The "Summer of Kittens" Chapter Has Come to an End

The year was 2002.  Lauren found two litters of abandon kittens that needed saving; one in a junk pile behind our property in Idaho and another among a neighbor's bales of hay.  They ended up in a refrigerator box in our garage. 

I don't remember how many we had but it ended up being the "summer of kittens".  That's how I remember it.

Lauren was twelve and she was in heaven.

After finding homes for all the kittens, Lauren begged me to keep the last one that nobody had chosen.  Being the animal lover that I am, I, of course, said "O.K".  His name was Ichiro, named after the up and coming rookie baseball player for the Mariners.  We called him Ichi. 

Today, we said good bye to the last of the "summer of kittens". Fifteen years later, this little guy just got too old and tired to continue on anymore.  Fluid was accumulating around his lungs and it was a struggle for him to breathe. Another chapter of our lives has closed and we will miss him. 

But we know he lived a full life and was loved by many. 

I allowed Lauren to keep him that summer only if she used him as a 4-H project because we didn't need any more cats.  We already had four cats and a dog.

He became the best cat we had

 and was a best friend to our dog.

Lauren did use him in 4-H and he won every cat show he was entered in.

He was loved by all the judges and his 4-H buddies.

He was so well-mannered he didn't really need to be in his cat crate and we often took him out, even though we weren't  suppose to, like when we were driving.

 He was just a mellow cat by nature. 

Except when he was hunting.  He was a major mouser but also caught gophers and other critters on our two acres in Idaho.

He soon became the alpha cat of our household and his mission was to protect our property from any of the neighborhood cats.

He knew he was king of our household

and we all enjoyed treating him as king.

He often ended up in our Christmas photos

or posing in front of the Christmas tree.

For whatever reason, a photo just looked better if you were holding Ichi.

I will admit that he was pampered.  It was just so easy to spoil him.

I know you shouldn't feed your pets at the table but Ichi was always like part of the family.  

That is why he will be missed so much.  Our pets' lives seem to fly by and I always wished that animals lived longer like people.  But with Ichi, it seems like he was with us forever. It's hard to remember when he wasn't a part of our family. 

Of all our cats that we had in Idaho, he and Crusty were the two that were lucky enough to survive being outdoors and dodge the preditors that must have stocked them.  Many of our cats or the neighbors' cats were not so lucky.  We always wondered what these two did to survive. 

They were both good hunters and I guess, good at hiding when they needed to.

Because of their survival skills, they were both still around to make the move with us to Seattle in 2015.  

Crusty had to stay in her crate but once again, Ichi was allowed out. 

They adapted to their new home and Ichi was content to give up his life of hunting and protecting his territory because he was getting old now with fading eyesight and poor hearing.  But he still loved the feel of the sun hitting his fur and all the smells of the outdoors. 

 He staked out his spot on our sofa in the living room and this is where is lived out his last couple of years. 

He will be missed by all of us but probably not as much as Lauren will miss him.  They were best buddies.

Ichi was so lucky that she rescued him during that "summer of kittens".  They had a lot of adventures together; in back of police cars

shopping for cat supplies

lots of cat shows

encouraging others to do the same

and then teaching others.

As the years went by, Ichi wasn't too keen when boys entered the picture.

What is prom, anyway?

And just who were these boys?

But Ichi never lost his seniority in Lauren's heart. Through junior high, high school, college, moving to Seattle and now working full time, Ichi has always been there as Lauren's pride and joy.  

She came over last night to say good-bye, as we did today. It is just never an easy thing to do.  We will miss you so much, little Ichi.  

Our family now has a void in it but we will always remember you as the best cat we had.  A vet once told us that a male tabby cat has the best personality of all cats and we surely believe that now because of Ichi.  He was the best a family could ask for.