
I found Mercedes at a vet’s office in Mexico City in the spring of 1998. She was recovering from a car accident she had had during her first life as a street cat. As soon as I walked into the office and sat down, she jumped into my lap and started purring. Unlike other cats, she was not locked up in a cage. Soon I noticed that she was physically different from other cats: her right front leg was missing. The vet then told me that after the accident her leg was amputated in order to save her life, and there she was, 6 months later, bursting with the desire to live and eager to find herself a home. I adopted her immediately and she is my favorite cat of all times.
Mercedes died of heart failure on October 6, 2006. She lives on in my many fantastic memories with her. What a passionate, loving cool cat she was.
Note: “Mercedes” is an old Spanish name for girls meaning “Mercies”. Japanese people usually associate this name with cars, but that is as if associating Suzuki only with motorcycles when it is actually a very common family name.