We got Buster from county animal shelter. We usually get our cats from county animal shelter. That way we save a life -- and we’ve gotten some great cats that way. One fall, after our cat had died and left a big hole in our lives, we went to animal shelter for a kitten. There were no kittens.

I was about to give up, but my husband Bill kept saying, “That one over there looks good.”And he did. He was about three-quarters grown, grey and white, and had a sweet, hopeful expression on his little face. Also, he was scheduled to be killed next day. There was no time for us to go home and meditate on matter.

We went to people in charge and said, “We’ll take that one.”

As we and cat rode home, Bill picked out his name. We take turns naming our cats, and it was Bill’s turn. “We’ll call him Buster,” he said.

“Buster?”

“When you’re mad at me, you say, ‘See here, Buster,’ and I’d like to have someone else around named Buster.”

When we got Buster home, he of course had to inspect house. After a look around -- one briefer than that of most cats -- he went into my mother’s bedroom, where sun was shining warmly on her pink bedspread. He jumped onto bed and promptly went to sleep in a patch of sunlight, sprawled out on his back, paws up, way a cat sprawls when he’s feeling completely safe and happy.

“Home at last,” he was saying. “Home at last.”

BUSTER IS WELCOMED TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD

At our house Buster had food available around clock, but he must have been hungry as a kitten, because he didn’t think of other houses in our neighborhood as unfriendly. He thought of them as snack bars.

I later discovered that he got a slice of bologna from Pearl Cesare every morning around ten. He got milk from Bert Pigge shortly thereafter. Then he jumped onto a chair -- Bert had an especially desirable one -- and had a nap.

Buster was a successful entrepreneur from start.

The other cats welcomed Buster to neighborhood by hissing and snarling and letting him know he was in THEIR territory and he’d better get out. Well, Buster didn’t get out. He didn’t even get worried. I don’t know why; he just didn’t.

Then came heavy artillery: neighborhood’s reigning tomcat.

Your Betta should be at least five months old and in good health before you attempt to breed. If you attempt breeding with Betta’s that are less than five months old or in poor health you’ll end up frustrated, and your Betta will, too!

If you just bought your Betta from a pet store or had it shipped through mail, you may need to wait a couple of weeks before attempting to breed. Pet store conditions are usually less than ideal and being mailed is, of course, very stressful and your fish will need some time to get acclimated.

Before you attempt to breed you need to do some conditioning. The water must be clear and as clean as you can possibly get it. You should increase feedings to four times a day and feed as much protein as possible, preferably live bait such as bloodworms.

At least a week before you attempt to breed your Betta you should place them in two separate containers where they can view each other. Allowing them to see one another will usually keep them from being aggressive when you put them in a spawning tank together.

Once you expose two fish to one another male may start forming a bubble net at top of his bowl, this is normal behavior. The female will often get stripes on her body and you will know she is ready to breed when she begins to swim as if dancing on her nose; following males’ every move. Her belly will be obviously filled with eggs. These are signs that she is ready and willing to breed.