Dear Mark,

I’m Elizabeth Rose – the evening news anchor at affiliate KOH in Reno, Nevada. While on vacation in Phoenix last week, I managed to grab one of the last copies of “Rescuing Sprite” in the airport bookstore (the lady ahead of me scooped up the other three on the rack).

I read half the book on the flight home to Reno, only stopping when the flight attendant asked me for the third time if I was alright, as the tears rolled down my face. I finished the other half between 2 and 5 am that night, and cried for you and Sprite, and for my “baby” cats.

I lost both my cats in the last few years. So I could understand your grief, even though I was blessed for as many years as I had them (or actually, they had me!).
Jezerey was *22*, but she was my baby and it was very hard to say goodbye. She was a shelter cat. I went in searching for a kitten that looked like a greeting card, and left with a 6 month old tabby/calico/siamese mix that didn’t know how to meow. Her entire vocabulary was “reah”, “meh” eyaah” and “n-gah”. But she got her point across. And if you have ever been chewed out by a siamese cat, you’ll understand.

My other cat, Sam, was rescued from a neighbour’s yard where he and his brother had been abandoned with a large bulldog whose pups had been taken away too soon. We had never seen orange bulldogs before, so we went to check them out. Another neighbour took Sam’s brother in. Sam was a fetcher, and loved small tin foil balls, the plastic strip from milk jugs, and anything else that woudl skip across the floor easily and could be picked up easily to return for more throwing.

I guess neither of my cats realized that they were supposed to act aloof and ignore everything but the food dish. Jezerey thought she was human, and Sam thought he was a dog. He was 16 when I had to say goodbye.
They are both buried under a tree named “Stanley” on my 42 acres of property in the high desert northeast of Reno. I can see the tree from my front window, and I go talk with them often.

In closing, thank you for sharing the story of Sprite, Pepsi and your family with us.
Happy Holiday,

Elizabeth from NV