Sammy

WARNING: this post is little depressing.

As a senior in highschool, I acquired an orange cat named Sammy. My mom's friend had taken in Sammy when her pastor had moved away, but the female cat of the house, Mittens, dominated the household. Sammy ended up staying in the basement. He was free to come upstairs whenever he desired, but would only venture upstairs at night.

I remember sleeping over at her house when he was there - he would always come upstairs and sleep on my chest. I thought he was the sweetest cat in the world - and he really was.

We brought Sammy to our house the Christmas of '04. I was so excited to have a cat - the only cat I had ever had was in childhood. His name was Bustafer (I really don't know how to spell that - it was from the musical Cats). My mother told me that we had to get rid of him b/c I was allergic to him. I found out a couple of years ago (from my dad) that she got rid of him simply b/c he was a kitten, climbing on things, tearing things up. I was never allergic to cats, something I believed until I was 21. We won't digress into the multitude of my mother's lies right now.

Unfortunately, life for Sammy wasn't much better at our house than it was for him at Pam's. My mother insisted that he be kept down in the basement b/c of the litterbox and for fear that he'd scratch the furniture. I was not comfortable in basements, so I would bring him up to my room when she wasn't looking. I fought with her often, b/c although I knew little about cats, I knew it was wrong to keep ANY animal away from loving contact with other animals, including us humans. Happily, I found out later that my sister, in attempt to get away from our overbearing mother, spent a lot of time down in the basement, watching television. Sammy was the kind of cat that would push himself onto your lap, forcing attention from you. She gave him a lot of affection during that time.

We only had Sammy for a few months. One night, he started crying, and I knew something was wrong. You know how you know instinctually when something is really wrong? Well, I knew. I told my mother, "There is something wrong wth Sammy. He's crying - we need to take him to the vet!" But she, of course, said that he would be fine, and that maybe we'd take him in the morning if he was still crying.

We watched the movie Hotel Rwanda that night. Not only was the movie horribly heart-wrenching, but I was worried about Sammy the whole time while watching it. As much as I tried to convey to my mother that there was something wrong with Sammy, she just wouldn't listen. As soon as the movie was over, I ran downstairs to bring Sammy up to my room for the night. But he was already dead. He died in the litterbox.

I remember screaming, running away, hiding in the bathroom for the rest of the night. My uncle came to take his body away.

It's hard losing a beloved animal, but even harder when you have an emotionally abusive mother, an absent family, your childhood dog was put to sleep a year ago, your best friend taken from you - in essence, when you have no one, it's really difficult to deal with another loss. Especially of such a loving animal as Sammy was. He deserved better.

I have no pictures of Sammy.

The cat above is a stuffed cat filled with those tiny beads - you know the pillows that are so fun to squish? I saw him in Bed Bath and Beyond and had to have him as he reminded me of Sammy. This stuffed cat went through a lot of squishing and being cried upon for a few years. He then spent a couple years with my baby sister. Recently, however, I took him back with me, b/c Brianna has way too many stuffed animals, as many little kids do. And now Smidge likes to lay on him. I'll have to get a picture of that - it's cute.

Although I've learned from Sammy's life, he deserved so much more. I now research everything. I try to provide the best possible life for my pets. I don't let other people make decisions for me, and I certainly go with my instincts.

I wish I believed in some sort of afterlife - it would be so much easier picturing Sammy in some sort of Spirit world, chasing the butterflies... Well, who knows? Maybe he is.

Kitty Crib

While at the thrift store, I saw this little bed. I knew immediately that I had to buy it for my cats. I was just going to put a fleece blanket in it, but then realized that those cardboard scratching things would fit perfectly! The blanket underneath is just keep it from slipping. The bed is the new favorite spot!

Domino on the baby-doll bed, while Mellie looks on from my bed. My bed is on the floor - I had a bad experience with the ET movie as a kid. A relative had gifted my sister and I comforter sets for Christmas when I was about four or five. My sister got cute kittens. I got monsters. No lie. These things had three eyes, four arms, antennae, etc. They were weird enough, but after ET, every time I hopped into bed, I thought of scary ET and his nasty fingers reaching up from under my bed to grab me and take me to the underworld with him. So I would lie perfectly still in the middle of the bed, hoping his hands couldn't reach me, asking my sister to talk to me until I fell asleep. Everyone else I've told laughs, saying, "But ET is so cute!" Uh, no. He wanted to eat me when I was little. Not cute. So now, my bed is on the floor. No more ET. He got squashed.

Domino says something unintelligible.

Mellie steals the bed from Noms...

And claims it, of course. Mellie thinks everything belongs to her. And it does, because she pushes everyone out of her way to get her way. She even smacks me when she wants my food! Naughty!