BIRTHDAY BOY BENNY!

 

#1 here. Today is our Benny's official birthday. When he came to live with us, aged five months, he had no name on his passport other than "Petit Noir" which means "Little Black". He also had no actual date of birth other than "sometime in October" so we gave him one. He wasn't in great shape when he arrived, with runny eyes and messed-up ears, and he soon needed surgery to remove a polyp from his right ear. But he was a very sweet and brave little boy and I decided he needed a suitable name. So, I decided to name him BENKEI (弁慶), after Japan's most famous warrior monk. That fairly quickly turned into Benny. I trawled the web to see if I could find some cool Kitty Benkei images and came across these on Instagram. My apologies for stealing them but they were simply too cute!

Here, for info, is what the real Benkei supposedly looked like:

Benny was incredibly cute when he arrived, and he is just as cute now. Here is proof:

In the year since his arrival at Poupounette Central, Benny, now known as Benny The Black. has brought nothing but joy. He is the snuggliest boy, and he is so sweet about taking his daily medication for his allergies (something he appears to have "inherited" from Queen Tama). He will come to the kitchen and sit on teh table, waiting for me to bring the (tiny) pill and the Churu that goes with it. 

He absolutely adores his little brother, Fluff Puff Momo:

And his big brother Ollie:

His relationship with Dragon Ryū is a little more complicated as they. both want to be boss, but they do spend time companionably together:

Benny does spend a great deal of time snuggling with me, which brings me great joy:

A VERY HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY to the handsomest panther ever, from me, Ollie, Momo, Ryū, Vidock and Violette.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖