Happy Tail: Wemby
If Earthlings ever need to illustrate to aliens what unbridled love sounds like, a chat with Natalie about Wemby — her fabulously floofy forever cat — would do the trick.
“He is stunning and such a catch,” she raves. “He is the best decision I ever made. He is perfect. I am tearing up right now just talking about him!”
Natalie, 24, decided the time was right to add a feline companion to her home, building on the goodwill established by Peppermint, her childhood cat of 16 years.
“I started passively looking for cats to adopt from a local shelter or rescue,” she recalls. “I saw Wemby; he was adorable, he seemed chill and, for a first-time cat owner, he seemed like a good fit.”
Little did Natalie know that her adoption of Wemby turned what might have been a heartbreak into a happy ending. As the story goes, Wemby’s owner died in early 2024, and the deceased’s family… sigh… abandoned the cat outside.
Neighbours apparently took him in, but unneutered Wemby didn’t cohere with the resident pets. So — it genuinely hurts to type this — they dumped him, too. That August, dedicated trapper Rosary rescued Wemby for intake with ACR. He arrived matted, scuffed up, and dirty.
“I heard that when he was on the street, he was scratching on people’s doors wanting to go in,” says Michelle, who fostered Wemby from September 2024 until his adoption by Natalie in January 2025.
On arrival with Michelle, Wemby — granted the nickname of basketball player Victor Wembanyama — “was quite nervous. He’d just come from another foster who had quite a lot of cats and they knew he needed to be alone. I don’t have any of my own cats,” says Michelle, who has charitably fostered 10 cats to date. “So, within a week, he was thriving.
“All my friends absolutely loved him,” she adds. “He would greet everyone. He is a very sweet boy who had everyone’s heart instantly.”
Including, of course, Natalie’s. “Wemby loves balls which is hilarious given that he is named after a basketball player. I have literally six different types of balls in my house. He is always batting them around,” Natalie says, noting that she considered renaming the cat, but “cute and funny” Wemby simply stuck.
“He’s also a big window guy and was on the sill as soon as I got him. He likes to look at the birds and squirrels in the backyard. And he has gotten more vocal. When I first got him, it was radio silence. Slowly, he’s talking and chirping, showing he’s more comfortable.”
Asked if she had seen Michelle’s too-classic image of Wemby clutching a beer-can toy beside a pizza-slice toy, Natalie howls. “Oh yes. And because of that, I have been gifted a White Claw toy and an orange juice toy, so he has three can-shaped toys and multiple food toys!
“Wemby is so loved and such a sweetheart,” she says. “He sleeps on my bed every night and is literally the sweetest cat I’ve ever met. We are BFFs.”
-Kim Hughes
