Beloved cat, dubbed ‘Mayor of Solomons,' dies

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo After years of greeting guests to Carmen's Gallery in Solomons, the beloved Buckaroo died May 14 due to complications from an illness. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Solomons Island lost one of its most beloved citizens May 14, albeit one more furry and less chatty than typical.

Buckaroo, the feline oft spotted whisking passers-by into local shops and dubbed "Mayor of Solomons" by those who knew him, died when complications due to a seasonal illness forced his owner Carmen Nance Sanders into the decision to have him euthanized.

Sanders, who has owned Carmen's Gallery in Solomons for 27 years and rescued Buckaroo as a feral cat nearly 12 years ago, said "Roo" was a very social animal who, besides welcoming customers into Carmen's, would frequent neighboring shops like Caren's Solomons Style, The Harmon House Shops, Maertens Fine Jewelry and Gifts and Solomons Pier.

"He'd just go find out who was the busiest and that's where he was, so he could get the most attention," Sanders said. "Then, you know, he'd certainly come home to eat."

Buckaroo's social nature made him particularly good for business, as local merchants were often told by customers that they never would have entered the shop if it weren't for the cool cat on the front porch.

"If people were down on the sidewalk, and they saw him sitting up on the porch — he would sit right at the threshold of the door, you'd have to walk over him — just looking out, and they'd come up off the sidewalk and pet him," said Caren Pituck, owner of Caren's Solomons Style.

But in recent years the spring and summer months were particularly difficult for Buckaroo, who suffered from a seasonal illness that was originally diagnosed three years ago as irritable bowel syndrome and as cancer last year once every other possibility had been eliminated. But Buckaroo's sickness always receded in the fall, leaving the condition's identity unknown.

Treatments ranging from prednisone, acupuncture therapy and Chinese herbs did little to relieve Buckaroo's ailments, which required that he maintain a strict diet — one he would violate at every opportunity — that included Activia yogurt and Innovative Veterinary Diets.

But as Buckaroo's illness worsened with each coming spring, Sanders, who didn't know Buckaroo's true age but referred to him as "ageless," decided that enough was enough.

"We would do anything to keep that kitty around, but it got to the point that he just couldn't eat and he was dehydrated and we had to be putting fluids in him," Sanders said. "He put up with all that, but you have to think about the quality of life."

Buckaroo was just one of many cats Sanders, a self-professed animal lover who routinely allows the Patuxent Animal Welfare Society to hold pet adoptions in her gallery, has saved over the years.

"I don't have children and they give you unconditional love. I'm a nurturing person and it's easy to give love to animals that appreciate you so much," Sanders said before quipping, "It's too bad men can't be like that."

Sanders currently has four cats at home and another, Bella, at the gallery. Bella, by the way, is happy to be receiving all the attention once heaped on Buckaroo.

"He had quite a personality. He just wanted attention, wanted to be held all the time," said Joanne McMahon, who works at Caren's Solomons Style. "And he loves everybody, there's nobody he didn't like."

Not quite.

"The only thing he didn't like, he hated those big dogs," Sanders said. "I don't know what happened before he came here, but it had to do with big dogs and sirens. Every time a siren would go by he'd get up here and just howl like a dog."

Buckaroo proved as much during a recent encounter with a Great Dane that prompted a visit from animal control. But it wasn't the massive Danish hound authorities were concerned about — it was the feisty feline.

"The animal control person was going to take him," Sanders said.

That was until passing locals, including a former sheriff's deputy, informed the official of Buckaroo's mayoral status.

Buckaroo was spared imprisonment, but relegated to home detention for 10 days.

Buckaroo currently resides in a little patch of earth just outside Sanders's living room window and beyond the edge of a cemetery that borders Sanders's home. Frequent visits to Roo's gravesite and good memories have helped cushion the loss.

"If you believe in reincarnation, they keep sending you back until you get it right," Sanders said. "I think he had it right this time, so I think he might just be our little guardian angel up there at this point."

jnewman@somdnews.com