Nacho

Once again we have been quiet, but this time it wasn’t because of something good. We came home from our last day of work before our mini vacation last week and found that our sweet baby Nacho had died. I must explain that we love our animals, more then most people do. They are truly our furry children. When I met Frank he had Willis and he adored her but he was so-so on cats. Then when we moved in together the big boys won him and the kids over. Then we got the rest of the gang and our "little" family was complete and incredibly happy. Our cats are different then the stereotypical, standoffish, always hiding, moody cats.

Our cats are our buddies; they all sit in the same room as us every moment we are home. Rio follows me up the stairs and waits outside the bedroom door for me (no cats allowed in the bedroom). Fenway cries outside Adam’s room when he isn’t home because he misses him. Lukie talks to us and rolls on the floor so we come over to pet him. Rigs loves to snuggle us, especially under the blankets. Momee rolls over to tell us that she wants her belly rubbed. Ruby cuddles us and rubs her face all over us every night. Nach would chase me and Frank around and cry at our feet until we would pick him up for a cuddle. And don’t get me started on the dogs and what a huge part they are in our lives. Our animals ARE our family. We all spend a few minutes of one-on-one time with each and every animal every morning and night. We know their personalities, their likes and dislikes. We often times talk about what we think the animals are thinking and the kids and I can and do talk for hours on end about the animals. Things from why Ruby sometimes nips at us (she plays rough), to what we feed them and why, to every vet visit, to where they came from, and so on. Kirsten rescued Ruby and Momes and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up working with animals when she grows up (or photography which she is amazing at!) Adam is crazy about the cats (especially his best bud Fenway) and is often found watching tv in his room covered in cats. And Tae, the cats are her best friends. She carried Nacho around all the time, uses Lukie as a pillow :) and loves to feed them.

Jo finds them fascinating and fun to chase around! And really, the feeling is mutual. The cats adore all of us and are so excited to see us and interact with us. So lets just say this was not an easy thing. We spoke with the vet because Nacho had just been there 2 weeks prior for his last round of kitten shots and a check up. He was only 4 months old… Our vet was incredibly sensitive and explained to us that most likely he had a heart defect that no one knew about. Between his first and second kitten visits he had only gained a half a pound which is not much when they are supposed to be growing like weeds. But honestly, no one suspected that there was anything wrong with him, even the vet. His tests were all negative, he ate fine, was in a good mood all the time, he was a happy wonderful kitten.

Nacho loved to sit in Jo's Bumbo seat...

I don’t know what possessed me but the night before we lost our little Nacho-Aurelius (as I called him) I was feeding the cats dinner and I decided to take a picture of them eating together, all 7. It is the only picture we have of all of them, our kitten gang. We have hundreds if not thousands of the cats, but those are the only pictures with ALL of the cats. Another strange coincidence is that Frank and I were on the couch later that night, comforting each other and remembering our baby and we were flipping through channels and the movie Nacho Libre was on. If you remember from our introductory post, we named Nacho after the movie but we had never seen it and had never seen it on the tv guide either. But there it was…

We all miss him. Miss him terribly. I miss his perfectly pink nose and his teeny little baby teeth that were just starting to be replaced by his adult teeth. I miss his tiny, sweet meow and his giant ears. Kirst told me she misses the amazing markings he had on his body. I miss his purr, the 2 times he had been at the vet she hadn’t really been able to hear his heart because he wouldn’t stop purring. Our house does feel a little empty which I know sounds ridiculous since we have 6 other cats, but it does. The other cats even seem a little clingier to us right now, we think they miss him too, especially Rio since they always played together. The one thing that helps to stop the sadness is that we know he had the best 2 months with us that he could have ever had. He WAS a happy cat, he LOVED us, we love him and we wouldn’t give up the time we did have with him for anything.

Rio checking out what Nacho's got for dinner...

Nacho, our little baby boy, we all miss you and love you. Thank you for all your sweet snuggles and the absolute joy that you brought to our lives for 2 far too short months. Kisses and cuddles forever our little peanut…