Now I'm jealous...if I take Smokey to see my parents, he's their best
buddy after the first bite of food offered to him.  What a cheap
sellout.  

Peepers is a loyal boy .:)

--Fil

One day when I was on my way to work I saw this little black cat at the bus
shelter sucking up to anyone and everyone.  I had a very important meeting I
couldn't miss so I promised myself I'd look for him when I got home.  (I had
just lost one of my cats to CRF about a week before and was still missing
him greatly).  Well the day turned much into night and when I got home I
told my friend about him and we both went looking.  LOL We didn't have to
look far, he was still at the bus shelter and looked up at us like "please
take me off the street".  So she wrapped him in her jacket and we brought
him home.  The next day we went to the vet with him and had him all checked
out.  It was sad, he was less than a year but already his body was aged to
at least 5 years, according to the vet.

She ran all the tests on him and he came back with no serious illnesses (not
that it mattered, we'd have kept him anyway and dealt with the illness in a
mature and responsible way).  She ran x-rays on his back as he seemed to
walk a little funny.  He showed bruises along his vertebrae and there was a
deal of swelling there.  He was very undernourished and dehydrated, plus
literally starving and covered in fleas.  Then the bad news, he had a
cracked tooth and it was infecting his gums.  There were other problems as
well such as swollen feet, scratches and a missing tail (there is about a 2
inch stump there), it was severed, not natural.  LOL the vet couldn't listen
to his heart because he was a big purr machine, he just wanted to be hugged!

So we treated the fleas, there were so many it was pitiful he must have lost
so much blood.  I would sit with him morning and night and comb him over and
over, and then my friend did evenings and lunch times.  I'm sure this is why
he loves us so much, a bond was built.  So the fleas were gone, his tail was
taken care of with some stitches, his back was healing naturally, and he was
on antibiotics.  We waited 7 days and then he had his tooth removed, this
helped him alot, we could see a change in him, it was nice to watch.
Finally after two weeks after the tooth was removed we had him neutered.

Within a month you'd never say he was in such hard shape only a few weeks
ago.  His coat was shiny and silky, his eyes were clear and his nose was no
longer running.  And he was happy.  He's our baby and he knows it.  This was
in March and he was so tiny, I often wonder how he managed to survive the
winter, as winters here can be very cold, he's lucky there were no signs of
frostbite.

It's so cute now when he is upset he gets this look and his one tooth juts
out and we laugh.  He's grown into a big boy and loves food but we keep an
eye on his diet because he'd eat the legs off the table if he thought it
tasted good.  I'm sure Vanilla (my CRF cat) sent him our way, he needed a
good home that would love him and accept him regardless of his condition.

It's interesting that at work when I have a not so great day and think why
am I here, I look back on that whole experience and know that I have a good
job because anyday there could be a cat that needs immediate help and I will
have the finances needed to pay for it.

I added a pic of him if you'd like to see it:

http://www.catster.com/pet_page.php?i=163166&j=t