Black Cat is the patriarch of our feline family. He's been with us for... 21 years I believe. He was owned by a woman who recently found that she was loosing her eyesight to diabetes. She feared that she would not be able to care for him once her eye sight failed. In a way, I wish we had convinced her to keep Black Cat, not because we don't love him, but because I believe he would have been wonderful company for her and lack of sight would not have hindered in her care of him.

Black Cat is the gentlest soul, but you can tell by the way he carries himself that he's the alpha cat. He and Junior do not get a long and occasionally a fight erupts, but Black Cat has made friends with all the other new cats who have joined our family.

He's now getting on in years. He receives 100 ml of fluids everyother day to help keep his kidneys functioning. We both dislike this chore but it give me time to simply cuddle and love him. Naturally he gets a lot of that anyway but even though this doesn't necessarily signal the closeness of goodbye's it means they are creeping up. It's hard to watch someone you love get old, no matter the species!

He still loves to curl up under the covers with me with his head on my arm, spending the night purring.