July 13, 2022

Goodbye Chie

Chie died today, on our bed, at approximately 5:18pm. He was born on July 7, 2003.

I named him Chie because when I first brought him home with Asuka and Niea, he stayed behind, cautious and carefully watching what they were doing and observing the house, before finally venturing out to explore. He was always the timid one who played it safe, observing and wary of other people and of loud noises, which is why he was so wise. I was also told by the people I adopted them from that Chie was a girl, and I didn't find out otherwise until getting him neutered several months later. So that's why he has a girl's name.

Chie loved sitting on top of me, anywhere from my chest to between my legs, as I lay on the sofa reading or sleeping. He would sit on our lap whenever we were doing something, and always wanted to sit on Christina's lap when we were watching a show. He knew when to get ready, because he was such a smart cat. He also enjoyed listening to music or playing video games with me, sitting in my lap or sometimes in the seat next to me.

He also liked to lie in the sunlight coming in under the blinds on the backyard doors. Although he avoided the backyard kitchen door for a while after Niea died because she was always there. I often carried him like a baby in my arms, and also over my shoulder like a baby. Another interesting thing he would do is always find the midpoint between me and Christina, and then sit there. If she was upstairs and I was downstairs, he'd be at the top of the stairs. Or if I was in one bedroom while Christina was in the other, he'd sit between the two.

Chie was super picky about his food, but in the last year or two he started liking more human food including boiled chicken and tuna and even a couple of times goldfish crackers like Asuka. Also his hearing went bad, and he would get scared if he didn't know where Christina or I was. And so he started crying out more often whenever he couldn't see us, even sometimes just after a few minutes.

Another thing he loved was getting brushed. And he always got a turn getting brushed after Christina got a massage, waiting patiently for it to be over so he would be his turn, and then walking with me to the bed and jumping up ready to go.

Chie was such a brave, strong, and smart cat. Over the past couple of days he became very weak, having difficultly walking and standing up. I think he felt dehydrated since he would often make an effort to walk to and stick his chin into his water bowl for very long periods of time, but not drink. He had difficultly keeping down food. I showed him the outside through the backyard kitchen door a couple of times.

But his last hours were with me hugging him and holding him on our bed, telling him how much I loved him and what a good cat he was. Christina was on FaceTime because she was flying. He was just the best, our cat king, our meatball, our lion, and our baby. I could tell he was still experiencing some joy even as things got worse, because he would weakly wave his tail when being petted or brushed gently. Finally he took his last breaths and left.

Posted by josuah at 2:48 AM UTC+00:00