It was five years ago this week that Vinny came into our lives ...

It had been a brutally cold and very snowy winter of 2002-03. We'd seen some stray cats
around and put food and a makeshift shelter on our porch for them. One day I saw this guy.
One of his ears was mostly missing and the other was damaged. That was all I could take.
I borrowed a trap from Milford Humane, put some tuna in it, and within a couple hours, our boy was captured.

He was NOT happy and very scared, I tried to transfer him from the trap to a carrier to go to the vet.
But he got away and was loose in the garage. I had to re-trap him, poor boy. Then took the trap with
him in it, to the vet. Once there, he became a Mendon Animal Clinic legend: he got away from FOUR of us,
jumped up on the medicine cabinet, knocking over boxes, bottles, tubes et al, then squeezed
behind the glass doors of the shelves! There he was, staring out at us, scared to death.

Luckily Holly, our resourceful vet, was able to get close enough to sedate him. I was so relieved,
but embarrassed about his behavior! Not a good start to the relationship ... But he was checked out,
neutered and came back home to a cage in the garage. We spent a few days trying to convince
him he'd like us once he got to know us better. I named him Vincent, in honor of the great Van Gogh,
and their having a missing ear in common. He became "Vinny" soon thereafter.

Next stop: the small downstairs bathroom. To make a long story short, he was scared for a long time,
but eventually got comfortable around the house and enjoyed his new brothers & sisters. He loves to be combed
and petted in his original spot in the bathroom. He'll always have the feral, cautious mindset,
but he's got a great personality and is a joy — we're so lucky to have him!