In mid-November of 2002, a day and a half before freezing temperatures set in, a woman brought an emaciated, severely matted, seriously flea-bitten six-month old kitten with brilliant copper eyes and a fractured leg to the Humane Society of Southern Illinois. The woman said that the kitten's owners had left her outdoors when they "moved away."

The kitten was near death from an upper respiratory infection, fleas, worms, other ravages of hunger and the inability to protect herself in any way. I was drawn to this little girl instantly. After she tested negative for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, I took my girl, now named Mozey, to my vet, who began treatment immediately. She came home a week before Thanksgiving to intensive care in a bathroom, where she lay virtually motionless most of the time for a long time. Gradually she improved, and after about two weeks touched a cat toy with a paw. The fracture of her right femur was an old one, for which nothing could be done but for which, fortunately, nothing needed to be done. Although the head of the femur was absent and there was no connection of any kind between the femur and the hip socket, Mozey exhibited no pain and never has done so.

Very gradually she improved to reveal her wonderfully sunny, playful, affectionate disposition. As long as she could live a healthy life free of pain, I was determined that she would not have suffered with such courage only to die. In the beginning I sat and cried as I watched her and thought of the terrible hunger and fear she had experienced. I still think of it at times, but now I delight many times every day in seeing this lovely, independent little girl scamper playfully around corners, hearing her play at length with jingling toys, and feeling her sweet, flat-faced kisses.