Just a Cat

This weekend Our cat Nichi (pronounced Nietzsche) died. Some of you are thinking "Big deal, it's just a cat" and others are thinking "How sad. I have lost pets of my own and I can relate". The first group is not pet people (or at least not "Cat people"), the second group obviously is pet people. But I digress.

My sadness over my lost cat does not simply come from the extinguished life, but a slew of other elements. Nichi was the first I have ever owned and he was not what I expected. I have owned dogs my entire life, so judging only from other people's cats I expected an aloof being that would only occasionally show it's face and stink up the house with it's indiscriminate peeing on all of my walls.

What I got however, was a fun little furry friend that sat on my legs during meals and slept across my ribs every night. His little face warmed my heart as his voice made the darkest days seem brighter. He ran through the house playing and making us all laugh at his antics. He demanded attention and accepted it fiercely. He gave love as freely it was given.

His last three months were filled with illness and forced medication. Something none of us enjoyed. His muscular body shrunk from lack of exercise and he looked like a shell of himself. He stopped being able to support his own weight and eventually went into a coma-like state. I held him during his last moments, feeling his ragged breath and would have given just about anything to bring the joy of Nichi back into my wife's, my daughter's and my life again. To hear his purr and to feel his weight on me... Nichi was anything BUT "Just a cat".

Goodbye my Friend.