I remember seeing Winston’s (Winnie) picture for the first time of SPCR’a website. His large smoldering golden-orange eyes stared back at me as if he were speaking to me. He reminded me of one of my favorite holidays (Halloween!) with his Black Fur and Orange eyes. I put my first application to SPCR immediately, and we were so lucky to be chosen to be his family!

We had recently moved into our new fixer-upper, and I didn’t want our current Persian cat to be alone in a house while we were away for work or errands. We were excited to make our family more complete with the addition of Winnie; And we were so blessed with the fact that they got along so well and truly became brothers.

Winnie was rescued from Egypt by Corina, an SPCR foster to whom we are eternally grateful for for everything she did for us and for Winnie. I’m not sure what Winnie had endured on the streets in Egypt, but it was our goal to give him love, care and attention to watch him blossom from his past life.

Winnie brought so many laughs, cuddles, joy, entertainment, and memories I’m so happy he blessed us with. He was a champion Moth catcher, a ferocious sock hunter, and a complete fanatic about chicken! He knew when we made it for dinner and would post up in hopes for us to drop a piece. He didn’t actually “meow” for us really, he’d open his mouth as if he was going to, but it only resulted in a lip-smacking sound and that’s how we communicated to each other. The closest to meowing we ever heard him get was whenever he had hunted down a rogue sock, running around with it in his mouth, before dropping it down for us as a gift.

He LOVED the outdoors. He was such a sweet, good boy. When we fenced in our yard, we would let him and his brother out to soak up the sunshine. He never tried to sneak away like his naughty brother. When he’d get enough of the sun, he’d walk to the shade and sprawl out on his belly and “sploot” which was one of our favorite things he did; and when he was finished with being outside, he’d post up at the back door and wait patiently to be let back in.

Winnie unfortunately had been diagnosed with kidney disease during his routine checkup last April. He had lost some weight, so we decided to do all the blood work the vet recommended. That same day, I think I bought 2 cases of 3 different flavors and brands of canned kidney food to find what he would like best. I wasn’t ready to let kidney disease get in the way of Winnie’s life.

We were very lucky to have gotten another year to love Winnie after his diagnosis. More bedtime snuggles, more lip-smacking conversations with him, more late night sock hunts, more pawing me in the face to wake me up, more everything I absolutely loved about him.

We’re also very lucky that he was rescued by SPCR from a completely different continent, and was brought into our lives. Thank you so much for that, and all you do to home specialty breeds that need rescuing. As broken as my heart is, I’m lucky to have had him in my life to love so much that it hurts. I want Winnie to be remembered forever, and I know if Winnie could, he would have donated to the wonderful organization that brought him home.

We love you forever.