Sue and I have now "adopted" him and he lives with us and his new brother Jasper (our other cat) in Aigues where we live.
We took Harry to the vet's (in Mutxamiel) to have him neutered. They did this and several blood tests. They told us he has feline leukaemia and cat AIDS but was otherwise healthy. We were also told this is common in feral cats in Spain, with as many as 25% of stray cats being FIV (cat AIDS) positive. We were told that he may live for several years but that we should not take him home with our cat incase he passes on his FIV.
We were quite upset about this but did some surfing and found out that this advice of isolation is quite old fashioned and that there are many documented cases of FIV positive cats living with FIV negative cats and not passing on the virus. It requires a fairly major bite from the FIV positive cat to infect the other. We were sure that both Harry and Jasper were so laid back that they would not fight and so decided to take the risk.
We were a little concerned about a cough that Harry had so took Harry to another vet (this time in El Campello) and they started him on a series of injected anti-inflammatories which he had to have for 3 days so we kept him at the shop whilst he was having these. They also told us he had been shot! He has a small pellet in the nape of his neck, but they do not want to operate as it does not appear to be causing him problems.
Following his injections he came to live with us. He has settled down very well. He is getting very fat as he still has the "get it while you can" attitude to food he needed when he was a stray. He has has an occasional spat with his new brother involving each one batting the other with their paw, but not indication of any real bad feeling between them. Harry now wants to play about 2 hours out of 3 (Jasper is a little old for that amount but he joins in occasionally chasing and being chased by Harry).
We intend to spoil him rotten for however long we are blessed with him to make sure we make up for the tough life he had before we met him.
Sadly in September 2008 Harry died following a short illness. We miss him more than words can say. Even George and Jasper seem to be missing him too. Jasper has become very fussy since Harry's death and George does not play with his toys as much as he did. We have vowed not to have any more cats while living in Spain as the risk of FIV is too high and it breaks out hearts when we lose one of our pets. We will remember Harry as a playful home loving cat who enriched our lives immeasurably with love and joy.