Noodles is an unusual cat. You may be saying to yourself, "Of course he is! He's unusually fat!" This is true. But that's only part of the story.
Noodles appeared on our doorstep several years ago, already an adult. He was a gregarious animal, wanting to be held and pet--and of course, fed. He also wanted to get to know our two cats at the time, Sparky and Truman, although they were leery of his attentions (the reason for that later became clear). He meowed like he was starving. He would come in our cat door (a cut hole in our sliding screen door) and eat some of the dry food. Eventually he was a regular at our house. Then, one day, he arrived with a nasty cut on his leg. We took him to the vet, got him his shots and antibiotics, and from then on treated him like one of the family.
As I said, Noodles is unusually gregarious. He will come up to strangers and try to climb their legs, asking to be picked up. He loves to get picked up. When you do he hugs you with his forelegs and nuzzles his head against your neck. He's also a chronic licker.
One time, when Noodles was on one of the kitchen chairs under the table, Nate reached down and snapped a picture of him with a digital camera. As you can see, his right hind leg appears to be transparent. I don't know alot about digital photography, but I have never seen such an effect using it. Look at Noodles--the defined stripes, the fat body, and the frequent smile. I think we might be host to a real Cheshire cat.
In 2003 my sister's cat Boris came to stay with us for the summer. Boris is a large black cat, longer than Noodles by several inches, but very shy. When he arrived we put him in a spare room with food and litter box so he could get used to his surroundings in peace. Noodles, however, wanted to meet our new house guest. He scratched at the door to Boris's room until we finally let him in (under close supervision, in case there was a fight). Noodles was friendly and eventually Boris warmed up to him. Sparky mostly ignored Boris; while Truman, being naturally skittish, steered clear of him. Once Boris was comfortable roaming around the house, he and Noodles hung out together. We did not know the extent of the relationship until my wife observed them in the act of love. Apparently, Noodles is gay. After this was revealed we started referring to them as David and Keith. At the end of the summer Boris moved back in with my sister, and now Noodles is separated from the love of his life. Sparky and Truman, by the way, apparently made it clear to Noodles early on that they were straight because we have never seen anything going on between them and Noodles. Actually, I think Truman is a bit of a homophobe by the obvious discomfort he showed around the couple.
btw, this picture might look familiar to you if you have been to icanhascheezburger. Unknown to us until recently, someone took this picture from my site and added some text. You can see it here. Noodles and Boris are lolcatz.