Catur — um, pre-Caturday!

Lucky Tinkerbelle, this cute kitty with the schmutzy nose, is on his way to the UK. Why, you ask? See, Tinks — mind if we calls yeh Tinks, darlin'? — Tinks here was either dumped by his people or wandered off and got lost (yeah, right), and decided he needed some people to take care of him. So he showed up on the doorstep of a very nice English lady who was in Florida for her niece's wedding.

"He was lost. He was hungry and he really needed some support and someone to take care of him,"

said Sue Watts of Birmingham. You're a nice lady, Sue, and Tinks is very very lucky to have met you.

Sue dropped him off at the SPCA shelter on her last day in Florida. Well, you know what happens to little kittehs at shelters — they get put on the death list. If they're not adopted or claimed within a specific period of time, they get the needle. Or the gas chamber, or whatever they're using these days.

So there was little Tinks, with the sands of time running away through his alloted hourglass when — blessings on your kind head and heart, lady — Sue Watts telephoned the shelter. Had Tinks been adopted, she wanted to know. "No," said the shelter. And that's all she needed to know. Quick as a flash, she shelled out $3,000, filled in the required paperwork, and saved Tinkerbelle's life.

Tinks will be in quarantine for 6 months in the UK, but as soon as he gets out, it's off to a lovely home, double Devon cream and scones for tea, and all the loving care a kitty's heart could hope for.

And, in a brief public service message, we at La Casa de Los Gatos would like to remind you all: Please spay and neuter your pets. Because if you don't, you just create pain and suffering for all involved. Tinkerbelle was lucky. Many, many cats and dogs are killed every year because no one can afford to adopt them all.

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