A true southern belle.

Our Winnie Bee is our prim and proper child who sticks her nose in the air to mud, rain, cold, or pretty much anything that would make her feel dirty or uncomfortable. She loves to flaunt her blue eyes or whisk her striped gray tail. She knows that she is a pretty girl.

Her favorite activities are the opposite of her feline brother. Winnie enjoys eating, napping, stretching, taking about ten steps at a time, another nap, sucking on a blanket, eating again, moth chasing, and occasional playtime with her brother. There have been times where she likes to surprise us and she will race up and down the trees in our backyard. She loves to groom her nails against the bark of a tree, our leather couch (R.I.P); however, refuses the scratching post that I bought for her.

Winnie’s story begins in the summer of 2017. Jimmy and I had discussed from time to time about getting a feline friend for Whiskey. Summer is prime baby season and daily I looked online at shelters flooded with kittens and pups. It was absolutely heartbreaking. After convincing Jimmy to give it a try; I drove back to my hometown in Cleveland County to adopt from their shelter. Cleveland County Animal Shelter was hosting a summer adoption event to help decrease the number of strays and owner surrendered animals. My Momma went with me in support of finding our newest feline member. We literally walked in and there was a lady already dropping off her female adult cat with seven newborn kittens simply because she could not handle them. We continued to make our way to the cat area where every cage was flooded with kittens and cats. We passed paws sticking out, bodies rubbing against cages, as well as deep hisses to hide inner fear.

I felt horrible that I could not take some of the older felines. I was too scared that they would not adapt to the dogs or Whiskey. There were a few litters of kittens.

The options were along the lines of:

1. Newborn (3 days old)
2. Newborn (1 week old) —very sick.
3. Kitten (3 weeks old)

I went to the cage of seven three week old kittens that were picked up in a field. No mother was found, but all kittens seemed to be somewhat healthy despite their flea infestation. Those blue eyes immediately stuck out to me (I know; fall for the pretty one). Well they stuck out and her little meow dug deeper. “Here she is,” I told Momma. We took some pictures to send to Jimmy as we prepared to go on our merry way. It was literally two days later that there was a fatal epidemic that broke loose in the cat room and most cats did not survive. It was a stab in the heart to hear that Winnie’s siblings who were ALL gorgeous were amongst the fatalities.

After several bathes and visits to family members in Cleveland County; Winnie Bee was ready to make her way home to Chatham County to meet the family. We arrived back pretty late, but everyone was up and ready to meet new little sister. Did I mention that she is three weeks old?? I set the cat carrier down while everyone began to sniff, look, lick, and jump. As soon as I opened the carrier; out came a wild eyed and ready to strike tiger. Jimmy immediately complimented how she was the image of a possum.

Oddly…and still oddly to this day…Winnie Bee favors my girl; Cleo Adair.

The boys took to her (eventually), but not like Cleo. Cleo watched, followed and stayed close by her tiny body. We first wondered if Cleo were secretly plotting against Winnie, but nothing tragic has ever come out of these peculiar actions. Winnie Bee loves to be close to her sister. We normally find the girls lounging on the back porch, while the boys lounge on the front porch.

A habit that we found odd.. (that Winnie still tends to do) is finding blankets and sucking on them. Winnie did this nonstop at a younger age, as well as for longer time periods. We researched the cause behind this habit and sources described that kittens who are weened too early will most likely develop sucking habits, because their instinct is telling them to find mama and find food. Poor babe!

Winnie Bee has been our glitzy child who does what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants. One minute she might want to snuggle up close to you, the next minute she is meowing beside her feed bowl, then she comes strutting across the living room, but normally she is passed out on a bed. She is our doll baby.

I could never imagine the dullness that would come with having a family of fur-children who had similar personalities. Oh, the joys of diversity, attitude, persona, interests, priorities, and emotions.

Adopt, don’t shop.

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