Curious-looking Sam has racked up 150,000 Instagram followers³ and 530,000 likes on Facebook since bursting onto the scene in 2012. 

 

Owner Amanda Collado, 26, from New York, has been handling the overwhelming amount of requests from fans and media for the past three years. 

 

She said: 'There have definitely been situations where I have had to ignore friends, family or work in order to take the time to do Sam's posts or answer emails on his behalf. 

 

'Everyone gets a little annoyed when I'm on my phone and not paying attention to them. 

 

'On Facebook he'll get up to 10,000 likes on each photo - on Instagram he gets maybe 5,000 likes on each photo. 

 

'I never thought Sam would be so popular in Japan, Australia, Sweden, or any of the countries where he's been featured in newspapers and magazines.' 

 

Amanda's mum, Ivette Rodriguez, noticed the abandoned cat outside her home in New York one evening before a night out. 

 

Ivette said: 'I looked to the right and I saw a little niche⁴ next to the house and there was a cat in there. 

 

'He was just curled up - I put blinders on because I really did not want a cat. 

 

'My daughter said that he willingly gave himself up to her - I guess he was so tired of being outside. 

 

'People said he looked like Martin Scorsese or Colin Farrell - he also has the same eyebrows as my mother, who thinks we dyed Sam's eyebrows.'

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