​Nekodé

 

I came into Helen and Bill's life under sad circumstances.  You see, they had another cat, named Akira, whom they loved very much. Akira had been in their lives for about 3 years before he was taken from them by colon cancer.

 

My name is Nekodé, Neko for short.  Apparently the Zebedees keep telling me that my full name means "Cat's claws"--used by something called Ninjas--and my nickname means "cat" in Japanese.

 

They had another boy, who missed Akira very much, so Helen and Bill came to the Guelph SPCA two days after Akira's passing and fell in love with me; dispite being told by the technician that I didn't like people, the Zebedee's started petting me and my deep purr seemed to work on them.

 

A couple of days later they returned to the shelter for me and took me to my new home at Royal City Housing Cooperative, where I was introduced to my most special of friends, Skye.

 

Like Helen and Bill, Skye immediately took me into his heart and we shared many happy memories together.

 

As a family we lived for a few more years before one day Helen packed her bags and disappeared for a month.  Bill seemed frustrated and angry with Helen as he started to bring lots of boxes home and put our belongs into.  Then, one night, Helen returned and that night Bill gave Skye and I drugs.  The next day, when we weren't stoned anymore, Skye and I realized we now lived in Nova Scotia, in a three bedroom apartment, close to the harbour.  Skye and I had a surprise one day when Helen and Bill brought another cat, Sakura, home to live with us.

 

Eventually we all tired of the apartment, and, as a family, moved to a large house on Clement Street, where Skye, Sakura and I would continue to love Helen and Bill, while we sat and watched birds all day long.

 

One day Skye, Sakura and I were walking around the apartment--when Helen and Bill were gone--and we realized there were now four bedrooms upstairs.  The three of us knew what that meant, one day we would become four.  That's when we were introduced to little KiaOra.

 

They broke their "one cat per bedroom rule" one day when they came home with another cat.  They told us his name was Keemone. From day one I pretended I didn't like him, but truth be told, I did.

 

One of my saddest moments was in March of 2013, when my long time friend and playmate, Skye, would leave us.

 

Sakura, KiaOra, Keemone and I knew what was happening to our friend and we watched as Helen and Bill spend countless hours holding, petting and crying over Skye.  Then there was a moment when Bill had to go to a meeting, so Helen went to get a towel to place in front of Skye's favourite spot--in front of the heating vent.  Bill lovingly picked Skye up and placed him down.  At that moment, Sakura, Kia, Meo and I walked over and stood with our loving friend to say our goodbyes.

 

14 years later, and I am part of their family, and I love them as much as they love me.

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p.s. early in 2016, I began noticing something was different with me and I let Helen and Bill know too.  They took me to the vet and it was determined I had dementia.  Like you, I was surprised cats could get dementia, but there you have it.

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Though it was a difficult time for both the Zebedees, Sakura, KiaOra, Keemeone and Jack, and of course myself, we all decided it was time for me to leave the house one last time.  At 510pm on February 1, 2016 I fell to sleep with Helen and Bill beside me for the last time.