the furry friend tag!

Q. What is his/her name?

A. Her name is Winry. Originally, before we got her, she was called Lexi and that's the name that's on her birth certificate, but we didn't like it so it got changed as soon as we got her home.

Q. When did you get Winry?

A. We got her June 2012, from a family of professional breeders just after the Scottish Borders.

Q. What is something Winry does that annoys you?

A. She is very clingy and cuddly with me, which I do really love, but when I'm leaving for work she meows and climbs on me which makes me feel really guilty when I'm heading out the door. It's cute but annoying at the same time!

Q. What type of breed is Winry?

A. She is a Maine Coone, which is more commonly known as an American Longhair, a large, furry breed of cat. They are also called "gentle giants" because they're the second largest breed of domestic cat, but are incredibly loving.

Q. Has Winry ever had a near death experience?

A. Thankfully, no. We've only ever had to take her to the vets once because she had a small infection in her left eye, which was cleared up within a week with some eyedrops!

Q. Does Winry know any tricks?

A. I wouldn't say she knows any tricks, but she does know how to jump onto my shoulders/back to cuddle or sit like parrot, which is really cute.

Q. Does Winry love to snuggle?

A. Yes, yes, yes! She tends to cuddle more with me than with Craig, which is fitting as I spend a bit more time with her. She is incredibly cuddly with me, even choosing to sleep under the covers in bed next to me like a little baby! Apparently being cuddly isn't a train of the Maine Coon, but I suppose there are always exceptions.

Q. Where did you get Winry?

A. We got her from breeders who were pretty much giving her away. She gave birth to a scheduled litter and after recovering from the birth, she lost a lot of weight and was very poorly. The breeders also decided that she wasn't big enough to show professionally so they were putting her up for sale. Luckily enough, Craig's mum had bought kittens from them previously so we only had to pay for the cost of the procedure to get her dressed, which we were more than happy to do to get her! It took a while to get some weight back on her and to get her fluffiness back, but after that she went back to her big cuddly self.

Q. Does Winry get along with other animals?

A. Yes and no. She doesn't really like other cats, or more specifically, Craig's mums cats, they bully and attack her, so she's quite wary with them. She gets on well with dogs though, surprisingly. 

Q. Does Winry get along with strangers?

A. Again, yes and no. She's very to attached to me and with Craig too, so she's wary with other people that don't smell like us, if that makes any sense at all. After a little while she'll warm up to you and be purring on your lap wanting your undecided attention.

Q. How much does Winry weigh?

A. She weighs around 4.5/5kgs, which is around average for a female cat of her breed. I would like to fatten her up a bit more though, but at her last vet check we were told she is at a very healthy weight for her size.

Q. Do you ever dress Winry up?

A. I can't say I do, to be honest. I was going to buy her one of those little cat unicorn things from ebay, but I doubt she'd be too happy if I stuck that on her!

Q. Has Winry ever tried to run away?

A. She's been an indoor cat since we got her, as we've always lived in a flat, so she's never really been given the chance to run away. However, we did take her to Craig's parents house for a weekend and she got outside for a bit then, but she did come back an hour later thankfully!

Q. How did you come up with Winry's name?

A. We actually took a little bit of time deciding on the name. Like I said above, her name was Lexi originally, which we wanted to change as soon as possible. I wanted to call her Zelda (for obvious reasons..) and Craig wanted to call her Tifa, from Final Fantasy, which I wasn't keen on at all. We weren't going to come to an agreement with either of those names and so we scrapped them both. After a few hours of thought, we both agreed on Winry, which is a character name from Fullmetal Alchemist, a Japanese anime that we both love!

Q. How much does he/she mean to you on a scale of 1-10?

A. I don't think 10 is a high enough rating, she is honestly like my furry little child. I don't know what I'd do without her now, she's a huge part of my life and I love her to bits. She's actually curled up under my chin as I type this with one finger on my ipad... It's taken quite a while to finish this, but she looked too cute to move! It sometimes feels weird knowing that I have something that is completely dependant on me to stay alive, as that's a lot of responsibility, but she's my baby and I'd do anything to keep her safe and happy!

I'd love to see other people do this tag as I really do enjoy reading about other peoples pets and animals. People always say "you're either a cat person or a dog person", but I think for me it's more an "animal or human" person... I'm an animal person, humans annoy me a lot of the time.

Please link me to your post if you do decide to do this tag!