Today we had to say goodbye to our dear feline friend, Sidney. He was a dearly, deeply loved part of our family for nearly 14 years—a third of our lives!

Sleek kitty

Sidney was an unusual cat. He was lavish with his affections, insatiably curious and (often) downright naughty and incorrigible!

Merry Christmas

We were laughing today, thinking about all of his many “accomplishments” in his short, sweet life. This is what we tallied off the tops of our heads:

• Learned to jump onto and “ride” the big, tacky wicker chair we used to have all the way to the ground. He would leap up and dive into it, essentially creating a thrill ride in the house.
• Broke at least two dozen dishes and serving pieces from jumping on the counter and knocking them off.
• Had a great love of carbs and bread. This love led him to learn to open cupboards.
• Loved human food and would eat nearly anything he could get his mouth around—celery, ¼ of a pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes—you name it.
• Learned to open cupboards (so expertly that we had to install child safety locks on all of them in our first apartment).
• Commandeered a wicker laundry basket as his bed. We would eventually line it with sheepskin but it started out with a simple blanket folded up.
• Learned to open drawers—exhausted by the task he would generally sleep in them once he opened them. He figured out how to go up from the back of dressers and push out drawers; one morning I came into the bathroom to find all the drawers open. He had opened the cupboard to get to the drawers.
• Jumped out of a second story window. Twice. Also? Learned to open windows when Dale lived in Chase’s house in Michigan.
• Liked water. Sometimes he crawled right into the shower with Dale. This also made training him impossible. He was deaf so you couldn’t yell at him and he loved water so you couldn’t spritz him.
• Would drink from any unattended cup, even if it belonged to company.
• Discovered the bathroom sink fit him perfectly as a bed.
• He could skillfully maneuver my head off my pillow to claim it as his own without ever waking me up.

Sidney was incredibly sweet and maintained an incredible disposition his entire life despite having had quite a few health challenges. As a kitten he got an ear infection that left him deaf. He battled severe gastrointestinal issues and often suffered stomach distress (exacerbated by the fact that he’d eat anything off the floor, off the counters, etc.). His knees were bad in recent years and while medicine helped it didn’t reverse the issue. And, finally, he had a fast-growing tumor and cancer. He was a tough little guy with a sweet, strong spirit.

Bela watching over Sidney this morning

If you ever met Sidney you know how special he was and you know how much we
loved him. Below is a sampling of some of our favorite photos of him. Feel free to click on any one of them to go to a bigger version of the photo.