How do I begin to describe this amazing boy? I received my dear Josie as a Mothers Day gift from our daughter GinaLee. We were remodeling our living room at the time & the idea of taking care of a kitten during this mess was not something we really wanted to do at the time. So we figured that when our daughter came home from work we would break the news to her and she could return him to the pet store. Little did we know that in just a few hours he would wiggle his little body into our hearts and it was love, true, deep love, one that I never knew existed with a pet. Now, I know that everyone believes that their pet is the cutest, smartest, etc., but I know that my boy WAS the one of smartest, and I must say, one of the cutest, also.  From day one we realized that there was something about the way he would sit and look at us while we talked to him.

 

One night I was designing a centerpiece for my parents 50th anniversary and had about 50 artificial flowers laid out in front of me. We heard a "thump, thump, thump" coming up our basement stairs. Here comes Josie with a ribbon between his teeth which was tied around a bouquet of artificial flowers from our daughters bathroom. He brought them over to me and sat there. We were shocked and sat there with our mouths open. The picture above is the one I took when he brought those flowers to me so we would be reminded of that special moment forever, I thank God now that I did.

I decided to work with him and teach him some tricks. I would sit on the floor each evening and shake each paw and give him a treat after each time. After about a week of doing this shaking a paw routine every night at 6:00 pm, he came over to me on the couch and lifted his paw at me. He had figured it out!! From then on he would lift his paw to us to tell us he wanted something or when it was 6:00 - treat time, when he would shake paw, give high five, reach for treats & guess which hand the treat was in.

 

Josie at 2 years was very playful & needed a playmate, so we adopted Sulley from our chiropractor. His cat had just had kittens, so we went & picked out a cute yellow & white tabby, brought him home & they became friends immediately. We told Josie when we brought Sulley home that this was his kitten and I think he knew it, they have been best friends for 4 years.There are so many awesome stories of these two incredible buddies, but I would take too much space for that! Life was awesome with our babies.
 

But, we made a fatal mistake in May 2008, we took home a kitten on trial & he must have been what they call a "shedder" and he infected my sweet boy. We got rid of him, but too late. We're SO sorry, baby. Mommy & Daddy would never have wanted to hurt you, you were our precious little gem. If I could turn back time, I would. I miss you desperately. I never knew it would hurt this bad, I want you home.