Zippy and all,

I haven't ventured into a lot of the message boards - especially being so wrapped up in Max's injury and it's (still a mystery) diagnosis.

This thread was especially poignant and I'm glad I stumbled upon it! Tom was very special and I LOVED reading about him and seeing ALL of the photo's! I especially LOVED the one of Tim dressed up! LOL! Poor guy! (Just ask Max about his reindeer antlers and bunny ears . . .)

I also had a cat (Dusty) that was mauled by two "dogs" early in the morning who tossed him around like a ragdoll. Apparently, my neighbor chased them away but he never called to tell me about it - we didn't know what happened. Dusty had some nasty wounds, but lived through it, thankfully. About 5 months later, the neighbor saw me and Dusty outside and he said "I thought that cat was dead" and it was then he told me what happened - JERK. I guess I should be thankful he scared off the dogs, but I will never forget Dusty dragging himself up to our doorway and collapsing out of sheer exhaustion hours later. I too had a strange feeling that he needed me. I could have helped him much quicker.