Winnie.

Continuing our cat series, Winnie is now the 3rd in command. I mentioned him in passing before, he was one of the first four domesticated cats that we took in as rescues (the first was a single feral mom and her kittens who stayed in our bathroom). The 4 cats were perfectly healthy; Sarah brought them home because the woman who had them didn't want them anymore and was going to take them to the SPCA, which was definitely not a no-kill shelter back then. Joining Winnie was an annoying but cute kitten named Tigger, and a pregnant married couple named Kanga and Blackfoot (bet you can't guess what we named one of Kanga's babies!).

Winnie was very skittish when he first came to us. He stayed under the bed for at least a week until he got to know us.Eventually we made friends with him and he became a very sweet boy. He also became a sort of mediator between all of the cats as the room he was in filled up with more cats. He was friendly to everyone and liked to play with the other cats and with any kind of dangly toy (we have one that has a jingle bell on it that is Winnie's favorite).

Eventually we adopted out most everyone out of the room so we could have it back as a bedroom, but Winnie wasn't one of them. We put the few remaining cats back outside for a little bit (they were all outdoor cats to begin with), but then we decided to bring them back inside and keep them ourselves. I think Winnie still remembers this brief period, as every once in awhile he manages to escape. He also likes to man the doors and windows too see what is going on outside. We can tell when there is a feline interloper outside, because Winnie meows weirdly when he sees one. We can also tell when something interesting is happening outside by Winnie trotting quickly from window to door to window. All part of the curiousness, I guess.

Winnie had a little bit of trouble convincing Sunny and Bunk that he could be their friend, but he eventually won everyone over. We were a little worried about Winnie catching HIV from those two, but we found out later that someone who gave us their cats for rescue didn't tell us that one of them was FIV positive, so Winnie may have already had it. But when we had him tested later on, he was negative, so we think he is immune to it.

Winnie is about 9 and is still very active. I mentioned the constant trotting, but he also likes wrestling. Bailey is his main partner, but Melon also liked to wrestle with Winnie. Winnie would wrestle with them for a few minutes, then fake walk away and comeback and attack. Very sneaky.

Winnie was in the first I Can Has Cheezburger book! If you need that explained to you, I can't help you. Sarah bought an old library card catalog to put her rubber stamps into. She was in the midst of doing that when I found that Winnie had climbed into it and was just hanging out in there. I went to get the camera, and he actually stayed in there until after I had gotten a few pictures. I uploaded it to Cheezburger and put a caption on it (which in retrospect, doesn't make any sense). I was disappointed that it didn't get any votes or make the homepage, and I forgot about it until I got an email from the Cheezburger people, who wanted to use it in their first book. Check towards the end of the book for the picture of Winnie!

I'm glad we kept Winnie. He is sweet boy and plays well with others, which I cannot say about all of the cats. Plus, he hasn't really been sick. One time he was moping excessively and not active at all, but we took him to the vet, he got a shot and was all better. Right now he is "mowing," and we can't figure out why, so he is going back to the vet. he usually takes it in stride, and they love him at the vet because he is so good-natured. The only negative against Winnie is his penchant for using my testicles as a jumping-off point when he doesn't want to be on my lap anymore. :(