I have not had many cats, because the ones I had lived long lives. But all of them found me. I was not necessarily in need of a cat when they found me, or so I thought.

The latest is Toby. He is an orange and white rescue cat, very smart and friendly. My son brought him here.

a long haired tuxedo, he was so friendly I assumed he belonged to someone.....he kept showing up, then he was hanging out and then it struck me - *I* am his primary residence! I checked around, never found an owner, so I took him to the vet and got him fixed, along with shots and a microchip.....that was about a year ago

I've been feeding a rather skittish cat for believe it or not over 6 years. He has been through a number of scraps, but always comes back to me. He's never been inside the house, and only in the last year has he let me pet him. He's now getting daily "massages" from me which he loves! He has a skin condition, dry and scabby. I've tried everything to help, at least he really enjoys the petting he gets now and I'm hoping it helps the circulation.

my other cat was a stray I fed for years - I could never adopt her because she would viciously attack my other cat (who was also a long hair tuxedo).....when that cat passed away, she settled in - oddly enough, when my current tuxedo showed up, she got along just fine with him - she must have just had it in for my other cat

keep working on that stray, they are challenging yet can be very rewarding relationships

According to a study by the Minnesota Stroke Institute that followed more than 4,000 cat owners over 10 years, owning a cat can dramatically reduce a person's chance of dying from heart disease [source: Mundell]. Specifically, people who owned cats were 30 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack.

The studies found that, overall, dog owners tend to live longer than non-owners. And they often recover better from major health events such as a heart attack or stroke, especially if they live alone.

It would be very empty without them.