We lived in the country then, and Samantha would take long walks with my basset hound and me through the wide open fields, often nuzzling against him and purring loudly when she did!
Samantha has moved with me three different times now, eventually adjusting to her surroundings. She is an amazing adaptable cat!
She was strictly an outside cat until two years ago. Her favorite activities were chasing moles, exploring the woods, climbing trees, and lounging around my garden areas.
When Ben was killed by a car in May of 1999, I moved Samantha inside permanently. Always fond of dogs, Samantha did not prefer the company of other cats. Although she and Ben were friends, it took her months to adjust to all of my feline friends and to the fact that she could only see the outside world from a screened in porch.
For months after I moved her inside, Samantha paced wildly, frantically jumped in the windows all the time, and frequently hissed and snarled at the other cats.
I worried so much about her, and I cried sometimes when I thought about how much I had enjoyed seeing her outside, taking naps in the mid-day sun and coming to greet me when my car pulled in the driveway. I wondered if I had been fair to her, plucking her away from that environment in the country she knew so well.
Samantha no longer paces hysterically or runs to every window. Although she occasionally hisses at the others, (mostly from her moodiness, I think. Samantha can be moody.) she lets the younger cats lick her sometimes, curl up on the couch with her, and even eat with her. She has adjusted so very well, and for a while, after I brought new cats in the house, she vocalized her dislike of the whole affair off and on for days, but everyone is a family here, and Samantha gradually accepted the newest members.
Samantha is always the first cat to get on the bed with me, and she now gets in my lap when I watch television or read.
