Sampson is the "middle cat" - aka four of seven. We went a couple of years with just the first three and then I made the fateful mistake of going out to lunch with M and M2 one afternoon. We stopped by a Pets Mart and looked at the animals - the cats being last. Sampson drew some attention from me, but not a lot - I was fixated on a cat next to him that had been rescued from some flooding and was really jumping around to get attention. However, M and M2 were more fixated on Sampson. I didn't have anything against Sampson, but he looked to be in pretty good shape, especially for a rescue cat and the one I looked at - well not so much. Before I go any further into Sampson's story, lets get a picture in here.
This was him a couple of days after we got him home. He had been to the groomer's and lost most of his hair (more about that in a moment) and had taken up residence in the linen closet. He would hide out there off and on for the first week or two before becoming acclimated to the house and the other cats.
But back to how we got Sampson. The three of us came home and we all decided we should rescue another cat since the ones we had were all doing so well. M and M2 headed back to Pets Mart to get one - I assumed they'd get the one I had looked at since the prior cat (Francis) had taken to M2 and M and M2 had picked her out, so I figured it was "my turn". However, a couple of hours later they showed up with Sampson. They said they had played with both of them and they felt Sampson was a better fit for us and that he needed us more than the other (younger cat). His back story was that he was found outside, starving to death, trying to chase a bug to eat - he obviously had been someone's cat at one point since he was de-clawed - which would have made it very difficult for him to find food and/or defend himself. On top of that he was still bone skinny, he was just incredibly furry and in need of a grooming. I couldn't argue with their logic and after a few minutes with him I knew they had made the right decision.
That decision was confirmed when we took him to the vet and then the groomers. He was bone skinny as we had determined, but once he was shaved - we had no choice due to the horrible matting - the tip of his tail had obviously been broken at some point and not healed properly and his back must have been hurt at some point since he has almost a camel hump on his back. Now, I don't want to paint a picture that he was decrepit or anything, he got around very well and loved to play "red dot" with the laser pointer as well as chase the toy hanging from the stick like Francis did. However, he was horribly timid and scared of literally any noise.
Above, I said that Sampson was the reason I started writing about the cats, it's also the hardest one I'll be writing. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the cats and Emily will always be extra special because J and I went and got her together; but Sampson - he's just so very special. I suppose part of it is because he is so timid and I see a lot of myself in him for that. There are other reasons, a couple of which I'll get to in a moment, but I had to take a break for a bit as just writing about him and thinking about what will be coming brought me to tears. I was going to get to this a bit further down, but he's been diagnosed with early stage renal failure - I believe that was the term - it was M who took him to his last vet visit where it happened and she doesn't always have the best recall, but bottom line is that with him it's not if, but when. I know the same can be said for all of our cats, and even all of us, but knowing that the process has started is just crushing me. So how about another picture of one of the happy times with him to try and get me back on track...
I know it's not a good picture, but it was one of Sampson and Emily - they both got into the window at the same time to watch the birds and suddenly this happened which was funny at the time since he's so timid and frankly for the most part (other than when Boots is messing with her), so is Emily. They ended up making nice and sharing the window a few seconds later.
So now that I'm perked up a bit, back to Sampson - well a second delay as Sampson decided he's hungry and as it turned out so were four other cats. That's another of his wonderful qualities. When he's hungry he will find somebody - often me since I'm here more than anybody else. He'll generally start out by nuzzling up against me quietly, but after a couple of minutes if that doesn't do it - then he'll start getting progressively louder until you go feed him. Now as I've said in other entries there is always dry food available, but he wants wet food - generally Fancy Feast. As he's aged he's even gotten picky about that and only likes certain flavors - preferably anything other than the "pate". One upside to him getting a bit older is that he's less likely to let the other cats push him away from a plate as they all seem to want to "plate hop" and early on he'd let the others push him away.
Another favorite thing about him is how he sleeps. If he happens to sleep on the floor or the bed it's often like this.
But more often for the last four years or so it's been like this.
I went out of town for something and when I came home I left the suitcase lying in front of the dresser that evening and he took up residence on it and has basically used that as his "bed" for the last four or five years. Now that's not to say he wouldn't sleep elsewhere - he often crashed in M's bed or on a pillow we keep in the hallway, but the significant majority of the time it was on that suitcase. So much so that the suitcase is still lying right there now and even though he's seldom used it the last couple of months we don't have the heart to move it.
Over the last few months he has started having more trouble getting around, he can't really make it up to M's bed anymore so he will crash on ours a lot or in the hallway either on that aforementioned pillow or behind my makeup mirror/jewelry box. He has taken to my desk chair as I mentioned above, so when I'd find him in it I'd go get a small folding chair that J and I keep in the bathroom for applying makeup. Finally M and M2 felt sorry for me and got me an identical desk chair. Thankfully my desk area is big enough for both - it's a big "U" - two desks put together, so now for the most part he lies beside me in that chair. I keep it rolled up next to the bed so he has an easier time getting in and out of it. In fact here's a picture from last night with him breaking in my new chair even before I got to it (he's since went back to the original one).
Turning around now, he's back up here, but he's lying on the floor at the moment - I'm guessing he'll be back in "his" chair in the next couple of minutes though. At this point I - and really all of us - are doing everything we can to spoil him. Not that he hasn't been spoiled since we've had him, but now it's different. I want every day he has left with us to be his best day ever. Lately that's included a couple of special things for him. He loves to go outside - both to just sit on the bench on the porch to sun, but to also ride in the car. He just loves that. We've been getting him outside more often both sitting on the bench and taking him for walks in the cat stroller. We need to take him for some more drives though as hopefully he'll enjoy that he always used to. The other special thing was a bit of a surprise - although it shouldn't have been. He loves going to be groomed, but lately when somebody goes into the bathroom he comes in and wants his head to be "washed". Just his head, he doesn't want his body wet, but getting some water on his head and then massaging him just makes him purr like there is no tomorrow. If one of us is taking a bath and not paying enough attention when he comes in, he'll start getting loud like he does when he's hungry - it's so cute.
What I think I'll miss the most when that ever so sad day comes is how he puts me to bed at night. He doesn't always do it, usually on the nights he doesn't it's because Emily beat him to it - but if she doesn't, he'll come get in bed right next to me and have me pet him. When his hair is longer I'll comb him instead. He has to lay just on the edge of the bed right near my shoulder - he won't lay anywhere else - and he usually stays about 5-10 minutes. When you pet/scratch him just right he'll start drooling all over the place. I'm not saying I like cat drool on my sheets and/or pillow - but it's worth it to know I'm making him happy. I will cherish every day we've had with each of our cats, but as much as I want to say all of the cats are equal - I can't do it - Sampson is just a little more special than the others.
- M
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