I posted the pics in alt.binaries.pictures.animals just now.  Sorry the pics
are very good, but you'll get the idea.

I'm sure everyone here has a story similar to this one, but I thought I'd
share it anyway ;-)  I don't write very well, but I hope you enjoy the
story.

About 2 years and some odd months ago I was living in a 1 bedroom apartment.
The apartments were usually very quiet.  I had 3 cats at the time.  I had 4,
but a few months earlier 1 of my original 2 cats passed away in the vet's
office.  She had developed a lump on her throat and the vet couldn't save
her.  It came on suddenly and she was sort of fat so I didn't notice it
right away.  I spent almost $400 trying to save her, but it was her time to
go.

Anyway, I was back down to 3 cats now.  I was sitting in the living room
watching TV shortly after I got home from work and I started hearing this
meowing.  I thought it was one of my cats so I got up and started looking
around for who was meowing.  I found each one and it wasn't any of them.
So, I opened the front door and stuck my head out.  Sure enough, it was
coming from inside the utility closet where the clothes washer and dryer
were.

The night before I had washed clothes and left the door open.  I had shut
the door on my way out that morning.  So, I opened the door and out walked a
really skinny black cat with a big fluffy tail!  He had lint all over him,
so I reached down to let him smell my hand and to try and clean him off.
Also, I noticed a small scab on his ear.  Wasn't sure if it was mange or an
injury from a car or cat or dog.

Well, I stood back up and just looked at him and he started rubbing against
my legs.  Oh boy - trouble.  So I started petting him even though he was
pretty dirty.
I figured he got trapped in the closet and would be on his way when I let
him out, but as you can see, that wasn't the case.

It didn't take long for me to realize that this was someone's pet.  But I
didn't know where he came from.  He was so skinny that he must have been
lost several weeks ago.  I hadn't seen any Lost Cat sings around.  Poor
thing.  But I didn't want to feed him because I knew that if I did that he
would never leave and try and find his way home.  By the way, he wasn't very
old at all.  If a year old, he was barely a year.  He had probably never
been outside before and just didn't have a clue how to survive.

Well, I thought the least I could do was give him some water, so I went
inside and brought out a small plastic dish of water.  As soon as he looked
up and saw I had a dish he got so excited.  When I put it down I could tell
he disappointed that it was only water and not food!  Poor thing.  I know
everyone reading this will think I was mean not to give him food, but
dog-goneit, I didn't want another stickin' cat!  I was down to 3 now and
living in a 1 bedroom apartment.  I didn't want another CAT!!!

So, I went back inside for a while and came back to look out of the window
to see if he was still there.  He was.  I went out a few more times to pet
and talk to him.  Finally went to bed.  Got up the next morning and as I was
leaving for work - and you guessed it, he was still outside just laying on
the
porch...like it was his home or something! ;-)

Came home from work - still there.  I bet he hadn't let that porch all day.
Probably looking at my other cats through the window and realizing I was a
cat person so he'd better stay put.

This went on for another day and another night.  I still hadn't fed him, but
he still wasn't leaving.  The next morning I went outside only to find him
eating mushrooms that had spring up over night in the grass lawn just
outside my porch!  Well, that was it.  This cat was starving and he was
eating mushrooms which I'm sure didn't taste good and weren't good for him.
Even though I was late for work, I went back inside and brought out another
small dish with dry cat food - the kind I fed my cats and set it down.  Boy,
I tell you, that cat started eating that food as fast as he could!  Poor
thing!  I have never seen a cat eat that fast in my life.  Ate up everything
crumb.  So, I filled up the dish again and left him eating that up.  Also
left a dish of water for him.

Came home from work and needless to say he was sitting there waiting for me.
By this time I had conceeded the fact that I was once again going to be back
up to 4 cats.  I couldn't take him inside just yet because I had a female
cat that wasn't spayed and the new cat hadn't been to the vet and I didn't
want him infecting my other cats or bringing in fleas.

So, the next morning I planned to take him in.  And he was such a good cat
and would let me pick him up and everything I thought I decided I didn't
even need a pet taxi, so I just carried him out to my truck and set him
inside.  Close the door and started up the truck.  Well, after a few seconds
the once calm cat started freaking out and running all inside the truck
trying to get out!  I opened the door and he darted out, ran across the
street to my apartments and into the neighbor's porch.

I shut off the truck, went and got him and put him back on my porch :-)  I
was already late for work and I didn't have time to look for the pet taxi,
so I just left him on the porch another day.  Found the pet taxi that night
and shuffled him off to the vet the next morning.  He checked out okay.  The
vet (or assistant) wrote on the bill "Nice cat!".