Poncho

5/88 - 2/02

Poncho was a lot like Lassie except in cat form. He was always in tune with what was happening, how everyone felt and even alerted people when someone needed help. He was very patient and put everyone else before himself. He loved everyone and would great them with roaring purr and by wagging his tail. He would stay in the yard and would come in when you whistled. He liked dogs as long as they didn't bark or sit on him. Poncho lived with 2 large labs, at one time he observed me training them with hand commands, when Ponch walked in the room he would raise his paw, using the same gesture that I did and the dogs would immediately lay down. He used to sit on the stairs, one dog would put his nose thru the railing and Ponch would reach forward with both paws and playfully pat on it like a drum roll. He loved other cats and was like an uncle to them. When one of kittens would get outside he would heard them back to the house, he also chased off the less than friendly tom cat when he came around them.
Poncho loved to watch water move when he drank it, he would drink from the sink and let little droplets of water fall on his head. He would push his water bowl around the floor to watch the water spin and make it splash out, there were many times that I went to work with one wet sock. Strings were his favorite toy and he would carry plastic milk rings around in his mouth. He loved cheese, ice cream and french fries. Once I had left some pie with cream on it on the living room floor, when I came back in the room he innocently walked over to me to be petted with a little dab of cream on his nose. Poncho had a special way of looking at people, he would tilt his head slightly to the side as he was gazing at you, tap his tail and make you feel like you were the most important person in the world and magically all your troubles melted away.
On 2/27/02 Poncho tapped his tail for the last time. About week before it was discovered that he had terminal cancer. After being at the vet for 5 days in a row, the decission to let him go peacefully was made. The Vet had advised that he should be let go on Spay Day Feb. 26th, I asked if we could have one more day together and we did. He left this world on Feb. 27th, 2002. Poncho was my inspiration for working on Spay Day USA and Prevent A Litter Month in Dane County Wi., He would have liked to ask everyone to spay or neuter their pets to prevent future unnecessary euthansias.