I am not much of a writer, so I pray you will consider all mistakes you may find in this, as a lot of love. My wife and I are getting up in years {seventy-one years + to be exact}, and we are avid lovers of all animals. As a matter of fact, we now have three cats,
Goldie (Short-Short}, Decota (Smurf) and Huleo-2 {Hulie 2}. The names in the brackets are my "Pet" names for each of them. There have been times when we have had as many as twelve cats and two dogs, Not to mention the stray kitties that come every day or night to eat with ours. All our cats were strays at one time.

Uleo came to us several years ago as a stray and right away, he took to us and apparently decided, "Why bother padding up and down the streets to get to all those GOODIES, when I can just stay here in a good dry, warm shelter along with all this good food." So, like all the others before him, he did exactily that.

He gave us so very much love through out the years he was with us. As all cats have, he had his little nightly routine: When my wife came in from work around midnight, he would follow her through the house, back-and-forth, till she was ready to sit down to rest. Then, he would hop on her lap and lie there and watch T-V with us.
Some times, I believe he enjoyed watching the movies more than my wife and I, even-though, he had only one eye.

He lost that not long after he came to us. We will never know how it happened. At that time, he was an indoor-outdoor cat. We had let him out of the house hoping he would stay inside the yard but this time he did not. Although, usually he was at the door by night-fall, this evening he was not. It went on for three or four days and he did not return, till this day my wife walked down to our front gate to casually gaze up and down the street {not being nosy, of course} and she spied a cat limping very slowly up the street toward her. Then the realization hit her: "That looks like Uleo!" {I'm relating the story as she told it to me.} By the time she had gotten outside the gate, he had moved to within a few feet of her and that was as far as he could travel. She ran down and picked him up into her arms and came running inside the house. I was in the bathroom at the time, and I believe that is the fastest I have ever cleared the stool. I was off there and we were out the door in a matter of seconds, on our way to the Vet.

He had been hit or scratched in one eye and it had to be removed. The Vet said he could not tell if he had been hit in the eye by someone, or if he had been into a fight with another cat.

Anyway, to shorten a long story. After several trips to the doctor for several different incidents, and several years later, we had to have him put to sleep. He had become very ill and was in a lot of pain. The Vet. told us he believed our decision was the right one, since he did not believe Uleo would ever get any better.

My wife held him in her arms while the doctor administered the medication. With his last breaths, Uleo said very loud and clearily:
"I'M GOIN' HOME! I'M GOIN' HOME! I'M GOIN' HOME!" Three times he said this. The doctor quickly looked up at us with a very startled expression on his face but said nothing. To this day we have not discussed this with him.

My wife and I are firm believers in life-after death. Not only for the human soul, but for the soul of all animals. The Bible says: "Who knowth where the soul of the animal goeth up or down." It has been awhile since I have read this, so I might not have quoted it to the exact word, so if you have not already read this scripture, search for it to determine if my quote is exact.

This is my first time on this Web site, but it will not be my last.

EVERYONE, PLEASE BE KIND TO YOUR PETS AND THEY WILL RETURN THAT KINDNESS WITH MANY YEARS OF LOVE AND AFFECTION.

Love to all,
Arlie & Almedia, and our Pets