Shortly after John and I started seeing each other I was walking on the property by the old cow barn and chicken coop. I spotted this little black & white guy out of the corner of my eye. I ran into the house and grabbed a can of cat food and ran back out to the old chicken coop. It took all of two seconds to convince him to eat and let me pick him up. He was so sweet and gentle…until I stepped into the door of the house. This boy chomped down on my finger and did not let go. I ran into the bathroom and had to shake him off of my finger. Once he got that out of his system he was the best kitten.

John and I thought he was a little funny looking. His hair stuck out all over and he had big bat ears. He was so skinny at first. John had just adopted a 15 year old black kitty, B.C., and these two became fast friends. We could not agree on a name for this little tuxedo. Then one day John’s brother was visiting and asked “hey, where did that Shamu looking cat come from?”.

From that day on he was known as Shamu. John discovered that everytime Shamu would yawn, he would always yawn 5 times. So John started taking pictures of Shamu with his mouth open. It looks like he is roaring. When he was less than a year old he fell ill with an undiagnosed sickness. He lost a lot of weight and we had to give him antibiotics and appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medicine. It took several weeks but he recovered. For the first two years of his life he was the best big brother to all of the kittens that we fostered. Shamu is almost 4 years old now and be-u-ti-ful. He spends most of his time in the Cat Corral. He does however ask to come into the house every now and then. Shamu was truly the ugly duckling that turned into a beautiful swan.