Baci RIP

Baci - the greatest cat.

Baci has left us. He was last seen on Sunday morning, looking good and acting normal. He didn't return for dinner and for Baci, that's serious. After much tromping through the grove, looking and calling we have to assume that he has died.

Baci was a great cat right from the beginning. Nancy and Richard bought him from a cattery back east and they fell in love with him immediately. They trained him well and he turned into a great, people loving, wonderful pet. Nancy trained Baci to come to the dinner bell and it worked well. He'd hear that bell and come running.

I only knew Baci for a few years, but I loved him. What a guy!! Richard would bring him over in the car to spend the evening with the girls. Ha. Baci hated Lulu and Squeakie but quickly surveyed the situation and figured he could assume alpha position easily. After one or two tentative visits while he was still sniffing things out, he formulated his strategy and on visit three, he roared in the back door making a great hissing noise aimed at nothing in particular. He'd rush up the stairs and the girl cats, totally amazed, got immediately out of his way. In short order, the routine was established...Lulu and Squeakie were shivering in the closet and Baci reigned supreme. He didn't sleep in the bedroom..sort of left it to the girls but he had the rest of the house as his own.

He was incredibly smart. I had a fence rigged up on the patio where I let Lulu out to take the air. She never tried to wriggle under the fence or climb over it. We tried Baci out there. Put him down behind the fence; he took a look around and immediately leaped over the fence. Lulu was watching him in amazement and you could almost hear her little brain saying, "Could I have done that?". I'd estimate he had at least twice the brain of the girls combined.

A very good hunter, he proudly carried many trophies home...a rabbit, snakes, gophers. He was athletic and a pleasure to watch on the stalk. We bought a little red light from a pet store and he enjoyed chasing that around the house. We liked to watch him track the light across the floor and up the wall, then across the ceiling, getting his feet in place and calculating for his pounce.

I called Richard the "cat whisperer" because he seemed able to do impossible things with Baci. He acted more like a dog with Richard than a cat. They worked together; Richard would load up the truck with his tools, call Baci to jump in and they'd go off to do chores. Richard kept the radio going in the car and Baci would either sit nearby and watch him or busy himself sniffing around, jumping up in the trees or hunting something down. For lunch, Richard would find an avocado and the two of them would crouch down like hairy cavemen and tear into the fruit..a bite for Baci and a bite for Richard. They loved to ride together on the bike, hair streaming behind them, Baci clinging to Richard for dear life. Up and down the slopes they'd speed around the grove.

A human could do just about anything to Baci - he was very cooperative about grooming. Richard could clip his nails - Baci sat quietly and let him do it. When he was combed with the fine flea comb, he purred. Any kind of touch or scratch would elicit a purr.

A walk in the grove with people was a big treat and whenever we were at the rancho he'd be ready to go! We'd get down about a hundred feet and he'd launch off to do his business; we'd hear him scratching out a spot in the leaf litter. Then he'd usually rush up a tree, feeling light on his feet and happy.

Above all things, Baci loved to eat! At dinner time, he'd be standing anxiously by his bowl waiting for the food. You could hardly get it out of the can and he'd be butting your hand away to get to the meat! If we were cooking anything at all, he'd be in the kitchen waiting for a crumb to fall or a tasty morsel as a treat. I've never seen a cat with such a lusty appetite. When Richard lived alone, he'd have Ahi once in a while and Baci loved the scraps from that meal. He also loved Richard's twirled chicken.

For his final two years, he had the dubious company of an unwanted sibling when Brini joined the household. They each found their place and seemed to have a truce established, if not a friendship.

Richard and Baci shared a special kind of masculine bond. Baci would show his affection with a head butt as in the picture above. Richard treated him not roughly but rather energetically and Baci loved it. Richard for instance would throw him up onto a branch of one of the avocado trees and Baci would catch on to the branch and looked like he loved it. He would ride around perched on Richards shoulders, ears pitched forward and that beautiful tail hanging down. They made a good looking pair together!

He will be eternally missed and we hope he rests in peace in kitty heaven.