Even though the veterinarian estimated that Sampson was 10 years old back in 2012, and quite possibly this was true. Still, he was quite active and healthy until the summer of 2019 when he suddenly fell ill and passed quickly.
Sampson was a big 15 pound cat and was named for his size and long hair! He maintained his weight and general well being his entire life. He is in better condition than he used to be before joining our colony. For a long time before joining us, he used to be the neighborhood bully. He made daily macho roaming rounds of finding a permanent colony. That was after his previous caregiver moved away and left him behind and intact to fend for himself. Even though he was a big cat, he was still a bit beat up in that he has some fight scars such as some chipping on the tips of his ears and nose.
After he was abandoned, not a day went by that his travels didn’t bring him to visit my colony. It wasn’t always a friendly visit, though, as he was an untouchable feral with attitude. He would sometimes get a mean streak and suddenly attack cats that were lazing around minding their own business. He met his match one day in my colony, which, at that time, included a family of five very close cats who were thrown from a moving vehicle on a cold winter’s day. This colony also included several other long-timers with no intention of relinquishing ownership of, or additions to, their domain without a fight.
Sampson made the mistake of picking a fight with a member of the family of five. He attacked JR, who was enjoying a sunning session in the cool grass. Before I could get to the cats to break up the fight, like a lightening bolt, JR’s mother, SnagglePuss, and all his siblings dashed to JR’s aid from all corners of the property. All of them pounced on top of Sampson at once, giving JR the opportunity to quickly scrambled from the bottom of the tangled ball of hissing and growling cats. He dashed for cover in the woods.
In a flash, Sampson also scrambled from the tangled cats and dashed for cover in the opposite direction and the family withdrew and paced to insure that they had restored balance to the colony once again. What a display of “cats helping cats” that was!
Sampson didn’t try that stunt again for a very long time. He would go several days before visiting the colony again and most of the time, when passing by, he didn’t even stop to interact with the colony.
Soon, as he passed by, I noticed that he was limping and looking scraggly. As the days passed, the limping worsened until he was no longer walking on the foot, and I finally started trying to “gentle” him enough to get a better look at his feet. Using food as my tool, I attracted him to meaty portions and petted him while he ate. This earned his trust enough that I was able to examine the feet. There was a bad cut or puncture on a paw pad. Needless to say, a vet visit was in order and within days I had tricked him and gotten him into a dog crate.
I took Sampson to the vet to have the foot examined and took the opportunity to have him neutered, tested for disease and vaccinated. Sampson’s tests were all negative and the veterinarian grafted some skin over the wound. After his surgery, he spent a couple of days in the shelter to recover and was released. He never wandered far from the property again. One habit I could never break him from is that he crossed the road daily to go lie in the culvert. Thankfully, in his final years, this habit stopped and he stayed close to the safety of his home. The danger of being hit by a car was finally behind us.
About a month after Sampson was neutered, a driver stopped in front of the house and commented on the beautiful cats. As it turned out, the true curiosity was about Sampson. The visitor had been in search of him, because he had suddenly stopped his regular habit of visiting their place where he created quite a ruckus with their cats. They were happy to have found that Sampson was safe and had a permanent home.
Sampson was finally accepted into the colony and became a content member of the group. He befriended Travis and loved to snuggle with him frequently in the shelter. Sampson happily came running as fast as he could with the rest of the colony at dinner time, and happily began entering the shelter on his own to have a meal and bed down for the evening in a climate controlled environment. During storms or when dogs and strangers would visit the property, he would run for the safety of his trusted shelter; his safe haven from harm.
We were very saddened the day we lost Sampson to old age, mid-summer 2019. You are forever in our hearts, Sammie! We will always remember how you finally trusted us enough to bless us with your special cuddles.