Samuel, an affectionate, black-and-white kitty, had an extremely hard life. When rescuers found him stuffed in a cat carrier, nobody thought he would survive.
Now, many people use cat carriers to transport their pets— but Samuel had been trapped in this carrier for most of his 2-year-old life.
When rescuers found the poor cat, he was extremely underweight and his eyes were swollen shut with mange. His skin was also flaking, and he had pressure wounds from being locked up.
Rescuers grabbed the sickly cat and rushed him to BARC, a municipal shelter in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, with his long list of medical issues, Samuel was to be euthanized once his holding period was up.
Samuel had lacked socialization while he was confined, but the kitty was still naturally affectionate.
Hours before Samuel was scheduled to be euthanized, a shelter employee took pity on the sweet cat, posting his photo online.
Then, she sat and waited, hoping somebody would save his life.
In a coincidental twist of fate, vet tech Leslie Raines was home sick from work that day, when she stumbled across Samuel’s picture.
“Someone had posted a picture of a really skinny cat that had tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV),” Leslie told The Dodo.
“I knew that wouldn’t give him a good start at trying to get out of the shelter, and he just looked so pathetic.”
“So, I posted to some of the rescue groups saying that if I could get backing, I would foster him.”
Leslie received support from the Save A Purrfect Cat Rescue, and one of her clients at the vet clinic agreed to go pick Samuel up. “She honestly thought he was going to die when he was in the car,” Leslie recalled. “He was in such bad shape.”
When Samuel got to the clinic, Leslie immediately began treating his medical conditions and getting him cleaned up.
“I promise you there’s a beautiful cat under here, and we are going to find him,” she said.
As mentioned, Samuel’s eyes were almost completely closed over as a result of his mange. PetMd says mange is more common in dogs but can also occur in cats. There are a few different types of mange, but overall, it was the condition that caused Samuel’s “patchy hair loss” and “moth-eaten appearance to the skin.”
After spending nearly 2 years in a cat carrier, Samuel was apprehensive about exploring the world. With Leslie’s medical care and emotional support, however, he started to come out of his shell.
Although Samuel had no intentions of returning to confinement, he still derived comfort from carriers and loved perching on their tops.
Samuel also still had a few psychological traumas to deal with. “His shadow surprised him every time he saw it, and his reflection in glass windows freaked him out— he was very, very suspicious of it,” Leslie said.
Still, with Leslie’s help Samuel became affectionate, fluffy, and strong— and soon it was time to find him the purrfect forever home.
Leslie met with a bunch of potential adopters, but whenever Samuel saw them, he was completely terrified. The poor cat had learned to trust Leslie but thought the strangers were very scary. Whenever a family came to meet him, he’d run away and hide.
The cat disliked meeting potential adopters— but all that changed when he met Bryan.
A man named Bryan Smith had come across Samuel’s photo online. When he saw Samuel, it reminded him of his old Maine Coon that had been lost to cancer the previous year. Bryan soon made arrangements with Leslie to come meet Samuel, and the moment they laid eyes on each other, they immediately fell in love.
“The day I met Bryan, we brought him [Samuel] up to the clinic, and Bryan just sat down on the floor next to the kennel and started talking to him.”
“The look on Samuel’s face was completely different than it had ever been— he just relaxed.”
“Bryan just had a calm demeanor and was OK with moving slowly.”
Leslie was impressed by Bryan’s ability to soothe Samuel, but she still wasn’t convinced he was the right owner until the kitty gave her a sign.
“At one point, [Samuel] came over and mewed at me, and then he walked over to Bryan. It was if he was telling me, ‘This is it.”
In just one year, Leslie managed to bring Samuel, the poor, sick, kitty back from the brink of death and into a safe and loving home.
The kitty spends most of his time jumping on furniture, and he happily makes biscuits whenever Bryan calls him a ‘good boy’.
And now that he’s comfortable, Samuel even enjoys looking out the window at things outside— with his reflection staring back.
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