Bud

   I have, what I think, is one the coolest cats ever. His name is Bud and he's going on 12 years old. When I was renting a room from a friend in a townhouse on Timberlake Road, her Cailco cat had a litter of kittens. Most were also Calico, but there was one solid black kitten. I decided to keep him. Soon my friend moved back to Delaware and I took over the townhouse. I would let Bud out to rome daily, he would be back in a few hours. One time, after he had been out for a while, I suddenly heard high pitched sqeeling from outside the door. I opened it find a baby rabbit in Bud's mouth. I took it from him and saw that it was not seriously injured. I ended up releasingg the rabbit a few just outside f the city that evening. A couple weeks later, I opened the door to let Bud in and he had another baby rabbit. This time, he must not  have wanted me to take it because there was only half of it left. Bud was having rabbit for dinner.
   One Sunday, when Bud was about 1 year old, I let him out as usual. The next morning I was leaving for a business trip to Puerto Rico and Bud had not returned. I asked my girlfriend at the time to come by and let Bud in that  evening. I was sure he would come back soon. Tuesday morning I got a frantic call, she had found Bud at the door. He had drug himself there with one of his back legs barely hanging on by a little skin. She took him to the emergency vet. They off what was left and stitched him up. We never found out what happened, but the vet said it looked like a clean cut. I think maybe he got into an engine compartment and got caught in the fan. When I got home later in the week, I found a 3 legged cat. He healed very quickly. Within a day or two, he was hobbling around and had figured out how to walk well with 3 legs in a couple weeks.
   Now, 11 years later, he still gets around great. When he runs, you would never know a leg was missing. Since I had his front claws removed after the accident, he was never an outside cat again. Although he has managed to escape a few times over the years. But he's always back in a few hours. He loves to sit in an open window and watch birds and squirrels.
   Bud is one of the few cats that loves people and will let you rub and play with him whenever you want. When we have parties, he always makes the rounds to all the guests, looking for attention. He even hops a little more to get people to feel sorry for him. When the day comes that he dies, it will be a dark days. I am not looking forward to it. But for know, I will continue to enjoy my cat that beat the odds.