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Cats and Dog
Willoughby
Willoughby the embodiment of my imaginary ginger companion of childhood. He is now nine years old. He came from Walsall Cat Rescue, and pretty soon after he arrived he cost me a fortune in vet's bills. But he was worth it! He is a beautiful ginger cat, ginger all over except for a little white cravat. He is one of this World's simple creatures - not very bright, but has life sussed in his way. What he really wants from life is some food (unlike many cats, he isn't fussy), plenty of nice soft warm places to sleep, a bit of love and cuddles, and not too much fiddling. Fiddling could be anything, really, but trips to the Vet are definitely fiddling - he once did the "wall of death" around the surgery, and he has a black mark on his record for being a difficult patient. Vets apart, he is very simple, and very, very nice. He wants to be friends with the whole World, including all other cats, which sometimes surprises them!
Most of the time you'll find him snoozing near the heating ducts, or in the sun. He loves sleeping and could sleep for Britain in the Olympics if sleeping ever becomes an Olympic sport! Indeed, he seems to have invented a new sport, called "stunt sleeping". This involves going to sleep in perilous places and waking up several feel lower than when you went to sleep. On one occasion, he went to sleep on the upstairs landing, only to fall through the bannisters and 12 feet down the stairwell, roll over, land on his feet, and only then wake up. His expression was a picture - "I went to sleep upstairs, and woke up downstairs - now that is confusing!".
He isn't very clever, and gets readily confused, voicing his confusion for all to hear. He also dribbles when you rub his head. He is very talented at finding all the warm and comfortable places to snooze in the house - indeed, if Willoughby is asleep on it, it probably has a source of heating somewhere. You could map out the central heating pipes in my old house by noting where Willoughby was snoozing. Because he is a bit thick it took a lot of effort and a lot of chicken pieces to teach him to use the cat flap, and he has periodic crises of confidence and has to be shown how to use it all over again. If any of our cats are going to get into a scrape, it's Willoughby.
He isn't very good at hunting, and his only trophy to date has been a paper cup, which he laid proudly at my feet.
Willoughby inspects our new building
Willoughby relaxing in the garden
Willoughby snoozing - what he does best!
