The lovely feline on the left was picked from the shelter by my daughter a few years ago at Christmas.    This little cat who's name is Toby looks a lot like our other cat, Kitty.     Kitty is on the right and was with us for 17 years when he passed away in 2007.     After Kitty's passing my daughter begged for a cat for almost a full year before I agreed to let her get one.   She had to promise to keep the cat fed and clean the litter box...she has not kept up her side of the bargain.   Lesson learned for me, not even a goldfish has come into this house since.

This new kitty, Toby, is very sweet and quiet compared to our originally kitty.    He does meow once in a while when he is hungry or is looking for attention and loves to sit by the wall vents as the heat is pouring out of them.      He is my daughter's cat though, he looks to her for attention, when she goes downstairs he goes with her, she is his owner.

The kitty on the right was mine.   He had been with me for 17 years and was loud (like me), when you pet him he would bite you, came when you called him and was like a dog more than a cat.     When I lived in Indiana this cat did not even have a little box, he would go outside.    He was in indoor/outdoor cat in Indiana and when I moved back to Illinois it was strictly indoors.    I was allergic to him, I could not bet him and forget to wash my hands or I would itch, turn red and my eyes would swell.     I would not trade a day of it as he was such a treasure around the house.    He was a HUGE cat and walked around in his catlike way as if he owned the place and he allowed us to stay.

We were home and watched him pass and I remember it like it was yesterday.  As tragic as it was, I am glad we were here with him in his last moments to provide him some comfort as he did to us all those years.