In February 2002, a beautiful gray tomcat began showing up on occasion in our yard.  We assumed he belonged to someone as he seemed to be in pretty good condition.  Nevertheless, I would put a dish of food for him far away from the other outdoor cats who really were not happy with this intruder.  His visits back began recurring more and more.  Eventually (of course), it became a daily happening, until one day he showed up with deep wounds on his head and his back probably inflicted during a cat fight somewhere.  I treated him with some antibiotics I had on hand which, fortunately, prevented any infection from developing, and I daily slathered antibacterial ointment on his wounds.  At this point, I knew we had to do something with this beautiful gray guy.  He obviously did not belong to anyone and had clearly taken up residence on the outskirts of our yard.  So, came the heart stopping day for me:  early one morning I managed to shove him into the cat carrier after placing his plate of food near the opening and I took him to the vet to be boarded that night so that his neutering could be done the next day.     I picked up Gray Cat, now known as GC, the next day from the vet's, opened the door of the carrier to let him out into the yard and he quickly became part of our outdoor group.   GC had a sweet, docile personality and because he had grown into such a handsome hunk, we sometimes jokingly referred to him as our "Stud Muffin."   He and Marshmallow, our neighbors' cat who spent most of his time on our property (eventually becoming one of the Bilbrey Cats himself), developed a lasting friendship - many times we watched them walking up to each other and nuzzling in kitty greeting style and then happily romping off together.      GC went to the Rainbow Bridge sometime during the night of May 29, 2005.  Journey to the Bridge  explains in detail what we theorize must have happened.  All I know is that my sweet gray guy is not with us anymore and I ache for him  -- and I feel such guilt at not being able to provide him with the safe haven he deserved, right here on his own property.