R.I.P. Gato Pato

My Gato Pato, the King of the House, died Saturday night at 8:36. I was waiting to post something till I could find some good pictures of him to post as well. But I haven't had the time to go through all the pictures and choose any yet.

So I just wanted to mark his passing by saying how much we all loved him. Gato was honestly the best cat ever. He came to us as a little skinny guy with a pointy nose, big round eyes and looked like a baby possum. Jonathon and Rachel Pie were riding their bikes around our house in Argentina and saw him and of course came home wanting to know if they could have him. When Jonathon tells this story it seems as if it was all him and no Rachel Pie! Since that day in March of 1995 Jonathon and Gato were inseparable. Jonathon was my Chubby and Gato was the Skinny. Through the years Jonathon became tall and skinny and Gato got downright plump for a while. But the nicknames stuck.

When we took Gato in it was just after my dad had passed away and we calculated Gato's birthday to be near that same time. It made me a little wishful that maybe my dad had sent Gato to us. We already had Sammy our little Shih Tzu and Muffin the meanest calico cat in the world. So skinny little Gato came and just quietly demanded attention and stole our hearts. I swear he was a year old before we ever heard him speak. Never a sound out of him. Sometimes Mr. Big Ed and I would take Sammy for walks around the neighborhood and Gato would come with us.

In December of 1996 Sammy died and right after that Muffin disappeared. Just a couple weeks later we moved to Chile and Gato was the only pet with us. Not long after we moved he disappeared and was gone for about 3 weeks. We all thought he was gone for good and we were so surprised when he came strolling up a little skinnier than usual but fine. Gato got in a routine in Chile of getting up every morning and leaving the house, he would never go far and he came in every evening. We all said that Gato went to work every day with the 8 - 5 hours he seemed to keep. Then he started bringing friends home from work. First there was Charlie Barley, then Black Kitty. Then Old Black Kitty, and various other Black Kitties. There were a plethera of Black Kitties in that neighborhood!

Gato lived in 4 countries and six different houses with us. Over the years we acquired 3 more dogs and 4 more cats and he quietly let them know who was the boss. If any of the kittens were acting like fools and doing something stupid, all he had to do was give them "The Look" and that was the end of foolishness!

It is amazing to me how quiet the house is now. He never made any noise but the house has a vast emptiness to it without him. We buried Gato in the garden under a tree and are thinking of placing Sammy's ashes next to him.

Mr. Big Ed and I were talking about the remaining 4 cats and which of them might have "King of the House" possibilities. We're not seeing much potential there for leadership. Sorry, boys!

I will get to the pictures soon, but I wanted to do this for now.