June 27, 2008

• How We Beacame The Sam’s Peeps, Part Three: Cat With a Past

  In February 2001, Sam had his first checkup. Of course, we took him to Dr. Kris.

  We got him his own cat carrier by then, the standard plastic model in a “manly” khaki color; I folded up his favorite (old, worn out) towel and placed it in there. I guess I thought he’d be more apt to cooperate in getting into “The Box” if his towel was in there. I was naive!

  After nearly twenty minutes of me chasing Speedy Sam around, catching him and trying to coax him gently into the carrier and then trying to shove him in… Daddy took over. Got Sam into his carrier in about 30 seconds… don’t ask me how. To this day, I am mystified.  Daddy gives his furry little butt the tiniest of shoves and says, “Get in, Sam”, and he goes right in. He doesn’t like it, but he goes right in.

  So we took him in his new carrier with his favorite towel and a little stuffed mouse to see Dr. Kris.

  We sat his carrier down on a table in the waiting room. I left him with Daddy to “check him in” at the front desk. I don’t know exactly what I expected; I guess I just figured they’d acknowledge that we were there, maybe ask us to have a seat, tell us the doctor would be with us in a minute or two.

  We didn’t expect the girls at the front desk to stop everything they were doing to come out to the waiting room and visit with The Sam. He was released from “The Box” and he allowed the two young ladies to hug him and pet him, scratch him behind the ears, give him big loud kisses and generally fawn all over him.

  The Daddy and I exchanged looks over their heads. The looks exchanged said the same thing: “What the f—???” And we smiled.  “Our cat’s a rock star,” I thought to myself.

  So, Dr. Kris came out and we all went into an examination room. He examined Sam and we chatted while he was at it.

  He told us “the weirdest thing happened, a couple of weeks ago…”

  The day before we met Sam, they had an open adoption event at that clinic. Apparently, there was a couple there that said they were interested in adopting Sam (then only known as the big gray pile of fur), but they had to think about it.

  That was November 2000.

  That couple called Dr. Kris’s clinic at the end of January 2001to say they were ready “to pick their cat up”.

  The doctor told them he was sorry, but they don’t keep kittens there that long; they try to adopt them out ASAP, and that that kitten had been adopted already.

  The couple then requested our name and phone number, because they wanted to BUY the cat off of us. He very politely told them he could not do that.

  He was amazed that they would expect the cat to still be there after about three months!

  We were amazed that they didn’t snap him right up on the spot.

  Sam only seemed amazed at how long he had to have a thermometer in his butt.

  I said, “Well, he IS a great cat. Very different, personality-wise.”

  Dr. Kris then proceeded to tell us that if we had not adopted him, they were planning on keeping the Sam there at the clinic…because everyone there loved him, and because he had a calming effect on the other animals there, especially the dogs.  They would let him loose in the kennel downstairs, and he would walk from cage to cage, “talking” to all of the other animals, and they would stop barking and whimpering. We told the doctor how our kitty liked to play “fetch”, and he was not surprised at all, considering all of the time he spent with dogs since his birth; he was probably part of their play-times.

  The doctor then told us more about Sam’s origins:

  He was born in the clinic. His mother was a stray cat that someone found and originally brought to a no-kill shelter. Someone from the shelter brought her to Dr. Kris’s clinic to give birth.  She had three kittens, two boys and a girl.  From the time Sam was weaned (end of August 2000, maybe September?), he explored the kennel and made friends…mostly dogs.

  At the open adoption in November 2000, Sam’s mother, brother and sister were all adopted out.  Sam was the last kitten standing.  The office staff and Dr. Kris talked about keeping him on. They knew we would be coming in the next day to pick up Jag’s ashes and so decided to ask us first if we’d like to adopt the pile of fur.

  We took Sam home that day, feeling luckier than ever to have “found” him.

  We let him out of “The Box” and he gave us both head-butts. Climbed all over our laps, purring. We sat closer together. Bumped heads with The Sam and with one another. We talked to Sam about “that crazy couple”, wondering how they could resist his charms, wondering what took them so long to call back.  We wondered how ANYONE could not instantly fall in love with this gray and white pile of fur. We promised him we would always take good care of him.

  We knew for sure we were The Sam’s Peeps.

   

  • 2:39 pm
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