Allen's mother was abandoned by a departing renter in the summer of 2006. Unspayed, she naturally became pregnant shortly thereafter. Hungry and scared, she kept returning to the apartment complex she used to live within, hoping her owner would come back and retrieve her.

Instead, several of the other residents began discussing ways to get rid of the beautiful calico. They made plans to leave out food laced with rat poison, despite the fact that by now she'd given birth and her death would mean the slow starvation of her kittens. One caring resident reached out for help via on online forum. She was unable to take the cats herself, and was looking for someone to who would work with her to rescue and foster/rehome the family.

On October 7th, after hours of searching, we found the litter; four precious, beautiful, flea, tick, and worm infested, freaked-out kittens. They were about five or six weeks old and had never been handled before, nor were they too keen on being handled that day.

I kept the family for over two months, working to socialize the little feral fur-balls. Allen was the most resistant and the last one to come around, but when he finally gave his trust, he gave it completely. A dear friend of mine adopted Abby, as we named the mother, and I - a total failure as a foster mom - could do nothing but adopt all four kittens.

Initially, Allen was deeply bonded to his brother Ollie, but we lost Oliver to the 2007 pet food poisoning crisis. He then bonded with Oscar, my daughter's cat, but that connection was severed when my daughter graduated and move out, taking Oscar with her. Amazingly-enough, he promptly attached himself to my Yorkie, Jasmine, who tolerated Allen's constant companionship, grooming and kneading, but did not return his affections. Sadly, in 2008, at eleven years old, Jasmine suffered a brain aneurism and passed away.

For a while, then, it was just me and the three siblings, and Allen became the ultimate lap cat. Crazy cute as a kitten, he grew to become a beautiful adult; with the most soulful eyes and the softest coat of any cat I've ever met. Although not very smart, Allen has a wonderful happy-go-lucky attitude that is delightfully endearing and his often bumbling antics make me laugh almost daily.

Today, he shares me with his sisters, Rachel and Meghan, and also with Spencer and Heather, a younger brother/sister pair, and Ralph, who joined us in February of 2010. Unfortunately, he hasn't found another 'special friend' and actually spends a portion of every day pushing the other cats around and evicting them from his favorite cat tree perches. Once in my lap, however, he turns to pudding… all the muscles in his body relax, he eyes drift shut, his ears go limp and his mouth parts slightly. Then his head tips back to expose his throat for stroking and he begins to drool. Excessively.

Adored, king of his household, warm and safe, and spoiled with three meals a day of fresh, raw foods, Allen has come a long from his humble beginnings in the woods behind an old apartment complex.

Tracy Dion