Laying Kodiak to rest

 With heavy hearts, we finally buried the ashes of our dear friend Kodiak this afternoon. We had put it off for too long and for too many reasons, but at last the day came when it felt right to do it and we could both face the task ahead. The weather was rainy and overcast, which both suited our moods and kept many people at home and dry, leaving us plenty of personal space outside.

 Kodiak passed away in March, a time when the magnolias a beginning to bloom, and we wanted to bury him in a place that would remind us of that season. A rhododendron garden runs up from the banks of lost lagoon and is in nearly perpetual bloom, with many magnolias as well. Two small paw print ornaments mark the spot for our future visits.

We dug a small hole at the base of a tree, said our final farewells, and laid him to rest forever.

I had read a poem by Jim Willis in late 2018 when the idea of Kodiak's mortality was really starting to weigh on us both and it made a fitting farewell to our little guy. The original is clearly about a dog, but captures the grief of losing a pet, so we modified it to suit our situation.


This is where we part, sweet friend,
we loved you to the very end,
gone now from sight, but not from mind,
to new warm spots we know you’ll find. 

We will go on, we'll find the strength,
life's measured quality, not in length.
One long embrace before we leave,
share one last look, before we grieve. 

There will be others, this is true,
but they be they, and you were you.
Your eyes so bright, your fur so black
Our little bear, our Kodiak

Your place we've held, you are so missed,
the fur we stroked, the nose we kissed.
And as we lay you here to rest,
take this with you...we loved you best. 

Farewell to Kodiak

We were devastated to have to say goodbye to Kodiak. After struggling with an enlarged heart, kidney disease, a pancreatic condition, liver complications, and old age he finally succumbed to a thrown clot which paralyzed his back legs, leaving him unable to walk.

His quality of life has always been of our paramount concern and his regular vet tech only had to listen to his heart for a few beats to tell that he was nearly burned out. He spent his final day in our arms before going to the vet in the sunshine and without complaint. A noble gentleman to the end, he didn't yowl or fuss and seemed to agree that he'd gone as far as he could with us.

Kodiak (like most cats) collected aliases even more prolifically than medical ailments and has also been known to answer to: The Big Black Browl, Mister Cat, Gatamus Maximus, Yowlio, Kodiak T Cat Esquire, Shimanie Shongo the Bongamus Cat, Little Villain, Sweetheart, the Ambassador, Gigantor, Kitty, Hufty Chufty, Browltiger, Softie Soft Cat, Little Man, and many others. He was known as both Root Beer and Darwin at his adoption centre.

 We first adopted him on November 25, 2007 because he melted in Kathryn's arms when she picked him up and because I didn't mention he had bitten me a few minutes earlier for touching his feet. That gave us 4,132 days with him or 11.3 years. He's only been gone a few hours and we'd both do anything for just a little more time with him or to take back any number of afternoons in the past where we were too busy with things that no longer seem to matter in comparison.

We want to thank the kind and dedicated staff at the West End Veterinary Clinic for their years of compassion and for helping us grieve while giving him the grace and dignity he required until his final seconds. Especially Leni for being his favourite and Dr. Helene Childs for exemplary care.

If you also knew and loved him, please consider a donation to Katie's Place Animal Shelter or just take a few moments to reflect on your time with him. If you have a pet yourself, hold it extra close for us and be sure to treasure every moment you have.

Kitty Cat Bath Time

 Kodiak has been getting pretty old of late and we decided that he was both having trouble fully washing himself and getting a bit whiffy in the process, so it was time to experiment with bath time. We had never tried such a thing with him before and we're sure exactly how much blood we'd lose in a fur-throwing frenzy in the process. Much to our surprise, he has mellowed in his dotage and, except for a few kicks here and there going into the sink, was VERY good about the whole thing.

 Look at that little face! He sat patiently while we washed and shampooed his back and barely caused a fuss at all.

 It is pretty cold in our place in the darkness of the Canadian winter, so we made sure to swaddle him in a few towels to keep him warm and help dry out. Once the towels were too damp we replaced them with an electric blanket just to keep him from catching a chill. Don't think we'll make this a routine event, but it was undeniably a success.

Steven's visit and the various animals that ensued

 Kathryn's brother Steven was in town over a weekend recently and while showing him the sights, we managed to fit in several animal related photos worth sharing. With only a few days in town and an existing familiarity for much of the city, we spent most of the time at Granville Island or English Bay with a little visit to the aquarium tucked in. First off is the obligatory "Everyone Loves the Cat" photo in which all guests must smile as though pleased with the animal while he is digging his claws into their arm.

 The dolphins, belugas, and otters get all the mainstream love, but my favorite things at the aquarium are always the weird little fish tucked into corners that nobody notices. Like this Warty Frogfish, which I did not even know was a thing. Modern marine biologists have yet to quantify how much this creature sounds like Gilbert Gottfried, but hopefully someone is doing their doctorate on the topic right now.

 The baby geese are all hatched and their parents are both fearless and belligerent, but it was still surprising to see this sizeable family step into the busy traffic of Granville Island and stroll across the street. I even had a trace of my faith in humanity restored as all the drivers stopped and let the entire family cross.

Kodiak's 6th Anniversary

6 years ago November 25 I made the colossal error of purchasing a colossal cat.  You see appearances are deceiving. He looks small in his carrier as we are bringing him home.  Actually no, we knew he was a big one because we could tell by his size.  Geordie had his number though as he tried to bite him at the no-kill shelter where we got him.  He then let me pick him up and turned into a loaf.

 

Here he is now being all sweet and soft. He is still huge.  Naturally though.  He is a big cat and he needs to lose a bit of weight and has one half regular food half calorie control but its not doing much good. He is just naturally large. He probably has some Maine Coon Cat as he is quite poofy and has wuddleable cheeks.

He is an excellent alarm clock and we can set our watches to the times it is to feed him. He eats like a hobbit though. He gets first and 2nd breakfast, and 1st and 2nd dinner. We space him out because he chomps too fast and than throws up and that is nasty.  With our new place he likes sunning himself on the balcony, where in the glow he is no longer black but more a root beer brown colour.  His slave name at the shelter was Rootbeer. He was also once a Darwin, but he is our very own KODIAK BROOP CAT GIGANTOR!

Shameless Kodiak Fan Service

I almost wrote this post in that internet catspeak. You know LOLZ and hazing Cheezeburgerz.  But than I decided not too to preserve my sanity.  Also Kodiak told me in no uncertain terms that he has not LOLed in his life and would never do so.  He does browl.  No go look at my kitty and his lovely eyes and soft furrrrrrrr. 

So black accept for when he is in the sun.  Than it is revealed he is the colour of root beer.  That was his name when we got him but he is so much of a bear that we renamed him Kodiak.  Apparently he was Darwin before he was Rootbeer but the in-laws have a cat named Darwin so he couldn't be Darwin either.

He likes looking at his photos too.  I think I was dangling something for him to play with to get that cute photo.  His eyes are so big!  He likes having his head bashed about and his cheecks wuddled.  Touching his paws his a declaration of war though and he will cut you.

Steven Visit

The Mute Swans at Lost Lagoon are fed a special diet. Most people give them bread which is very bad for them.  Here we are feeding them cracked corn which is fine.  Steven was highly entertained making this one stretch for his snack.

Steven was more entertained by the evil looking gigantic cat that I call a pet.  Kodiak got along with him very well and condescened to snuggle after 2-3 days.  I just realized that my Penguin Pillow Fortesque is photobombing.  Kodiak's eyes are ice-blue which is why they look so red in the picture. They must be picking up the red of the sofa.

Steven is making friends and looking incredibly pleased with a Chestnut Backed Chickadee.  We had quite the swarm of them coming to have a snack.  They are incredible bold friendly birds.  Two pictures of Steven feeding birds. I hope that is not over kill.  I don't care I love that photo below.

Christmas 2012

 I can't believe how spoiled Geordie, Kodiak and I are.  Every year we try to cut back and every year I feel more doted upon. I hate to use the word swag in anything else but piratey jargon. But seriously, look at that swag!

Geordie is opening his stocking!  Kodiak is helping and looking jolly in his christmas collar.  The eyes are evil giving lie to the fact that he thinks that he his a good cat.  Every year I get Geordie ginger beer. (And every year it is very much appreciated -G)

Every year we go on a Christmas walk armed with treats for the animals. We go in search of whatever woodland creatures want a snack and even squirrels get a bit of corn (but we don't usually feed them as they can be aggressive and run up Geordie's pant leg or perch on my leg).  Chickadees are always a favorite for hand-feeding.  Happy Xmas!

Fisheye Fun

 Just taking a one-post break from our recent holidays to share a new Christmas toy with any other photography folks out there. Kathryn was incredibly sweet and got me a fisheye lens for xmas, so here's a few test pictures from the very first day. The #1 reason anyone wants a fisheye lens is for photos that make your pets have really big eyes and noses, so here's a quick portrait of Kodiak, taken from about 1 inch away.

 The other neat feature with fisheye lenses is the fact that they can see and capture 180 degrees  and allow for some fun perspectives. This photo of a bridge in Stanley Park was taken from nearly underneath, but because of the warped and extreme perspective you can see the sky above it and the ground below it. This wouldn't work for every situation, but I think its a neat one here and in a handful of other situations.

The primary reason I wanted a fisheye was for taking spherical panoramas. I have tried doing these with my regular lenses, but they required 60+ photos to fit in all the perspective and were invariably distorted in the end and a pain in the ass to stitch together. With the wide angle of the fisheye I was able to capture the picture below with only 8 pictures and with time can probably learn to trim that down to less. This panorama is from the beach at English Bay infront of our apartment and you can click it to see a larger version.

Forgetting anything?

Since we were spending over a month away this summer in Piedmont/Quebec City/Ottawa we had to pack quite a few things and started on it early to be sure we didn't get halfway to the airport and then realize we didn't pack any pants. The downside of starting early is that you are essentially building a box full of soft things for any domesticated mooches in your home.

 I came home from work a few days before we set out to find Kathryn in tears because Kodiak had arranged himself in the luggage. If you're willing to anthropomorphize your pets a little bit then you start thinking that maybe they understand you're leaving and want to be sure that they are prepared too. I personally believe he was just finding a new cozy spot, but its entirely possible that he's an even more manipulative git then I would give him credit for.

 Regardless of his motives and our abandoning him, he's always very affectionate for the few days after we get back from any adventure and is very good about forgiving us for leaving him and making friends again.

Hopefully he doesn't catch wind of our next trip TOO early ;)

Much Ado About Kodiak

Kodiak has been a member of our family for a little over 2 years now and he's certainly mellowed out a lot since we got him. He's still pretty bad about having his feet touched, but he's much better about his belly and general temper. That said, he and I still have our scraps but thats just how we both are. Here's an excellent picture Kathryn got of him recently doing his best impression of a Robert Bateman painting.
And just to show that he occassionally does things other than resemble a meatloaf, here's a picture of him hypnotized by the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas DVD menu. While he's generally not much of a movie buff he was particularly captivated by this disc and has shown a regular interest in James Bond movies in general.

Stretchy Kitty

About 2 years ago we for some reason decided to get a cat. Originally we were going to get one as a joint Christmas present but Kathryn managed to make the date creep forward bit by bit until we wound up getting one in early November.

For some reason she also picked the biggest one in the whole shelter and so we ended up with a little bear cat that weighs 18lbs (actually almost 22lbs- ed). Over time we've found that he will do just about anything for kitty treats and have compiled the video below of his efforts.

And here he is wondering what all the fuss is about.

And you can see it HERE in higher resolution if you like.