Life Span: 2009 - 2019 (9 years)
Gotcha Day: 09/21/2009
Breed: American Shorthair
Pattern: Lynx Point
Fur: Cream and brown
Eye Colour: Blue
Temperament: Sweet, easy going, loving, friendly
Nicknames: Arfy, Arf Arf, Arfzilla, Avocado (the good fat), Zilla Thrilla
Namesake: Arthas Menethil from the Warcraft series

Before my parents' neighbourhood got involved with TNR, there was an abundance of street cats giving birth. Arthas was born in my parents' backyard around June of 2009. I was immediately smitten with him because I had never seen a street cat with such unique colouring.

Before I went to work one day in September, my sister and mother were freaking out because they thought Arfy got hit by my dad weed whacking the yard. I went to work while my sister and J rushed Arthas to the emergency vet (where he purred for the entire car ride). Diagnosis: HE WAS WET. The fur on his spine was darkened from water, not blood. Whoops.

Since he had been to a vet and got some ointment for an eye infection, my parents decided to let me keep him as one of my 22nd birthday presents.

We had 9 wonderful years together before he threw a blood clot into his saddle and became paralyzed. I made the humane decision to have him euthanized rather than do an experimental treatment that had a large margin of failure.

Life Span: 2010 - 2026 (16 years)
Gotcha Day: 10/03/2010
Breed: American Shorthair
Pattern: Tabby
Fur: Grey and brown
Eye Colour: Green
Temperament: Intelligent, loyal, independent
Nicknames: Mama Moo, Mara, Marmar, Moodles, Moo Moo, Moozy, Samoodles, Toothless
Namesake: Justicar Samara from the Mass Effect series

October 3rd is J's birthday so I had asked my boss for the day off; my request was denied. I was the opening key carrier for that Sunday, so I arrived before 11 and began my work day like usual. Not too long after the store opened, I had a customer approach me. "Whose red car is that?", she asked. Since it was my car, I suspiciously answered "It's mine, what's up?" "Oh, not much, it's just meowing." Record scratch.

I left my coworker in charge of the store, which was empty sans this customer and her daughter. We went outside to where I was parked and yup, my car sure as hell was meowing. Her daughter was elementary aged, so the customer suggested that she might be able to reach the kitten better. In hindsight, this was probably a horrible idea, but the girl was successful in extracting the kitten from my car's undercarriage and didn't hurt herself. She handed it to me. I thanked them both profusely for their help because I think I would have died if I started my car with a kitten in the engine.

I asked the family if they wanted a kitten, the mother politely declined. My coworker checked them out while I held the kitten in my lap and called my dad to come pick it up.

At lunch, I went over to J's mom's house. She had made him chocolate cake, so we talked about my crazy day over cake. The cat distribution system said "hey, here's a gift since you didn't get to spend the whole day together." I always referred to Samara as "J's birthday present."

Samara had stomatitis, so she had surgery in 2020 to remove all of her teeth besides her two top and bottom canines. Eventually, 3/4 of the canines fell out on their own, leaving her with a single tooth. The surgery was successful and gave her quality of life back.

She was diagnosed with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in April 2026 and we got a full month with her after diagnosis. OSCC is an extremely aggressive cancer that is more or less treatment resistant, so we chose to give her pallative care. Samara hated leaving her safe space, so we hired a vet with a in-home euthanasia practice to help her over the rainbow bridge once the tumour grew to the point of misery.