Sampson, the eldest

I'm going to start off by introducing our cats from oldest to youngest.  The oldest happens to be my mother's favorite of the crew, Sampson.

Sampson is a tuxedo cat with amber eyes.  He's missing several teeth and his motions are a little stiff, so we assume that he's about ten years old, possibly older.  He showed up at our old house during the summer of 2006 with a heavily pregnant black female that we named "Delilah."  Delilah was semi-feral and the kittens that she bore were even more so, and they didn't stick around long.  Sampson hung around, however.  He was extremely friendly with a big, sociable purr.  By the time December came he'd worked his way into the house and become a permanent member of the family.  He was an unaltered tomcat who unfortunately loved to quarrel with other male cats that happened to stroll through the neighborhood, so after one particularly vicious fight we had him neutered.  Since then all he does is sleep, going outside only to use the big litter box (our yard).

The word "lunkhead" comes to mind when I think of Sampson.  He allows mockingbirds to divebomb him, and he has no idea how to catch mice, though he IS smart enough to take kills away from our other outdoor cat.  He is a superb companion who tolerates our other cats and the dogs, though one of the dogs likes to bully him.  Sampson does not take that sitting down, by the way.  He lashes out at the offending dog which usually causes a brawl involving the whole crowd of animals.  Yeah...that's always fun.  Aside from that Sampson is a big cozy fuzzball who keeps my mother company during the night.  She says he's very relaxing to have around, and I can certainly see why!