This was Max. I adopted him and his sister, Lilah, from the local kill shelter 3 years ago. Five months later I had to put Max to sleep. Cancer. It ripped me apart. In those few short months he became my #2 best of all the pets I've had in my 54 years. He was so special. The main reason I went to the pound to see them was that they were Manx's. I have another Manx named Mischief. He will be 16 this year and is my "papa" kitty. He was neutered at 6 months old so he never fathered kitties but he has helped me raise and take care of the kitties I've brought home.

There are currently 22 kitties, 1 dog, 6 birds and a fish tank.

Tell me about your kitty.

Well, there are Kit and Kim twin brothers We were able to capture them and their mother Katie. The boys took to domestic life but their mother never did- she was an indoor feral. She passed a few years ago. Kim looks a bit like your Max in his face shape. Then there's Maggie, a longhair tortoiseshell (dark chocolate and marmalade coloring), Gracie, Oscar and Alice the girls are blue tabby piebalds and Oscar is marked like a Holstein cow. Oscar and Alice are littermates and Gracie their older sister.

Kit, Kim and Oscar are all around 20 lbs.

I see you and I are kindred spirits.

We have done long-term boarding for one of the local shelters and have had as many as 26 cats in residence at one time. We had a pair of large cat runs in the back yard.

I even brought a stray back from a group camping trip once-- a big longhaired cream colored tabby who got named Leo.
He came around the campsite, bedraggled and emaciated, looking for a meal. We locked eyes and it was as if he said to me "You are going to take me home." I went home to get a cat carrier the next morning and that evening, one of the rangers and I were able to coax him into it. He purred loudly enough to hear over the road and engine noise from the back seat the whole way to the vet. He cleaned up right nice and didn't have any lethal infectious diseases so he came home with me the next day. He was about the most affectionate cat I've ever known. He died of extreme old age a couple of years ago.