Frank by David Schnell / Dave

My friend, my “Samson”
My friend Frank came into my life in August, 2000. At the time, I was working at a pet store called Petco in Santa Monica, California. It was the practice of the store to allow pet adoption groups to come in on weekends and bring pets to be adopted. One of these groups was called Cat Crossing, which, of course, only adopted cats.

One Sunday, Cat Crossing was there. Someone came in to give them a cat to be adopted. However, all of the volunteers had their limit, they could not take in one more cat. So, this person just left the cat at the store. We kept him in a cage in the grooming room. We each took turns looking in on him and giving him food. I checked him out and found him to be incredibly cute and loving. He certainly did not deserve to be just dumped off like that! One of my co-workers called him “Samson”, which he certainly looked like. Luckily, one of the employees took him.

She kept him for a couple of days, but decided that she could not keep him, owing to conflicts with a roommate or living arrangements. I said that if she could not find someone else, that I would take him. This I did two days later. He was a calm and quiet cat riding on the bus. But, little did I realize at the time was that he could not meow!

When we arrived home, he quickly acclimated to the surroundings and to the two other cats in my life, Fred and Kathy. He certainly got along with everyone! Even though he looked like a “Samson”, I decided to name him “Frank” in honor of my great-uncle Frances Postill.

At first, Frank was content to stay in. He loved my pillow. We frequently had to share it when I wanted to sleep. I usually got the smallest part! He went through periods of having different places that he preferred to sleep. First it was my pillow. Then, it was high up on top of a cabinet. Then, it was under the covers
on top of me. Then, on the table.

He became just as mischievous as any other cat, climbing up to the top of shelves to survey his domain. But, Frank quickly decided to be an outdoor cat. The other cats taught him how to jump up to get to the roof of our apartment building, which they all loved to do. He also loved to go to the neighbor’s across the alley. They had high wooden fences and a large tree. Frank loved to climb those fences and the tree. I will never forget the time I came home from work and walking down our courtyard, seeing him sitting on top of the beam of the wooden fence, surveying his domain. Another time, I discovered him up the big tree. He always seemed to get down by himself.

Frank and I quickly bonded with him sleeping with me. He often demanded to get under the covers and ending up giving me scratches in the process of climbing on top of me. Then, one day, he started doing another funny thing. I was at my computer and he just jumped up and climbed up on my shoulders and wrapped himself around my neck! I had seen this phenomena in a book “The Cat Upon My Shoulders”, but had never happened to me before, until then. Then, there was the day when I was sitting on the toilet. Frank came in, jumped up on the sink and just crawled upon my shoulders! There were also the times, when I was bent over to pick up something and boom,
he was right on top of me.

One day, I came home with doughnuts. I opened the package and Frank was all over me! I thought “This can’t be right.” But, I gave him a little bit of it and he snarfed it right down! Doughnuts were his favorite! I gave him just the plain kind of cake doughnuts. Luckily, he never ate more
that a half of one.

Frank was a handsome and beautiful cat. I will always remember his cute little tongue sticking out often as I petted him. He was full of love and was refilled with love. He liked people and other cats, which there were many to enjoy living here. Of course there was the other member of our family, Fred, who really liked Frank. When they came into contact, Fred would nuzzle up to Frank. there were also the two cats next door, Luna and Zero. Zero seemed to like Frank.
Luna did not like any being.

What gave me great joy was the many times that I would come home from work, and there would be Frank to greet me. He did not do this at first. It was a while before he became a predominantly outdoor cat. Sometimes, I would be greeted by both Fred and Frank! I got into the habit of rewarding them with tuna when I came home. That helped to keep them close and to assure me that
they were safe.

Then, in the summer of 2004 Frank started to lose weight rapidly and he would not groom himself. He would get recurring eye infections. He was a mess. I took him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with the feline version of H.I.V. Perhaps coming from one of the feral cats at the end of the block, unless he contracted it before I got him. We gave him Interferon regularly, but it did not stop the disease. His eyes cleared up, but he continued to lose weight. He became more and more fussy about eating. He would eat, but less and less. Then, on Monday October 25, Frank suddenly had trouble walking. He could not jump anymore. He would vomit. Then he lost control
of his bowels on Wednesday, October 27.

On his last day, it was alternately sunny and cloudy. It had rained hard the night before. But, on this morning, it cleared up. Frank got to see the rain and to enjoy the sunshine, both of the life sustaining things we have.

We cuddled together one more time. He lay with his body next my ear. I could hear his heartbeat and his faint purring at the same time! Quite a change when I could hear his purr a foot away while he stood of my chest as I petted him. Later, he climbed up upon my shoulders twice, just as he had done the previous years, but had stopped doing so. I carried him around the area where we live to show him one last time his favorite places. The big tree across the alley, the fence that he sat upon, the neighbor’s back yard. I indulged him in his favorite drink, MILK. We enjoyed a long nap together, cuddling. Then, I took him to the VCA Animal Hospital. At 5:20 p.m., I took a last look into his wonderful green eyes and said to say “Hi” to Kathy and that I would see him at The Rainbow Bridge, then I said goodbye.

Although he was small, he filled the world with love and the world was a greater place for it.

Goodbye, my friend, my “Samson”. Say hello to Kathy, Kunta-Kitty, Bean, Gypsy, Joe, P.D., and both Morrises Someday I will see you at The Rainbow Bridge.

 

So long, cuddle buddy,