as big as him — that«s quite a quest. But Ozzy managed that too.
He is lightning-fast and agile, catching his prey in seconds.
«We»re standing on the street and see a pigeon fly by. A second later Ozzy dashes after it, and a minute later returns with a bloody bird in his teeth. While we«re standing there not knowing what to do, Ozzy starts gobbling the bird. It resists with its last strength, breaks free, and tries to hide in the school, but the cat catches up and finishes it off. Blood everywhere, and Ozzy with wild eyes,» the interviewee shares.
In the end, the pigeon«s carcass had to be taken outside, where the cat gutted it and had a fine lunch. After this incident, the collection of the furry rocker»s feats was supplemented by a story worthy of Ozzy Osbourne himself.
He can be a cutie when he needs to be.
In the cold weather, the cat is rarely outside, preferring to sleep in his warm bed at the school, but as soon as warmth returns, he will again set off in search of adventure.
