We have a new addition to our family.  Three-out-of-four of our original cats are now deceased.  Grunt died Friday, New Year’s Eve on 12/31/04.  Indigo died the Monday after Thanksgiving on 11/28/05.  Monique died the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend on 05/27/06.  Exactly three weeks prior to Monique’s death, knowing it was approaching, we adopted Mr. Whiskers from a local shelter.  We knew that Bubba, as the sole survivor of our original cat family, would need a friend to survive the loss of his three siblings.  We woke that morning, 05/06/2006, and both had dreamt about the cats.  We went to the shelter and looked at hundreds of them.  In the last cage we looked into was a skinny gray and white cat with medium length hair who was named “Whiskers” by his previous owners.  He was curled up in a ball in his litter box.  I opened the cage and he walked towards us and walked up and wrapped his paws around my neck and “hugged” me.  I’ll spare you the rest of the details for now but, needless to say, we had found Bubba’s new friend.  And that he is.  He has not only helped Bubba in the adjustment and through some of the loss, but he has brought a great deal of energy and laughter into our home.  His whiskers are all white and indeed worthy of grabbing one’s attention.  His original name seemed a bit wimpy though so we dubbed him “Mister Whiskers”.  He is almost five years old – practically a kitten compared to his siblings who lived well into their teens and Bubba nearing 14 this week.  He is a blessing.