Samantha came into our lives right before our much loved dog Scott had to be put down. Sam was a feral cat who had a couple of kittens. We began to feed her at our back door not knowing that she was indeed a mother. She would eat the food that we left out for her and then scoot off. Little did we know that she was leaving us to feed her two kittens.
One day we watched her, with one of her kittens in tow, bring it to the back door and leave it for my wife and I to care for. The next day she left the second kitten and from then on she came every day to feed those kittens before running off into the yards near our home. After a while she simply stayed with us and she was very understanding as we found homes for both of her kittens. She knew though that we were not going to give her up. By then SCOTT could not walk any longer so when we put him outside he would just stand there. Sam would go and nudge him over, he would fall to a lying position and Sam would sit snuggled with him for the whole day as if she were watching over him. When it was finally time for Scott, Sam spent her entire time snuggling up to both my wife and I trying to make us feel better.
Well that was 12 years ago and last week we bought Sam to the vet thinking that she had some bad teeth that might need to be extracted. We left her at the vet at 8 am and got a call at 9:30 from the vet telling us that the xrays they had done showed that her chest cavity and her lungs had cancer. By 10:30 we were back to the vets office and after more tears than I ever thought a grown man could produce we ended Sam’s life. I feel guilty for not trying to do more. She did fight in my arms just before we did it trying to say “Dad I want to go home” In my heart I know what we did was right but I will never forget her pleas to just bring me home so I can die there. 12 years of bringing her on vacation to Myrtle Beach with us, 12 years of watching her sit on the woodpile in the back yard soaking up the sun.
12 years of her never ever crossing the street next to our house (little did we know that when they did these xrays they found that she had had a broken leg that had healed by itself probably from being hit by a car as a young kitten). I see her in her favorite hiding places and in her favorite sleeping places. I feel her presence in this house every where I look. Who says that men don’t cry? I have to be honest, I have cried everytime I have thought of her. She was my baby and I miss her something awful. I know that time heals all but that time sure seems a long ways away.
Thank you Sammy for giving us so much love.
| Samantha |
| Ron Pfeiffer |