Joe had appeared on my parents back porch the past summer and once he met us, he refused to leave . He was vocal and loving and ate and drank voraciously. As winter hit, I researched housing and built him an insulated home but once the temperatures fell below freezing, we knew we had to take him in or risk his death.
A trip to the vet sealed his fate with us:we learned that he was a boy, had already been fixed, had lost teeth at some point and was, happily, not dumped because he was ill. He seemed run of the mill so we named him Joe but I did tell folks that his namesake was Joe Torre.
Next to follow were Inky and Toughie, seen in much better days on Long Island where they lived for many years as stray cats.
By 2016, both cats were relegated to my parents basement and each was doing poorly. I made nightly visits to care for them but soon feared that Toughie was near the end . We took both in and brought them to the vet.
