This is Gus. Or Gustav, if we want to be formal. He is what is known in our house as a FOTZ, or "Friend of The Ziggy". Gus, alas, does not live in our house. Gus currently lives all the way over in Baltimore, and the odds are good that his Forever Home (if ever a term deserves capitalization, I think that one does) will be somewhere in that area. His whole story can be found here and if it doesn't stir some warm fuzzies in you, then you aren't a very nice person and I don't wish to know you.
Now, if you do some date comparisons between posts here and the posts about Gus, you'll realize that Gus and Ziggy were most likely never friends in real life - even allowing for the lives they lived post-rescue. But that's not really what being a FOTZ (or a "FOT-insert first initial of one of our other kitties here") is all about. FOTZ simply means that there is some kindred spirit-ness between these cats. Something about the look in Gus' eyes - in this photo, in particular - spoke to both me and The Amazing Husbandini. We know Gus isn't Ziggy, but something of what made Ziggy so very special is there is Gus also. It's comforting.
I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this concept. If nothing else, it means that Gus is special to us and we have been tracking his story on the Space Paws website with great interest. He has a meet n' greet this week with some potential adopters, and I hope everything goes well for all concerned. And if it doesn't ... well, Baltimore is only about 1,700 miles away. I've done longer road trips that had less of a payoff.
(Note: Gus' portrait was swiped from The Adventures of Space Paws, and I didn't even ask permission first. I know that's not technically kosher, so if it bothers anyone, I'll be happy to take it down and apologize.)
