This weekend, we had to say goodbye to the best boy in the world and I wanted to celebrate his life by telling his story.
Bubs (Taz, Karakoram Pacifik) didn't have 9 lives, he had 4. The first we don't know much about, the second was as the only cat of the house, the third was with Blondie, and the fourth was with his gang.
In his first life, Bubs became unhappy and started leaving home. Despite the fact that we never fed him (you should never feed someone else cat!), he kept coming back. We kept phoning the owners who lived 2 miles away, they kept coming to collect him, he kept coming back. After a year of this, they came to collect him and mentioned they were taking him to a shelter the following week because they were moving in to a flat. I try not to judge them for that, although there is a lot I could say. The main thing is that we pleaded our case to the landlord, got around the 'no pets' clause and adopted him!
In his second life, Bubs brought absolute joy to our lives. He was still allowed to go out, but never stayed out overnight and always stuck close to home. His favourite things were sunning himself in the 'sit-ooterie' and holding court. At this point we didn't know anything about the Asian breed so we were amazed at how playful, sociable, and cuddly he was. Any time a visitor came to the house, they would get the royal treatment from Bubs. A cordial greeting, a friendly word, then a full face-on-face communion! I don't even know how many people have selfies with him, but he loved the attention of meeting someone and getting his photo taken. We once had a barbecue in the small back garden for my birthday with around 15 guests and he was in his ELEMENT. We'd put cushions on the bench seating of the sit-ooterie and he immediately claimed his spot right in the middle of it and sat for the whole evening entertaining 'his' guests - accepting offerings of bbq meat, strokes and listening to all the conversations. He'd occasionally get up and walk round peoples knees saying hello to each person in turn before retiring to his seat. I think that was the first big gathering we had with him, and he completely defied our expectations by becoming the host rather than hiding in the house - something he continued every time we had people over. Christmas was his favourite time of year . The wrapping paper, the tree, people in and out of the house, presents and richer standard of food. Although he loved everyone he met, he made some life long friends in that time - most notably Aunties Chloe, Emily & Kat, and my Dad.
Ian started working shifts - days and nights - while we lived in the flat. Bubs took his responsibilities as man of the house very seriously and would sit at the end of the bed watching the door until I fell asleep every single time. Usually he would come and snuggle under the blankets with me, but if Ian wasn't around he would stand guard for me.
His other responsibility was (obviously) ensuring there was enough food in the house. He brought mice, birds, everything a family could possibly need. He was a pretty crap hunter though and an even worse executioner. 90% of his 'gifts' got rescued and safely released.
When Bubs was 15, we'd moved in to our first house and had noticed him starting to slow down. We decided he needed a kitten to liven him up, so looked for one of the same breed hoping he would accept it more easily. We had his pedigree papers from when we adopted him and found out that his breeder was still active and didn't live far away. When we enquired, one of her girls was pregnant and five months later we got Blondie.
That was the start of his third life. What started off as a minor irritation turned in to the absolute love of his life. He taught her about going outside, at first only letting her explore the garden, then slowly letting her go further - rounding her up and bringing her back whenever he felt she'd gone too far.
They slept together, played together and got up to absolute nonsense. Their bond was something we were welcome to share but never be a part of. He stopped being 'our' cat and became entirely hers.
One day, I could hear them playing in the kitchen. I didn't think anything of it and left them to it for half an hour. Until it went quiet. I went through to see what was happening and found Bubs looking all relaxed and regal on a packing box. I asked him where his kitten had gone and he wouldn't look at me. I asked him again and he turned his head away. I asked a third time and heard a scratching sound. He'd trapped her inside the box and decided to just sun himself on top of it so she couldn't get out!
I've covered what happened to Blondie in another post and I don't want to go over it again today, but we lost her. And safe to say, none of our cats are allowed further than the back garden now. He was absolutely devastated and I'm not sure he ever entirely got over it.
So began his fourth life. Out love of the breed and the cat fancy became a big part of our lives and over the next 2 years, we added Vizzie & Boop, Zori and Weeyin to the household. He was furious about the girls, he was still mourning Blondie and wasn't interested in having 2 annoying new things running around the house. After a few months though, he realised they could actually be new friends and things settled down. He tried to teach them manners - don't jump on the side when their dinner is being prepared, don't interrupt the humans when they're having dinner - but didn't do a great job. When we added Zori 6 months later, he deigned to wake up for a few moments, looked at him, let out a sigh and went back to sleep. I'm pretty convinced that when we got Weeyin 18 months later, he spent the first few weeks thinking she was Boop and didn't react at all! It did take another year before I managed to get a photo of them all snuggled together though - a week before he passed away.
His final years were filled with love, curry and spare ribs (his favourite foods), and many days snoozing in the afternoon sun in the garden. On his 19th birthday in January, we had a couple of his favourite people round and ordered 3 kinds of ribs from the Chinese. He held court, did forehead communions, and ate as many bits of ribs as he could get his hands on - it was his idea of a perfect evening.
Caring for an elderly cat comes with it's own set of challenges and he started to really get 'old' this year. He had a number of illnesses including a fit in June and we knew we didn't have long left with him. His last months were comfortable and filled with love. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on the 16th October after only a day of illness, surrounded by his family and knowing how deeply he was loved. He is being put to rest with Blondie's collar so that he can keep her with him forever.
We are all incredibly sad, but he had a good 20 years and a wonderful second, third and fourth life with us. He also inspired our love of Asians and his legacy will live on in our breeding.
Thank you Bubs for everything you gave us and sleep tight xxx
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