These days, Andy spends his free time searching for great deals on Hello Kitty slippers and salsa, but back in the day he was a regular on the local humane society website. He would look at the new cats and ooh and ahh and send me links to cute ones. (Are there any kitties that aren’t cute?) I was working at the community college and otherwise being a big slacker when Andy sent me a link to a cat called Alonzo. Andy really, really, really wanted Alonzo. We already had Big Kitty, Little Kitty, Bob, and TreeFrog, but I thought, what the heck. Five is a good number. I went to the humane society while Andy was at work and checked out Alonzo. He was a big cat and pretty and not all that friendly. I think he had a cold. I started the paperwork to adopt him.

We named the kitty Buddy. Everyone said it looked like he had peanut butter on his nose.

He had to go to the vet early on because he was sick. I remember sitting in the waiting room and hearing a cat hollering and howling and thinking, “Huh. That can’t be Buddy!” But it was. He was not happy and wanted everyone to know it. That never stopped. He became known at several vets as the psycho cat and drew vet blood on several occasions. A few times he was muzzled at the vet, and I remember having to give him a sedative back in the day before taking him in for an appointment.

I think Buddy was taken from his mommy too soon because in the early days he loved to nuzzle up to an armpit and lick and chew on your shirt…sort of like he was nursing. He also seemed to be a bit wacky and would freak out every now and then. He’d get twitchy and you knew to stay away. His occupation almost from the start was to terrorize Little Kitty. I used to say Buddy was TreeFrog’s muscle. TreeFrog wanted to be alpha female cat, but she couldn’t take Little Kitty. When Buddy showed up, TreeFrog convinced him to take LK out of the picture so TreeFrog could be top girl. Part of his reign of terror included marking his territory. If LK found a spot she liked to hang out, eventually Buddy would pee there. He peed a lot. There were several times we thought about finding him a new home, but we just couldn’t because he was our Buddy.

When we moved to the boonies, we decided Buddy should be an outdoor cat during the day. He loved it. He started acting a bit more normal, and he didn’t pee on things as much. He’d bring us mice and moles and voles and even that weasel that one time. He kept us company when we walked down to the mail box, he let Anya chase him around the yard, and he amused us by climbing trees and hopping and leaping and living it up. Living outside (even just during the day) can be dangerous. One time he didn’t come home for three days. Another time he was gone a while and came back with a swollen face from a snake bite. We always worried about him, but we knew that the risk was worth it. Buddy was really happy outside, and we were all happier when he was outside, too.

Sometimes, Buddy didn’t want to go out in the morning, and we’d have to grab him and pitch him out. Sometimes he didn’t want to come in at night. Usually, though, he’d run out in the morning and be waiting for us in the evening.

Tuesday, December 21, we put Buddy out in the morning, and he wasn’t waiting for us when he got home. We called and wiggled the door handle and sang, “Buddybuddybuddybuddybuddy!” We kept the porch light on for him and peeked out the door for him over and over. Wednesday morning, he wasn’t there. Wednesday evening, he wasn’t there. Andy searched for him all over the property and looked in the shed and the workshop. We called and called and waited and waited. I sent a lost ad to the local humane society and got ready to call neighbors and the vet. And then we decided to look for him one last time.

I found him under the tool shed. We aren’t sure what happened. He didn’t have any visible injuries. It sort of looked like he laid down to go to sleep. Maybe he ate a poisoned mouse or found some antifreeze or maybe he was sick and we didn’t know or maybe he had a heart attack. We won’t ever know.

Bye, bye, Buddy Cat.