Tolly's story (as much as I know of it)

Floating like a boat in its waters,
I was thrown into a dark bag,
and on an endless sea, I was set adrift.
Just as I was suffocating, I had a happy omen,
and the master of the heavens brought me to liberty.

    (-- from the legend of Taliesin)

 
Once upon a time there was a couple who loved animals. Whenever they found a stray, or heard of an unwanted kitty, they took it into their home.

They fed the cats, spayed them, and gave them attention... so you would think that this was a happy story, wouldn't you? But 58 cats and two or three dogs is a lot, especially for a two bedroom place.

So one day the woman got fed up and moved out, leaving the man alone with the 58 cats and two or three dogs. And soon he couldn't take it any more, and tried to kill himself.

The man was brought to the hospital.

The city planned to "take care of" all the animals.  :(

But people at some local animal rescue organizations caught wind of the situation. They sent out frantic messages to a network of other rescue groups.  Each organization promised to make room for one or two, or as many as they could. And gradually all the little offers added up, until every one of those 58 cats had found a place with a rescue group!

One of these was Calliope, an itty bitty foster-based group founded by the women who facilitated Truffle's adoption.

When the Calliope rescuers went to pick out their cat, out of the whole kit and caboodle, one individual stood out: a skinny, scruffy looking black male. He wasn't the prettiest cat there, but there was just something about him.  He came up to them, made eye contact, begged for attention...   As Claudia wrote, "He was crying out to me to be picked, out of so many."

That was our Tolly.

So we don't know how old he is; we don't really know anything about his life "before." But we do know he will have his "happily ever after" here with us.