Cat Photo of The Day - Willem DeKooning

Photograph of the pride of the feral cat colony, so to speak, a kitty who is at least part Maine Coon whom I named Willem DeKooning.


Get it? Okay, probably not... Regular readers may be aware that I'm a commercial artist. Which means I'm really into art? So, I used to name the feral cats after famous artists wherever I could think of some connection. The human Mr. Willem DeKooning is a famous abstract expressionist painter -- the feral tom is part Maine Coon cat, maybe even purebred. The "coon" part was really the only connection, but it immediately came to mind so I used it. Why anyone would dump a purebred Maine Coon is beyond me! But anyway...

He has friends with names like Basquiat and Frida Khalo, too. So there. Basquiat is big and mostly black tom while Frida has been sickly most of her life. You'd have to know something about artists to get the connection I guess.

Willem DeKooning is a middle-aged cat at this point. He used to get into a lot of fights but I finally got him to the vet about 8 or 10 months ago and now he mostly lays around looking stupid. He's basically a sweet little guy, though.

Wait... did I say little? This cat is huge, I wouldn't want to guess what he weighs. Before his surgery he was king of the colony. Other cats are still afraid of him even though he doesn't pick fights anymore.

His only big problem is that he's allergic to fleas and while he's friendly enough to pet he's not friendly enough to medicate so he gets a lot of sores, poor guy. Other than that, life is good for Willem - and that is saying a lot for a cat without a home of his own.

UPDATE: I am sorry to report that this lovable giant passed away on July 29th, 2009, after a long fight against Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. We fought it with medication, but we lost. The last night, when it was clear that the meds weren't working and Willie could no longer hold his head up, I stopped shoving pills down his throat and let him lie peacefully in bed next to me. He passed away in the night.
I hope there is a cat heaven for you, Willie. You always just wanted to be loved. We tried.