Willy and Madeline Rhodes: Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail

“Willy is the 11th cat I’ve had since I was nine,” Madeline explains.

“I adopted him as Uno and renamed him Willy after the pirate captain One-eyed Willy from ‘The Goonies.’ “My best friend, Milosh, passed away suddenly over Memorial Day weekend last year. He was a petite black and white former street cat that rescued me during a very chaotic time in my life. It wasn’t long before I realized that I couldn’t function without him.

“One day, as I was scrolling Instagram, a post on June 28th, 2024 from Furry Friends caught my attention and I was immediately drawn to Uno. I’m a big believer that your former companions guide new ones to you and I know that Milosh sent this guy my way. I continued to follow Uno’s progress as he recovered from having his right eye removed by emailing Jenn, and one day she reached out letting me know that Uno had healed and was ready for adoption!

“Willy immediately felt comfortable in his new home and was already sleeping with me at night by the second or third day. Willy helped me heal and experience joy again. Willy is outgoing and social and loves to help me plant flowers and explore the backyard with his harness and leash.
“Besides Willy, I have a 17-year-old cat named Leo, and I also share custody of Maxie, a stray kitten that my ex-partner and I adopted during COVID. Willy loves Maxie, and she cautiously plays with him when she visits. Leo is cranky and doesn’t like anyone, but Willy keeps trying to be his friend.

“Willy is fond of all kinds of toys and has a large collection that I find stuck under the couch and the bed, and hidden in mysterious places from time to time. Although he only has one eye, he can follow a feather or string toy with the best of them! While he’s not much of a snuggler, he comes and gets love when he wants it. I love sitting on the couch watching movies with him or having him curl up next to me or at the end of my bed. He’s too squirmy to be held, although I still try.

“He’s the most active and talkative cat I’ve ever had. He’s good in the car, likes other cats, doesn’t hide from company and follows me around everywhere (even the shower). He frequently has the zoomies and skids across my wood floors, even doing a bit of parkour off the walls and furniture. He’s always making me laugh and I love him so much!

“I just discovered that Willy is an American Ringtail: his tail curls up over his back. It’s really quite adorable. He also tries to hide every morsel of food (wet or dry) which really irritates my other cat Leo. Willy likes to watch cat videos with me and tries to ‘rescue’ meowing kittens by digging at my computer speakers.

“Willy generally sleeps with me although I often find him curled up on his favorite blanket on a chair in the living room. When it’s time for bed, I give him the hand gesture of ‘come on’ and he hops up and follows me to bed. I especially love this because this is exactly what Milosh used to do.”
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Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.