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Furry Angels We Love and Miss To visit Marble's family  please click on his photograph.  You'll find  wonderful  folk  art of  furry  friends  and be introduced to a very special family.   THE STORY OF BLIND MARBLES WHALEN What kind of  person  abandons a geriatric, blind cat?  Was Marbles really abandoned, or did he just  wander off and become separated  from  his owner? We'd like to think that was the case, but no one advertised for  him in the Lost and Found, nor did anyone respond to the FOUND  ad I'd placed  after he turned up in our backyard,  filthy  and nearly starved to death. At  first  I  thought he had cataracts, because his eyes were so milky. They reminded me of antique agate marbles; hence, his name was born.   I also thought he was gray until our vet bathed him, uncovering a beautiful white coat with only a  few  charcoal splotches.  After a thorough examination, it was determined that Marbles was suffering   from  a rare disease which was causing the fatty  tissue behind his eyes to disintegrate.  It was incurable, but certain things could be done to make Marbles more comfortable.  Because his eyes were sunken, the top and bottom eyelids were turning inward, causing hairs to rub on his eyeballs.  To rectify this condition, the vet performed  a surgery very similar to a human facelift.  He removed a bit of  skin above and below the eyes and then stitched the incisions. This procedure pulled  the lids away  from  the eyeballs, and Marbles' eye irritation was relieved.  Of  course, his blindness was irreversible, but he was now comfortable, happy and clean.  Within a  few  weeks, he gained  four  pounds, and we could no longer see his ribs.  He'd been given a new lease on life, and he just  blossomed. It was interesting to watch him  figure  out his new environment.  His head would sway from  side to side until his whiskers came into contact with an obstacle, and then he'd simply veer away and plug  on until he was able to get where he wanted to go.   He started to tap his foot,  and we finally  figured  out that he was actually counting his steps.  Once everything was counted off,  his perimeters  and routes were established, and he got around so well that I often  forgot  he was blind. Because of  his trusting and mellow nature, he served as a pet therapy animal at one of  the local convalescent homes. He loved to sink into a soft lap and soak up the pets, and all the patients  loved him.  Many people  commented how inspiring it was to observe how effectively Marbles coped with his disability. Another thing Marbles really tuned into was music.  I am a violinist, and whenever I practiced, Marbles would appear, circling the base of  my chair, until I picked  him up and let him settle into my lap.  He loved music of all kinds, but he was absolutely hypnotized by Mozart. No matter where he was in the house, he would always manage to find his spot in  front  of  the stereo speakers when anything by Mozart was playing. We were fortunate  to share four  years  with this wonderful angel.  Unfortunately, he developed a melanoma on one of  his eyeballs a  few  months ago.  Our vet removed the eye, but we soon discovered that the cancer had spread.  I've always believed that we should be as kind to our animals in death as we are to them in life, and my husband and I chose to end his suffering.  He was approximately 16 years  old when he died.  Words cannot express how much we miss him.  His