We have some really amazing adoption/Happy Tails/Success stories that deserve to be told and celebrated.
The first one, Sammy Davis, is the inspiration for, not only TBT/TFT, but this Facebook page. We have too many great stories to limit them to my private Facebook page.
Since he's still alive and thriving, that makes him 19 or 22...either of which is amazing!
Sammy's early history is a bit murky. He came to us as an owner surrender in June 2011. Recent information suggests he was found injured as a kitten, with broken bones in his face including the bones around his eye, rather than "simply" a birth defect to his right eye. And, we also learned he may be older than originally stated. We were told he was 12, but recently we learned he might have been 15. Since he's still alive and thriving, that makes him 19 or 22...either of which is amazing!
We joined his story when Sammy was brought to a local vet clinic because he could no longer stay with his owner. He'd been rescued as a sick/injured kitten, and over the years his human mom had gotten married to a man who was allergic. This made things difficult, but now they had a baby and - although I don't know if the baby was also allergic - the time had come where Sammy could no longer stay. As an older cat, his chances weren't good in the shelter/rescue environment in 2011. But, this vet knew us and called and before long Sammy was on his way to a new foster-to-adopt home. Sadly, the new home had a resident dog and it was not going to work long-term.
Sammy was brought to our adoption fairs. He was a big, huge, beautiful and friendly boy and people were charmed. But most people wanted kittens...or at least a younger cat. Luckily, not *all* people. I will let his mom, Adrienne, take over now:
We had lived in our apartment for a few years when the owner announced a new policy allowing cats. We immediately started looking for a rescue cat and I felt strongly about getting an older cat because I had read that they have a much harder time getting adopted. The plan was to get an older cat and love it fiercely for however many years it had left. I googled "Palo Alto Cat Rescue" and there was Sammy as a featured cat on the homepage of Caly's Cats. [ed: the forerunner of Helen's Haven] We immediately fell in love with his picture.
He was listed as 12 and we thought, ok if we adopt this cat we'll have maybe 3 years with him, and we were ok with that. We went to meet him at his foster house and his foster mom told us things weren't really working out between Sammy and her dog. We often laughed afterward because, although the foster mom clearly loved Sammy, there was a framed picture of her dog in the hall. No wonder Sammy wasn't happy! We came to learn that he is a cat who refuses to be second to anyone! He demands respect.
We brought Sammy home and were suddenly the new owners of a very self-possessed cat!.
He sauntered into our apartment like he owned the place. There were a few weeks of getting used to each other - I learned that a cat napping all the time doesn't mean they're dying. Sammy learned he couldn't pee on our bed. But eventually we all settled in and things have been great since.
We have now had Sammy for 7 years! And we recently found out that, according to vet records, he wasn't 12 when we got him but 15. This week we celebrated his 22nd birthday! He is a member of our family, our first child, and a favorite in our apartment complex where he often spends the afternoon dozing in the sun on our patio. He was incredibly patient when our son was born, letting him crawl all over him, and now loves to sit right next to him while he builds legos. He is slowing down in his extremely advanced age but is still such a joy to us. We are so thankful he is in our lives and hope we have 7 more years with him!"
Sammy got an amazing home. Part of what we "are about" is telling these stories, hoping to inspire others to take a chance on the older, the damaged, or the over-looked animal. They have so much love and joy to give, all they need is a chance from us.
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