As appeared in the Great Falls Tribune, February 14, 2000.

After 5 months, cat reunited with family

By Tribune Staff

Thirteen years ago this month, David Nelson gave Debra, his bride to be, an early wedding gift-a Siamese cat named Sam.

Their kids, Katie, now 11, and Josh, 9, grew up with Sam, who was declawed and lived the good life of an indoor cat.

But come August, he came up missing. He'd been sick, and as old as he was, the Nelsons assumed the inevitable had happened - Sam had run away to die.

"We went through the grieving process," Debra said.

In January, Nora Seekins, owner of Skyline Veterinary Clinic, found a cat in the clinics yard trying to drink from a horse trough. ""He was really scared, and skin and bones," she said.

Dr. Robert J. Blair, a Skyline vet, gave the cat the once-over and found out that it was old and very dehydrated.

Seekins thought it probably had been dumped by its owner, but she notified the Humane Society and placed an ad in the newspaper, just in case the cat was truly lost.

It was Jan. 26, and up on Malmstrom Air Force Base, David Nelson happened to read the ad and called Debra. "He left a message telling me the cat in the ad sounded like ours," she said. But she was skeptical.

After all, Sam was nearly 13, rarely went outside, was terribly shy and had been gone for five months - all in all, a pretty grim situation.

"He was an indoor cat, he'd been declawed. We lived on base, and Skyline is across the river and up the hill," she reasoned.

Debra went out to Skyline to check it out. When they brought the bony old cat, "I burst into tears. I said 'Oh my God, it's my cat. He found his vet.'"

Turns out the folks at Skyline had treated Sam just before he ran away.

Debra thinks Sam somehow wandered to Skyline and lingered in the yard for a drink because it was familiar. The family thinks someone took care of him for a while before he ran away again, or was turned loose.

It doesn't matter. He's back. "It was a good early Valentine and a late Christmas present," Josh said.

"I'd known the cat since I was born," Katie said. "I didn't think we were going to see him again."

"I thought he died because of how cold it was, I didn't know if he was going to survive," Josh added.

Now Sam just rummages through the garbage, a nasty habit he picked up in his five-month odyssey, indifferent to all the fuss.