Neechy

Last Thursday morning, March 27, 2008, our long-time friend and feline companion passed away. He was 17 years old. I've said that I wanted to use this blog to record the things that I wanted to remember. When it comes to Neechy's death, at first I thought the blog was not the appropriate place because it's a really sad day for all of us. Then I realized that what I want to remember is how much joy Neechy brought to our family. The blog is a perfect place to put some of the stories of Neechy and remember him that way.

Back in 1990, Neechy was first owned by a college friend, Ellen who used to go running with Neechy. When she graduated, she gave Neechy to a bunch of fraternity guys that lived in an apartment close to us. As the story goes, Bob and I saw this beautiful cat walking down the street and upon inspection found out he didn't have front claws, so did not belong outside. We brought him in and then heard his meow -- he had a very unique meow that Ellen demonstrated while visiting with her kitten before she graduated. Realizing this could possibly be Ellen's cat, we called around to see where Ellen went after graduating and what she did with the cat! That's when we found out about the fraternity guys. Well, they were not doing a good job of taking care of Neechy so we took him in. Thus Neechy came with the name.

Ellen named him after Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations of Christianity and traditional morality. So he wasn't a very popular guy and had quotes like "God is dead." Someone recently pointed out to me that we did not change his name when we took Neechy in ... good point, the name fit the cat.

We had Kenzy at the time that Neechy joined our clan. Kenzy was a big beautiful Himalayan-looking farm cat. At first Kenzy and Neechy did not get along, because Neechy had way too many hormones for his own good. After getting Neechy fixed, he calmed down a lot but it still took years for Kenzy and Neechy to bond. However, once they were bonded, they were the best of buds. When Kenzy passed away in 1996, Neechy was very depressed and put on 5 extra pounds. This was huge considering that Neechy was 13 pounds to begin with.

Neechy was a very smart cat. He was too smart to fall for the flashlight trick like Kenzy always did. Neechy would just stare at the flashlight as if to say, "yeah, so what." Kenzy would chase Bob around the apartment in a big circle. Not Neechy ... he would go around once then turn around and meet Bob going the opposite direction. Then there was the time that Bob was playing hide and seek with the cats -- Bob is really a kid at heart. Bob was in the bathroom waiting for Neechy to come looking for him. He looked up at the mirror and there was Neechy just staring in the mirror. He was caught!

When Colin was born, Neechy was not too fond of this event as can be imagined. Especially when Colin peed on him! It was an accident but try telling a cat that. We were changing Colin on the bed next to where Neechy was sleeping. Colin was only a couple weeks old (if that), and new parents plus little boys equals golden showers. In this case, the cat got the majority of it and was not happy.


Over time, Neechy accepted Colin's existence and was very tolerant to him. I remember on time Colin was pointed to Neechy and saying "Wide, wide". We thought he was calling the cat "wide" which is true enough, but I couldn't figure it out because "wide" was not part of Colin's vocabulary. Of course it wasn't "wide", he was saying as he tried to climb on Neechy's back, but "ride"!


And just recently, the relationship between Colin and Neechy really improved and they have bonded as children and pets do. Colin would lay his head on Neechy, and Neechy would just purr and purr.

On Thursday morning, Neechy was having difficulty breathing so Bob and I took him into the vet after dropping Colin off at school. Before going into the school, we let Colin say "good-bye" to Neechy, thinking that it didn't look good for Neechy to get better. At the time Colin didn't understand and went off to school with a smile.

At the vet, Neechy stopped breathing, and the doctor brought him back. Bob and I decided that we didn't want to prolong his agony anymore, so if he stopped again to just let him go, that it was his time. At noon, we got the phone call that Neechy stopped breathing again.

Colin now understands a little more and is very sad. He keeps asking for him, and all I can say is "I miss him too".

From my Aunt Deirdre:
"Small friend, in the name of the Giver of Life, I bid you to forget
your broken shell. It can serve you no longer. I bid you in the name
of the Creator of all things wild and free, to go beyond, to rest, to
enjoy the Summerland. Blessed be, small friend, and farewell."

Nathan and Neechy


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