We don't know where he came from. One night Pandr heard some cries from under his trailer so he looked for what was making them. He couldn't find it but put a dish of food and some water out. In the morning both were empty but there was no sign of who had ate it. it took a couple days but a tiny grey kitten finally came out from underneath and let Pandr pick him up. He must have been barely weaned as he was so tiny.

Pandr didn't know what to call him, so I suggested Smudge as he looked like a grey smudge on the carpet when he laid down. When he hid in the shadows, he was nearly invisible except for his gold eyes, and he liked it that way. He hid from most visitors but accepted me as one of the family and let me pet him. The only thing that would set him off were the times that I had to call EMS when Pandr's glucose dropped. When Smudge heard the fire engines, he would hide and growl as he knew there would be several noisy people coming into his house and mess with his daddy.

Sadly Pandr died last July while I was away, but he had me promise to take care of Smudge a long time ago. When I returned home, his relatives had taken almost everything out of his home but they couldn't find Smudge's hiding place. I caught him but he was not happy about being moved and loudly voiced his displeasure, hiding under my futon.

I gave him plenty of room and some familiar things from Pandr's to ease him into living with me. It took time and patience to have him finally accept me as his new 'daddy' and he has been my shadow ever since.