I’ve been a cat owner my whole life (am retired) & the greatest cat I ever had was a purebred chocolate sealpoint Siamese whom I named Hershey. Nearly 5 yrs. ago when he was about 10 mo. old he showed up at my door as I arrived home from work. I later learned a neighbor moved & abandoned him. He had never been outside before that. He had been neutered but it was possibly a “defective” procedure. He had two huge disadvantages: he was extremely territorial which led to his being injured a lot, (fights) plus he suffered from stomatitis, which is akin to his being allergic to the plaque on his teeth. For 4 yrs. I did all I could to handle the very expensive vet bills & had a great vet who was sympathetic to my dilemma. My income was very low but Hershey was worth the sacrifice. He chose to be mute most of the time & when hungry, just stood by his food dish. I’d never had a cat that licked my face as he did & he slept with me every night & never woke me in the mornings when I could sleep in. Late last winter, tho, he again was injured & needed a lot of treatment on his gums. Sometimes his mouth would be so painful that he could barely eat or swallow. I had retired by then & most of my income is spent on med. ins. premiums. His bill was going to be over $500. so despite all my efforts to try to find another home for him with someone who could afford all his vet bills, nothing turned up. It was the most anguish I had ever experienced, realizing I had to euthanize him just because I could no longer afford to treat him. That is real pain, beyond an animal for whom there is no other choice than to euthanize him/her because of old age or disease. Mark, there’s no way I can ever read your fine book because I can’t bear the sadness in it. It tears me up to even read headlines of abused animals. I hope this doesn’t have to happen to anyone else.

Linda from Colorado