A couple of years ago, a pretty little orange tabby started showing up
on my doorstep. Because his stripes trailed off into little brownish
spots, I started calling him Spot.

He looks a lot like Little Feet, and is about the same age, so he
could be a littermate. In fact, in a fit of confused identities on my
part, I brought Spot in and put Little Feet out before I went to work.
Fortunately, I came back minutes later, taking a sick day, and
realized the horrible mistake I had made.

Spot was just as happy as could be. Little Feet kept giving Spot the
evil eye.

We already had our limit of cats allowed on the lease (Presto (RB) and
Little Feet), so we couldn't take him in.

At one point, Spot was waiting at the door for me as I was going off
to work. He looked to be in bad shape - one hind paw was flattened,
with holes that looked like gravel had been pressed into his paw.
About an inch from his rump, his tail was crushed. He cried and
reached out to me, asking for help. There was a thin trail of blood on
the sidewalk, where he had limped to my door.

I took him to the vet, and the tail had to be amputated. We gave him
an Elizabethan Collar and a course of antibiotics, and he healed up
very well. So well, that he wanted out after three weeks.

All this time, he has been coming to our door for food and petting.

Tonight, a new neighbor named Russell came to the door, looking for
the emergency maintenance number - his air-conditioning had shorted
out. Dulce Mae and Spot were nearby, eating from the bowl I put out. I
mentioned that it looks like all the cats are out tonight.

Russell pointed at Dulce Mae, and asked if she was mine, and I had to
say no, but we try to take care of her until she gets a home. "Oh, by
the way, would you like to adopt either of these two cats?"

Russell turned around and pointed at Spot, and told me "No, this one
is my cat. His name is Sir Richard."

Well, I told him Spot's, er Sir Richard'sstory, and thanked him
profusely for adopting him, and told him that Dulce Mae needs a home
too, if he knew any other cat lovers.

Oh hoorray! Hoorah! Happy day, oh happy dance! Spot has a home of his
own, and a family that actually says "This is our cat."

Here is the page I put up back when Sir Richard was first found
injured:

    http://home.comcast.net/~Mark-Edwards/files/html/spot.htm

Please send out thank you purrs, and happy purrs for Spot and his
forever family! I am so happy, that I have tears in my eyes.

Hugs and Purrs,
Mark