Our last cat is Squeebles. Once we acquired Buster, and my daughter's cat Neko was discovered at the college dorm - Neko came to live here, with Buster. So then we had two cats. No problem.

Then, my daughter left college and came home. With a third cat. Squeebles, AKA Squeedly Spooch after a Grrrrr character in a weird cartoon. His initial name was "Squee", but I lengthened it to "Squeebles". My husband would call him, "Squatlet", Squidlet", etc. - he is part Maine Coone. He has longer fur than the others, and he is definitely NUTTY!! He has what we call a "seizure" every night around 9:30 PM. He begins to race around the house with no particular goal. He'll stop in mid-run, stare around wildly, and then emit "monkey" noises - weird, gutteral snarly sounds - all different. Some are high pitched and some are not. It's like he's talking in some alien cat language. The other two cats just watch him from safe vantage points - and wait for it to pass. Often he tries to enlist one of them in the rampage, leaping on Buster mostly (not too much Neko of the paws of steel). Buster quickly reminds him that he's BUSY, on PATROL, for heaven's sake, has WORK to do.....as my husband says, "Buster is a hard working, blue-collar cat".

Squeebles favorite way to torment Neko is to sneak up on him and sniff his butt. Neko HATES that!! Neko whirls around, obviously feeling violated, and his face says, "STOP SNIFFING MY BUTT!!" as he takes off, wild-eyed, off for safe places, lying in wait to pay Squeebles back with a swift left hook to the head. When Squeebles gets hit, he shakes his head like a prize fighter that's been hit too many times - and continues on his way a little drunkenly. Squeebles is a very happy-go-lucky cat. He is not afraid of ANYTHING. We had to dogsit my mother's llasa apso for three days once. He LOVED to chase the cats - wait until they got close, and then scramble after them as fast as he could, barking all the way - Neko, especially, would stay on top of the entertainment system for HOURS after that, staring at us accusingly for even allowing such a creature into our home. The ONLY cat not afraid of the dog was Squeebles. He introduced himself immediately and attempted to sniff the dog. If I am running the vacuum I can suck Squeebles' tail right up the tube and get all the excess fur off him - and he just lays there and enjoys it.

The Maine Coone part of Squeebles loves the water. He is our "bathroom buddy". Everytime one of us is in the bathroom, Squeebles cries to come in. Then he jumps up on the sink and waits for the water to be turned on lightly. He puts his nose under the flow to make sure the water is indeed coming out - and then proceeds happily to lap it up. He also loves to play in the tub after one of us has showered.

I am Squeebles favorite. Neko and Squeebles fight over me - rather, Neko fights over me - Squeebles just relaxes and lets Neko be full of angst. At night, Squeebles jumps up on the bed after playing for while, looks for the crook of my arm and plops his fat self in there, up against my chest - and purrs.