I lost my adorable tabby Robbie last year on July 1st after a 9 month battle with kidney failure. I miss him so much, but in over a year, I could not bring myself to adopt a new cat because I didn't think I could ever handle the pain of losing a cat again. This Monday (July 4th) I was walking down my street and a few houses away, right next to an SUV, was a tiny little brown and white tabby kitten looking sad. Looked just like Robbie, too except no white bib or paws. He (or she) did not shy away when I stooped down to pick it up! It was all skin and bones, tiny!!! I held it in the crook of my arm and my heart melted. It had been put in my path for me to find and rescue! I walked up and down the entire block to see if I could maybe see another one that might lead me to his mom and litter mates, or maybe someone who could give me some info on any queens and kittens in the neighborhood - but the only person I spoke to was a nasty woman who informed me that her children had told her about the kitten "yesterday" - ok, so obviously the poor thing had been on its own for a couple of days now. I took it home and my mom's home health aide (my mom is 82 and lives with me) watched it for me while I ran out to the store to pick up some supplies...formula, a bottle, a bed, etc. OK maybe I was a little hasty. When I got home the kitten was dozing on my mom's legs with her cradling its little body! I let it sleep then when it woke up I tried a little formula, then some cat milk, finally it actually ate (greedily!) some canned kitten food! I tried calling some animal hospitals but nothing was open on July 4th except this one place too far away (I have no car). But I made an appointment to take little Julio or Julia there the next day after work to get him/her checked out then boarded for a while till it was a little stronger. I had it all of July 4th, loved it dearly! was so sweet....the next day I had to go to work, I left it in my room with the door closed and my mom's aide checked on it constantly and fed it, etc. Was fine...still very weak - I regret that I told her not to put it in bed with my mom because I was still a little afraid of fleas, etc - and my mom is 82 and pretty unwell herself. I struggled through work yesterday looking forward to getting home and getting my little kitty sent from above to the vet and well and on its way to a life with me...I was even daydreaming about how cute it would grow up to be....am I pathetic or what.....I took her there and paid close to $400 for all tests to be done, boarding, sub-q etc....she weighed .6 lbs (is that like 9 oz?) and was extremely dehydrated but had NO fleas btw!....the vet told me that he was confident I would probably have her back by the end of the week.....I left her overnight fully trusting that this would happen. I got a call from the vet today at 11:30 am - she died, apparently could not tolerate the de-worming...saddest part is she tested negative for everything else. I am in shock and absolutely, utterly miserable. I set myself up for this because I miss Robbie so much, so here I am again going through the pain. I did manage to take three pictures of her while she was sleeping on my mom that I will post when I feel a little better, right now I can't bring myself to look at them. OMG am I crazy? I guess I am for picking up a little feral kitten and expecting everything to turn out great, believing she had been put in my path.