Ryuuki, or Yuuki, (YouKee) left this earth last Wednesday. (August 25, 2008- May 1, 2024)
Not being a stranger to losing loved ones, (my grandparents, my dad, my mom, other beloved pets) having to say goodbye to our cat Yuuki hit me like a ton of bricks, falling from the heavens. It’s not like we didn’t know this day was coming. In the last year, he’d been slowing down more and more, but it was still shocking how fast his condition deteriorated and how quickly we had to decide (with our vet’s advice) to let him go.
When I think of saying goodbye to Yuuki, the goodbye/birthday speech that the character Bilbo, from the “Lord of the Rings,’ gave comes to mind. In his speech, and before he puts the ring on and vanishes he says the following:
“First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
Yuuki was the most excellent and admirable cat! I wonder if he’d have said the same about us…his humans. We loved him dearly but I think he loved us even better and was so tolerate. He came into our busy home filled with five kids and before he was a year old our number 6th kid, Will was born. As if our house wasn’t noisy enough, two years later our twin daughters, Kathryn and Victoria arrived. As he welcomed our new family members, he also said fond goodbyes, as each of our older children left home. He never forgot them though and the moment he heard their voice, his ears would perk up and he’d love them as fiercely as if they hadn’t left. My oldest son Clark and I actually brought him home when my oldest daughter Alyssa was starting her first year of University in Victoria.
It all started with a simple Siamese kitten advertisement in the paper. Yes, in those days we got our news via our hometown paper.
The ad said he was an 8 week old, purebread Siamese, but I knew as soon as I saw him that he was not; purebread that is. His Seal point mom was very pretty though with light fur and very black points. The seller never told us who the father was and I never asked. Looking back, I don’t think I really cared too much. He was a cat that needed a home and we were a family that needed a cat. We loved his little spit fire personality from the get go. He had a sister too, but she was very skittish. She didn’t even come close to us as her brother checked us out and crawled all over us. I took one look at Clark and we nodded and smiled at each other. We knew we were bringing that ball of white fluff home.
I’m surprised I found a baby picture of Yuuki sleeping because he was ripping around our house from the moment we let him out of the cat carrier. One day he was running so fast from the laundry room (kitty litter room) and couldn’t slow down before he catapulted through the upstairs railing and down to the lower level. I thought for sure he’d be badly hurt but he picked himself up, looked a bit embarrassed and kept on going.
(Above, Yuuki looking down through that railing he fell through as a kitten)
Yuuki was a true family cat. He loved us all and spread his shining energy and love around.
Above, Will and Yuuki grew up together. Will was born in June 2009 and Yuuki turned one in August. In Yuuki’s last years, one of the things he liked best was when Will would give him a “BIG stretch,” extending his front legs up…I think it helped his old bones and muscles. Will was also the one to give him a nickname…”Skuuki.” Don’t ask me where that came from but to Will he was his little Skuuki boy.
When Alyssa came home from University that first summer (2009) she and Yuuki formed a tight bond. Alyssa was the one who actually named him. Since she was away at University I thought it would be nice for her to feel a connection to him so we asked her to find a name for him. She suggested Ryuuki, after she heard he was such a tiny little ball of big energy. Translanted Ryuuki means, “Little Dragon,” which is a lucky name in Chinese.
We were the lucky ones.
Below, Yuuki sleeping in one of his favourite laps in the summer of 2009…Alyssa’s.
Over the years, Yuuki was with us every season and every celebration. He loved them all and unlike some cats who may find crowds and chaos difficult, he was always right in there with us, for birthdays and Christmases. He especially liked family dinner, when in his later years, my husband David relented and let him sit on the window seat where our twins sat to eat dinner. He was so polite and never begged for food. He just wanted to be with the gang.
(From the time Yuuki was little he liked Christmas, the lights, the presents, the wrapping paper and everyone home to play with too…I think it was his favourite holiday for sure ever since he was a little guy)
When Yuuki arrived on the scene in the fall of 2008, he was not our only cat. In December of 2001, we adopted May Ling and her sister Misumi. Sadly, Misumi was killed in a car accident in Aug, 2007. After grieving her loss we decided to get a friend for May Ling the following year and that is when Yuuki came on the scene. Below, a lovely picture of May Ling. She was the sweetest cat. Gentle and very affectionate. I believe I have written about her loss on my blog. For many years she and Yuuki shared many family memories together. (Then one day, she just disappeared…we never knew what happened to her…I think that was hard on Yuuki and of course on us too)
(Yuuki and May Ling…they were good friends and it was always nice to have someone else to take a cat nap with)
I want to share a few pictures now, going down memory lane with Yuuki in our lives because I know he will remain in our family’s heart for the rest of our lives. It’s nice to have a place to visit and remember this most excellent and admirable cat!
Above, Mitchell loved Yuuki and was devastated to hear he had passed away. It’s tough when your family pet leaves and you aren’t able to say goodbye but Mitchell…he will always be in your heart so he hasn’t really left.
Like Mitchell, telling Harrsion that Yuuki had passed away was so difficult. He told me that when he read my note he had to leave work and let the news sink in as it was so hard. It is never easy saying goodbye to those we love, but maybe it helps to think of them as just away. Does that help?
Above, Grace and Yuuki studying psychology….he kept her company during many essay writing sessions in the last three years! Plus, she had the furry blanket he liked best in our house.
And when Victoria and Kathryn moved into their new room and we hadn’t even started decorating it yet, Yuuki claimed a new place to sleep. The last night he was alive he slept on this same bed with Victoria. In the last five days he was with us, he spread his love around sleeping with each of us, one last time. The Sunday before he passed, I spent the entire day in bed with him….him sleeping, curled up under my left arm while I ploughed through a novel and then watched a Netflix series. This is a comforting memory for me as I didn’t rush around on this day. Maybe we both sensed we needed to rest and connect one last time.
Yuuki wasn’t just a fair weather friend. If we were outside, he was outside. He loved scratching on the wooden retaining wall next to our drive way. He was with us in every season.
And he was with us in every celebration too…above he is in our Christmas photo…actually he made it into several over the years.
One of Yuuki’s favourite places of all time is to sit in front of the fireplace in our family room…and a close second was in the patio chairs down by the pool in the summer. Late on a summer’s day, as night was drawing near, if we were looking for him, he could often be found snoozing in one of the patio chairs sitting under the stars.
Last Christmas, as I was getting the attic room ready for Harrison to use when he came home, Yuuki was helping me make the bed. He liked it up in the attic too as it is a peaceful place. I remember taking this picture because I was wanting to get the picture of the room and send it off to Harrison saying, “come home soon, you’re room is all ready,” and Yuuki wanted to get in on the action too. He liked having his picture taken and he was such a handsome little furry guy.
Oh, to lay on the warm aggregate at our front door was another fav spot…and I think this day we must have been having a party and probably Victoria had given him the gift of a bow. He was always right in the middle of any party.
The above picture is one of the last ones I took of Yuuki this Spring. He loved soaking up the sunshine. I’m so glad that we had several nice days this Spring for him to revel in the warmth. You know as his human, I wished he had been able to live longer but as the vet told us, he was a super senior and he did so well to live such a healthy long life. Below, I found this sweet poem that sounds like it was written in Yuuki’s voice. In the 151/2 years that he lived with us, he was always there at the door. Saying hello and saying goodbye. He was always this joyous presence that I will miss so very much. I know the kids will too because one of his fav times of day was around 3 pm, when all the kids would come home from school and they would give him love and he’d be there too reminding them that he was so happy to see them.
And because I can’t cry anymore today, I have to close this post. But before I do, I just want to share a parting thought regarding beloved pets. If this helps you take it in, if you believe something else, let it go. This is just my thoughts on parting from our furry family members.
Once the heavy grief has washed all your tears away and the numbness is ebbing a bit too, open up your heart a bit. Pull on that golden cord that connects us all and call your pets name. I know he or she will be right there with you so happy to be acknowledged because even if they aren’t with us physically any longer, they never actually leave us. They remain always in our heart.
And that’s when you tell them once again, “you are so loved!”
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope