Tyr

We didn't get much time with Tyr. Leah got him in July, but by New Year's we had to put him down because he got Feline Infectious Peritinitus and never had a chance. He was such a sweet guy! Cross-eyed as Hell, but he adored Leah. He was full-blood Siamese and had been bought from a breeder along with his brother by some rich woman, but as soon as they weren't cute kittens anymore, she put them into an apartment and had somebody come in to feed them. He's the only cat Leah ever paid for.

Hobo

Hobo was a neighborhood cat that Leah adopted. He was feral when she found him, but once she found his "skitchel" spot, he tamed right down. She ran him by the vet and they tested him and found he had FIV (kitty AIDS) and he was ready to put him down, but Leah refused to let him do it. Hobo had lost his fangs at some point so she doubted he'd pass it on to the other cats. He wound up with diabetes and was VERY insulin resistant. Leah had to shoot him twice a day. One day she asked me whether I knew where he was. I didn't, but I knew what would bring him running. I reached over and started the electric can opener and out he ran. My friend used to say that he reminded her of the song "The Boxer" by Paul Simon because you could see every fight he'd ever been in. At one point, he got a gash in his neck and the vet sewed it up. When they took out the stitches after 2 weeks, his neck unzipped and they had to sew him up again for 8 weeks (the FIV made him heal slowly) He finally died of kidney failure, but he had one Hell of a life!

Gnu

Gnu was a neighborhood cat that Leah adopted. He was sick and pretty old and just wandered off one day.

Toronado

My ex-roommate had her eye on a kitten at her sister's house. I was playing with the kittens and the sister said "You can have that one" - I told her that if I took one, I'd take a black one. She dropped a shiny black furball in my lap. I named him after Zorro's horse and he was one of my best buds. He and Nino were demon mousers at the house I shared with that roommate and he came with me when I moved here. He was always good with the kittens and new cats and he didn't mind the dogs at all. He died of kidney failure in Sept 2006.

Henry

Henry had been living in a house with a man in his 80s and his 50 year old retarded son and the old man had to go into a nursing home and the son to an assisted living complex. The lady who had been fostering him was becoming concerned because she kept bringing him to the adoptions and nobody was looking at him. I fell in love and the lady wrote that we were fostering him then finally dropped him off their records. He was a bit feral at first - he spent the first 4 months hiding in the living room until Leah got her hands on him and he remembered he liked pets. We had to have the vet dig a pellet out of him and he wound up with cancer in his ear. He died as a result of a hyperthyroid problem.

Nino - aka Spud. 1994 - 2009

I got Nino when he as an ornery little kitten. He had been found inside a dumpster in Round Rock. He looked like a cat I'd had years ago named Fred and I fell in love. I had him for just shy of 16 years until he died of kidney failure in June last year. I still miss him.

BAWB

BAWB was brought to us one Christmas he was FILTHY! He was almost bald and weighed about 5 pounds! We cleaned him up and fed him canned food for a while. He was very sweet. By the time we found him a new home with a groomer, he weighed 12 pounds and his fur was coming back - he looked like a lamb. He lasted 3 more years with the groomer before he died of feline herpes. We did find out that his original name was Damien and his owner's boyfriend had been the one who had thrown him outside. The owner was heartbroken, was glad to hear that he had been well loved in his remaining years. She had dumped the boyfriend not long after he "disposed" of her cat.