April 21, 2006

Pet of the Month

Spamelot and Sami Squirrel

By Michelle Hecht
Staff Writer

Spamelot and Sami Squirrel are not the names of characters on a Saturday morning cartoon, but they provide just as much amusement for the Calio family.

Spamelot enjoys a rare day of sunshine in the Calio's yard.

Playtime for the 10-month-old kittens starts at 7 a.m. and they let everyone know.

“You’ll hear them,” said Lawralei Calio. “It’s so funny because Squirrel is such a lightweight kitty ... but she’s a lead foot. You can hear her go through the kitchen and I know who it is.”

The kittens, born a week apart to two different feral mothers, also like to play chase with toy furry mice, which Calio throws. They enjoy the plastic ring off a gallon of milk, as well.

“That’s a good toy,” she said.

Chasing bugs is another favorite pastime for the excited pair, but maybe not so fun for their owners.

“It’s so funny, Spam, bless her little furry heart, brought me a cockroach,” said Calio. “Of course, Squirrel wanted to know what’s going on. She came and just wasn’t paying attention and stepped on its leg. She’s just standing there. They had fun with that, batting it around and then finally Spam ate it.”

Sami Squirrel lounges on the Calio's steps shaded from the late afternoon sun. Photos by Michelle Hecht.

Their zany antics began when they were three or four months old. When Calio walked her young children – Katheryn, JoSophia and Antonino – to school, Spamelot and Sami Squirrel insisted on joining them.

“I’d have to run back and shoo them back in,” said Calio, explaining how the cats would walk a block and a half before turning around. “Or I’d throw a rock over there so they’d chase that rock and then I’d run. I am so glad that phase is over.”

The cats have a special attachment to their human family, each seeming to have a preference over a different member. According to Calio, Sami Squirrel is the girls’ cat, sleeping with them at night.

“The girls just scoop up Squirrel and haul her around,” she said. “Poor cat, because they’re just manhandling her. But she has no problem with it.”

If she did have a problem, the black and white cat would not be able to say so. Sami Squirrel does not have a voice. A healthy cat with no medical condition, she’s just not able to meow. However, watching her mouth, the family can tell if she tries to talk.

While the girls have Sami Squirrel, Calio considers Spamelot her cat. The gray tiger-striped feline is reminiscent of a 26-year-old manx named Max she had that died a few years ago.

“Spam reminds me a lot of him and I think she knows that, so that’s why she’s my special kitty,” she said.

Spamelot likes to spend the evenings sitting in her lap. Her semi-feral mother, a two-and-a-half-year-old tuxedo cat named Yo-Yo, will come around when it’s quiet and let Calio pet her.

“She’ll yap at me until I pet her,” Calio said. “She won’t jump on my lap, but she’ll sit there and meow at me. I’ve gotten her calmed down enough to where she’ll come in at night and she’s like ‘pet me, pet me.’”

Through the help of the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation (NARF), Calio was able to trap Yo-Yo and get her spayed. She also trapped several kittens last summer, getting them all adopted through the Humane Society except for the two she decided to keep.

Sami Squirrel was never actually trapped; she just wandered in the family’s door one day and Calio quickly closed it behind her.

“Something in them said those are the cats I want,” she said, explaining why she took Spamelot and Sami Squirrel as her own. “Something inside of me spoke to something inside of them. I just knew.”

Calio continues to take care of the stray cats that call her house, and the surrounding residences, their home. They all have names and are one big family.

“I’ve had cats since I was five and I couldn’t imagine not having cats,” she said.