Trio of cats

11/6/2024

Sammy, an orange cat, whose owners are Carol Palmer and Dan Chase, is known for getting the ‘zoomies.

Any cat owner knows what the zoomies entails. A cat sprints around the house at high speeds, climbs up and down furniture, sliding on slick floors while losing traction – all for no apparent reason. Cat owners know to get out of a cat’s way.

For Carol, she successfully avoided stepping on Sammy. But in the process, broke her ankle as she tripped and fell. “He knocked my leg out and I broke all the bones in my ankle. I had surgery and was off work for eight weeks,” she says. “The funny thing is, everyone asked if the cat was still alive. He has full right of way.”

Over the years, Carol usually shares her home with three cats. Carol’s daughter saw a post about foster kittens who were ready to be adopted. “I’d just lost an older cat, Charlie. I cried for two months,” she reflects. “We’ve always had three cats and we needed to share the love.”

Sammy and his sibling, Lucy were both adopted from a foster home through Furry Friends in 2022.

Before that, they fostered a feral cat, Jenny, for the first time. Jenny was afraid of everything, so they kept her contained in a home office. “I laid on the floor to pet her while she hid under the furniture. She had a rough life. She was on the streets and afraid of everything.”

Jenny displayed dominance to the other cat, Charlie. “We put bells on her so he could hear her coming,” she explains.

The three cats get along most of the time. She shakes a spray water bottle and the cats instantly behave. Carol has been a cat person her whole life, as did her mom.

“My mom had a lot of cat figurines that I inherited,” she says. “If the cats break something – I pick up the cats and hug them. There’s a lot of unconditional love.”

Carol dubs Sammy and Lucy ‘hooligans.’ “They look like they get in trouble. He’s big and dumb and clueless. She’s lean and smart,” Carol explains.

A funny incidence has now turned into a favorite game for Lucy. A water bottle cap was on the floor and Lucy kept batting it around. As Carol flicked the cap, Lucy returned the cap in her mouth, placing it back into a basket. She once popped the bottom of the basket, while all the lids sprung out. “Whenever she wants to play, she pops the lids out and they all scatter. We’ve had up to 40 bottle caps in the basket.”

Lucy is a ‘wanderer’ and has multiple hiding places. For weeks they couldn’t find where she hid. “We discovered her in the duct work down in the basement.”

In their spare time, Carol and Dan perform murder mystery shows and other theatrical events. Yet when the pair arrive home, their favorite spot is cuddling with the cats.           

“I’ve always been drawn to cats. I love how they feel, their interactions and playfulness,” Carol says. ♦