Sammy, the Introoder Kitty!

Hear then, oh fearless reader, the story of Introoder Kitty; how he came to be Introoder Kitty, why he intruded, and what became of him!
Once upon a time, a few years back, the neighbors across the street (yes, the same neighbors whose house Gypsy Rose and Abracadabra were born at) got a divorce. The wife and younger kids moved out, leaving the husband and oldest son at the house. And their cat, Sammy.
Sammy seemed to have been a mostly IN-kitty; not being out much, especially not at night. Suddenly Sammy was OUT all the time, with little attention from humans, and very lonely and hungry. He quickly remembered the cats across the street--us--whom he had eaten food with sometimes, when no humans were about to say, "Shoo! Get lost!" to him.
Sammy had some serious problems, though, with climbing fences. Originally, everyone thought he had been declawed, as he seemed unable to climb fences. Recently discovering he had claws, however, nixed that idea. (It has been suggested that he might have had those Soft Paws-- little plastic "sheaths"--glued over his claws, and over time, they wore off.)
Sammy had an ingenious way of getting into our backyard. He would go through the next-door neighbor's iron gate, leap up on the air conditioning unit, leap up on the fence rail, and walk across to our yard, where he would leap down and help himself to our food.

Time passed, and the neighbor got remarried. Then they put their house up for sale. It took a long time to sell; close to a year, if not longer. They moved out several months before the house sold, however, leaving a vacant home. When they moved, they did not take Sammy with them.
Our mom, Misha, got pretty angry at this. However, Sammy was skittish, and no one could get near him. The former neighbors had only moved a few blocks away, and it was thought for a time that they had taken him with them, but he kept coming back to familiar territory.
The poor guy was hungry. The humans here kind of gave up on shooing him off; we cats, however, did NOT want him here, and would hiss and growl and chase him off. Sammy was not a fighting cat, instead, he would just cower there as he was being hissed and yowled at, and would finally run off, with one of us in tow, just to make sure.
Sometimes he would sneak in the garage, where our food bowls usually are. When he heard the back door open, though, he'd race off as fast as he could. A few times, he was shut in the garage with the rest of us at night. He would be scared to death, as all five of us cats would hiss and growl and chase him around.

Finally, on February 22nd of this year, our mom went out to the garage with Toss, to find some Pounce for him. As she walked in the garage, she noticed a wide pair of green eyes peering out from behind one of her car's tires. At first, she thought it might be Abra, as Abra is a bit skittish herself, and will hide if startled. But then she heard a long, low yowl of fear, and knew that it wasn't Abra, but Sammy the Introoder Kitty!
She set Toss down on her car and kicked the garage door shut behind her. Then she tried to get Sammy out by jumping up and down on her car bumper. He raced off and hid behind the toolchest. Misha got a broom and started rattling it on the other side of the toolchest. Toss, meanwhile, went over to the windowsill-perch and jumped up on it, to watch what was going on.
Sammy leapt out from behind the toolchest, ran under the car and across the garage floor, and leapt up in the windowsill, right by Toss. Toss pounced on Sammy, and wrestled with him for as long as it took Misha to dash across the garage and separate them.
She started petting Sammy. Although he was confused at first, he started purring, quite loudly, and was butting his head on her arm and face. He also bestowed a few licks on her chin and arms. That's when her Daddy came in the garage.
He came over carefully and started petting the shy but eager Sammy. Then he went and got the carrier. He said he was going to take him around the neighborhood, and make sure that it was Sammy, and not another cat. He asked around, and everyone said it was a stray. He tried to get in touch with the former neighbors, but were unable to. He did go see the brother of the man, and was basically told that "they don't want Sammy anymore."

Poor Sammy. He was such a sweet, affectionate kitty, and he wasn't wanted. Misha knew she couldn't keep him; as it was, there were four too many cats here (according to the meenmom), and NONE of us five cats liked him at all. Her Daddy took Sammy down to the house of a neighbor that is involved in rescuing animals and getting them adopted out at places like Petsmart. She called around and found a foster home for him. However, as they were trying to transfer him from our smaller cat carrier to her nice, big, dog-sized carrier, Sammy managed to push his way free, and took off running, back towards our house. The neighbor gave Daddy the big carrier and said, "the next time you get him, put him in here, then bring him over to my house."
The next day it rained buckets and buckets. We were all in the garage, or the house. No sign of Sammy. But the day after that, the 24th, Sammy showed up. Daddy stood in the kitchen, staring out the window for a good 20 minutes or so while Sammy showed up, ate the few pieces of food in our outside dish, then wandered in the garage to look for more food. Then Daddy sneaked out the back door and pulled the garage door shut. Misha had to go in there and capture Sammy, and bring him out to put him in the carrier.
It didn't take as long, and Sammy purred the instant Misha picked him up. She opened the door, and he started wiggling to get free--he did not try to scratch, claw, or bite at all (a good sign, we think)--but she had a tight grasp on him, and wouldn't let him go. She brought him to the carrier--which was door-side up to make things easier--and, with her Daddy's help, lowered Sammy into the big carrier. Right after that, is when these pictures were taken.
Daddy took Sammy back over to the "rescue" neighbor and she took the carrier in the house. He's at a foster home now, and we will hopefully hear that he's been adopted soon. The poor guy. After all he's been through, he deserves his One True Home.

Page created February 28, 1998