Winky's the star of Caturday today

Hurray for Caturday and here he is, the picture of perfection you’ve all been waiting for: Mr Winky. That’s not his real name, which is Slinky Malinki, after the cat in the children’s book as he fits the description exactly. But somehow, over the years, his name has evolved and he’s now more likely to be known as Winky, Binky, Tinky Winky and, most bizarrely, Mr Trousers.

We didn't set out to get a black cat. We wanted "one girl cat, not black". Why not black? Purely because we were concerned about its visibility on the road. Turns out that black cats are really hard to house so now I feel a bit guilty about that. But anyway, all turned out well because Slinky and Cobweb (or Shadow and Patricia as they were then known) were the only young cats at the shelter and, selfishly, we didn't want to go through the trauma of nursing an old cat so soon after our bereavement. As soon as we lifted Slinky out of the pen, he curled up in my husband's arms and the deal was done. 

Not to mention that the shelter wouldn't separate them because "they love each other so much". Ha! Insert hollow laughter here. 

Winky isn't the sharpest tool in the box – we always say that when he was being created, he was so busy queuing up for handsome, that he forgot to queue up for brains. But he has learned a few tricks. He now understands "come on Winky, it's time for bed" and gets up off the settee to go to the kitchen. And he has learned from the ginger cats how to knock on the window to be let in. Impressive, eh?

Supplies: Black cat, broken garden chair