OREGON – Sam has simply gone missing and his friends at Riverview Terrace Retirement Residence desperately want to locate him safe and sound.
Evelyne Day, who been a resident at Riverview for more than eight years was one of the first to notice the 13-year-old calico cat was missing because he visited her room most mornings.
“I just wondered where my constant visitor was,” she stated. “I always felt he was my friend and it’s very had not to know where he is or what has happened to him. I would hate to think something has happened to him.”
Sam has lived at the retirement residence on Brant Ave since he was adopted from the SPCA when he was just eight months old and has won the hearts of most of the people who have lived there in that time.
Mary Maguire, who is resident services manager explained that Sam is in good health and it’s unusual for him to wonder off of the property, so families and staff have been combing the area looking for him, but with no luck.
The residence is now offering a $100 reward for his return.
“He was the boss around here, I used to jokingly call him the owner because he would sit at the front and monitor everything and greet everyone who came in,” she stated.
She went on to say that many of the residents miss him dearly and animals are great for the residents. Many of the residents, including Day, fed the cat ice cream on Mondays and gave him cat treats whenever he visited their rooms.
“I think he knew the word ice cream, as soon as you said it was right up on the table waiting for his dish,” Day stated.
Sam also went missing back in December 2006 and was found across the street after a newspaper article asking for his return was published and Maguire is hoping for the same results this time around.
“He is such a nice cat, maybe someone just picked him up again thinking he was too nice to leave behind and they can bring him back,” she stated.
She went on to add that Sam is more like a dog than a cat who comes when he’s called.
Day and many of the other residents are concerned because she says he couldn’t survive as an outdoor cat.
“He didn’t have any kind of street smarts,” she stated.
Margaret Matthews, who is a fellow resident explained she was one of the first to alert staff to Sam’s disappearance when she left for her trailer because she always gives him treats and he didn’t come.
“I started asking questions and trying to find him,” she stated. “He’s a beautiful cat. I hope he’s alright.”
Anyone who may have information regarding Sam may contact Riverview Terrace at 519-756-4141 24 hours a day.
