CHARLESTON, S.C. — After Sam Sam the Kittycat Man disappeared 11 years ago, Jennifer Ravenel couldn't hold another cat in her lap. Her heart never could overcome the loss of that feral kitten she had rescued from the crook of a tree on her South Carolina farm.
But Sam is now back in Ravenel's lap, thanks to her decision to have a microchip put in him.
Charleston County Animal Control found Sam this month, skinny and feeding off scraps from a feral colony less than a mile from Ravenel's home. His microchip was scanned, and Ravenel got a nearly unbelievable phone call.
“I really thought y’all were playing a prank on me, because it couldn’t be possible. But this is a miracle in itself,” Ravenel told workers at the Charleston Animal Society.
They guided Ravenel to a room where Sam was in a cage. She cried as soon as she saw him.
“Sam Sam the Kittycat Man! I’m missed you so much! 11 years!” she said.
Once everyone was sure Sam was OK, Ravenel got to hold her lap kitty again. She squeezed him, telling him that he was her boy and remarking how skinny he was.
“I haven’t held a cat since he left — 11 years — because it broke my heart. To feel his little heartbeat in there, oh, gosh, it’s the craziest thing that has ever happened to me,” Ravenel said in a video provided by the Animal Society.
Sam weighed probably 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) when he disappeared and half that when he was found, said Kay Hyman, a spokesperson for the Animal Society.
Ravenel initially found Sam in a feral colony after hearing quiet meows from a crook in a tree. He sat in her lap and followed her around the farm.
But one day a dog came along and spooked Sam, and she couldn't find him.
“I searched and searched the woods. I asked everybody that lived around us, and nobody saw him. But he's a survivor,” Ravenel told society workers as she petted her now-old friend.
The reunion would have been impossible without the microchip implanted just under Sam's skin. The Animal Society said it shows how important it is to have that kind of permanent identification for pets.
Ravenel told the shelter that Sam is spending most of his time at the foot of her bed and does not want to go back outside.