Willie was not a feral cat, he was an abandoned cat. He lived on his own in the Sierra foothills for the 1st nine years of his life, hunting and fighting off raccoons, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion. My son was camping on a relative's property and came home with stories of this beautiful and friendly cat that needed a forever home. The next weekend he was back to the mountains and brought home Willie. Dirty and scared. He was so sure the first few days our yellow lab, River, wanted to eat him. If you know yellow labs that was about as far from the truth as possible. Willie did get to know his new family pretty fast and soon was fighting any other cat that came near his new home. Vet bills were pretty common in those days. He also cleaned up the neighborhood of mice, rats, Big Rats, and 1 lizard. Old habits were hard to break, like marking.... another story. But now 5 years later, Willie races us up the stairs at night to be first in bed, he kisses us each good night and loves as much as he's loved in return. I always remember my daughter saying, Willie is home now... his forever home.

Arlene Houston
Santa Rosa, CA