Max was a friend of Fluffy during the last few months of his life. After Fluffy was gone, Max used to continue to come around and look for his old friend. This gave us a chance to get some love from another beautiful kitty.

Max had gone through several families, continually being taken in, then finding greener pastures elsewhere. For us, we had no intention of ever taking in another cat because we knew we couldn't deal with the inevitable loss. Max, however, had a different idea.

The first time we met Max, he was just a few months old. He is seen here on the patio wall of our condo on 3 June 2005, five years before he came to us permanently. The other cat is Buddy, who was with Fluffy's former owner. Fluffy was the central cat in our condo, and many other cats came by to visit, sort of like being the Godfather. When we walked Fluffy, the others would often come with us, too, including Max.

His visits became more frequent, and one day when it was raining, Michelle relented and allowed Max into our condo for the first time. For whatever reason, he had a hard time when we told him it was time for him to go home. Eventually, it got to the point where when we opened the door, Max would be right up against it and would basically fall inside so we had no chance to stop him!

We became friends with his parent, Melanie, and she said she understood we were taking good care of Max and had no worries about him at all. For a while he seemed to have two homes.

On the first anniversary of the loss of Fluffy, Melanie made sure that Max came to stay with us because she understood what a hard day this was to be. It made things so much better to have another cuddly kitty to pet. It helped, even if only slightly, to forget the pain of losing Fluffy.

The only problem, if you can call it that, was that Max never wanted to leave. It was something we never intended to happen, but kitties choose their families, not the other way around.

Max keeps watch on his Christmas presents under our telescope tree!

Schmoozing with one of his mothers.

Max and Fluffy both enjoyed their time on my desk, especially if it meant disturbing my work on the computer. These photos are several years apart, and a new computer has replaced the old, but the spot is nonetheless the same. Especially during the first year or so we had Max, he seemed to be channeling Fluffy in many, many ways, which were eerie at times.

More presents for Max.

Max didn't like us disturbing his reading.

Checking out the new shower. He loved to go in and lick the water off the floor, and it was a good way to clean his paws.

He often jumped up on the desk to check up on me when I was supposed to be working on my book.

When we took the clothes out of the dryer, we would make a nest for Max on the bed and he would curl right up and go to sleep in the warmth.

Max on our patio with a stone that reads "Cats leave paw prints on our hearts." The stone was a gift from my mother after we lost Fluffy.

Max

April 2005 — June 21, 2014

Beautiful flowers for Max from Melanie. Thank you.