I’ve mentioned Louie the ginger cat before. He was a nearly 24 pound (10.8 kilos) ginger tabby cat, a real man’s kitty. You could wrestle him like he was a dog!

Louie came to me by way of the local animal shelter, where he did some time as a stray cat waiting for someone to claim him. But no one did, amazingly, and when I went to the shelter to pick another cat (the short-lived Freckles), Louie pranced and preened in a cage nearby, daring me not to fall in love with him. And I did! 

As a former stray, he also loved his creature comforts, but he also loved the snow. If Andy barely goes as far as the door and Dougy carefully avoids getting snow on his feet if he can, Louie got right with it, sniffing, walking in it, catching up on the local cat messages other cats left for him to find.

Louie checks the fir tree for birds. Yeah, I shoveled a little path through the drift for him!

Inside, Louie filled the traditional cat’s role of helpful meatloaf.

Louie was a good ol’ cat!  I was devastated when he died August 1, 2011 of lymphoma. Until his last day, he didn’t even act sick, then the only sign was he wouldn’t eat his supper meal.