Cat Stories-The Cat That Started it All

This is the cat that started it all.  I don't know what her name was, or anything about her.  If I remember correctly, I was about 4-5 at the time, and had already been in several foster homes.  This picture has a note on the back that it was taken at a San Joaquin County facility. I remember this cat.  I remember really liking her, (she slept on my bed for a while, and that was nice because there was competition with the other kids) and then having her taken away because she supposedly had fleas.  I was heartbroken at the time.  Funny, the things you remember.  Anyway, she was the cat that started my lifelong love affair with cats and with rescuing cats.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Cat Rescue Story- Sammy

Cat Rescue Story- Sammy

This is Sammy.  I have photographs of  him somewhere, I'll just have to dig to get to them.  Sammy was a funny cat.  He was HUGE.    I don't even remember how we got him, but he fit in right away, and my longterm cat Tiffany fell in love with him.

At the time, we lived in Santa Barbara on California street, which is a steep hill.  We found out after a while that once we left to go to work, Sammy would run down the hill and spend all day at this Japanese family's place.  They had a cute little siamese, and a koi pond.  When Sammy heard our Volkswagon chugging up the hill, he'd run back up and try to pretend he'd been there all day long.  The Japanese family told us different!  They said he would spend all day playing with their little cat and the pond.

After we moved back to Fresno, Sammy got a urinary infection.  The vet thought it was a good idea to cut off the end of his penis to fix that???  We spent the next few weeks in and out of the vet office.  Eventually he got really sick, and I took him in before I went to work.  He died in his carrier at the vets- they hadn't even taken him out of it.  Tiffany was really heartbroken. That's when I found out about how vet offices send dead animals to rendering plants- because I tried to get his body, but they said they'd already frozen it (after a few hours?) and sent it off with their daily pickups to D and D Rendering plant.  Then I found out D and D Rendering makes sludge of vet animals (among other unsavoury things) and sells them to pet food companies.

Sammy was a great cat.  He was definitely a Romeo.  Sadly, he taught me that vets and all kinds of weird places send animals to be rendered and turned into pet food.  It is gross, but it is the truth.

Also, he was the only cat I have ever heard of in my life that farted out loud.  Ack!

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