Oreo Cookie showed up one day in the fall of 1984, cowering under the lawnmower that was sitting on my porch where dogs had chased him. He was a mighty frightened kitten and he immediately curled up in my lap much to the consternation of Angel, my female calico,who was four at the time. He was sort of a loner until Bogie, a male medium-haired tabby, showed up and then they slept together and played together. However; Oreo always let the other cats boss him around and push him out of the way when it came to getting attention from me. And there were plenty of them to do it because 3 years after I got Bogie I added Little Kit, a pure white medium-haired male and a stray to my growing family. So for about 5 years, 1989 to 1994, I had 4 cats in a two-bedroom apartment! In 1994 I moved to a large 3 bedroom ranch house and did they love it! They could chase each other down the long hall and there was plenty of room for each of them to have privacy as well, if they wanted it. Sadly, only a year later, I lost Little Kit to cardiomyopathy at only 6, then Bogie to cancer at 11 in early 1997, and last, Angel to her diabetes at 17 in late 1997, Oreo was the only cat in my home by then. I found that he really did crave attention and could talk away to me all day. He became quite a good companion to me, he had been a little hyper most of his life, but seemed to calm down now. We had about 2 years where it was just the two of us. He had been feeling poorly for a year or so, but holding his own on medications for the kidney problem and a thyroid problem as well. In 1999 a stray came to my door. I couldn't turn him away, of course, so he became Oreo's little brother, Babydoo. It was hard on Oreo to keep up with the kitten and he had no interest in him for the first months except to avoid him. Still, they eventually became grudging allies and occasionally could be found curled up with each other on the couch. The last 6 months Oreo started to lose weight and wouldn't eat very much. He was on Science Diet KD for quite a while, but when he got so thin the vet and I tried different things to tempt his appetite. Each would work for a few days but then he would go off his feed again. His teeth were very bad and they were afraid to knock him out to work on them the last five years of his life, this was contributing to his weight loss and, I felt, to his pain. Finally, his kidneys just gave out a few weeks before Christmas 2000. It was so hard to make the decision, but I couldn't have him suffering. He was 16 years old and he'd had a good life. I think he'd missed the camaraderie he had with Bogie, and was lonesome for him the last 3 years, yet he had enjoyed having me to himself for a while there. Now he can be with Bogie and Angel and Little Kit, chasing each other and playing, the way it was, forever.