A contribution from Beth Koruna, Hamilton Mountain

One Friday evening in September we were sitting on the front porch of our friends’ house when a skinny cat came down the street. Being animal lovers, we called him over to say hello. He was very vocal and ran right over to us. We quickly realized he was a stray, as he was extremely skinny, ratty and not neutered. My friend Linda got him some food and he gobbled it up as fast as possible. After he ate, he sat with us for about a half an hour and then went on his way. I felt sad as I saw him turn the corner of the street and was already contemplating helping him. My husband felt the same. Over the next week we looked for him twice. I brought food in a container and walked the street. There were many healthy cats in the neighbourhood sitting on porches, but no Ramon (yes, we had already named him). About 2 weeks later, I was expressing my regret to my husband about letting the sweet cat go, and he had the idea to look one last time. I was reluctant because of the previous failed attempts, but we went. We drove up the street of the neighbourhood and there he was! We were so unprepared to find him, we had to go to our friends’ house and borrow their carrier! He went into the carrier with no protest. We brought him into the vet that night and had him tested and vaccinated. Within 10 minutes of being in our garage (we already have two cats) he was in my lap and purring. After a week we brought him into the house and then he got very sick. He was at the vet for 4 days, had many x-rays, surgery, and a biopsy. Turned out he has a bowel disease. We brought him home on four medications and a special diet. He will probably need to be on a steriod the rest of his life and will always need the special food, but the good news is that he has put on 1.5 pounds since and has healed very well! We were going to find him a home, but realized that since we were both attached and had spent our savings on him, he was ours. All three cats have adjusted and are doing well! We love our Ramon. I just want to end by saying I follow your website and really enjoy seeing all of the animals you save. Thank you for all of the amazing work you do.