Leonidas was a stray kitten, rescued by a woman who works at my vet's office. She was looking for a home for him, and I was charmed by his outgoing personality and handsome agouti coloring, so he joined the household. His rescuer was calling him Leonidas, and I thought the name suited him, so I kept it.

Leo was a very rambunctious, exuberant cat. He was into everything, frequently riled up other cats by bouncing at them excessively, and would probably have driven everyone crazy except for his having found a kindred spirit in Valentine. The two of them were close friends and managed to burn up a lot of their energy playing with each other.

He was still a sweetheart, though. He could be a complete holy terror one minute, but the next he would snuggle up to me, put his little arms around my neck, and purr engagingly. And a few minutes later he'd be overturning furniture, pushing things off of shelves, and driving more sedate cats to distraction again. It was never dull with Leo around.

Leo's life was happy, but much too short. When he was two and a half years old, one evening he suddenly developed a saddle thromboembolism, a blood clot that cuts off circulation to the hind legs, producing sudden paralysis. This is most commonly caused by hyptertrophic cardiomyopathy. I rushed him to the emergency vet, but he died just before we got there, probably from another clot reaching his heart or brain. As is often the case with cardiomyopathy, he had shown no symptoms and was his cheerful, lively self right up until the final crisis.