Kush came in to my family in 1999 when he was 4 weeks old. Too young to leave his cat mama, but he was living in a house where he was not being well cared for. He started off drinking formula out of a bowl. The formula would get stuck in his chin hairs and he always looked like he had a beard! He was so tiny that he couldn’t get over the side of a litter box, so he had to use a pizza box! He was bowlegged and cross eyed…issues that he grew out of as he passed the newborn stage.
When he was a baby, he used to like riding around in my kangaroo pocket and in my beanie. As he grew, he loved to climb trees, chase bunnies, and cuddle. He brought me many dead birds and mice over the years – the sign of a true provider! He loved to sleep in the upper corner of the bed next to his mama. When he got a dog sister, he would follow her and mama around the neighborhood on “family walks.” Everyone used to ask how I got him to do it…he did it all on his own! A family man. He was known to stroll in to the neighbors’ houses in search of lunch meat or a place to sleep. He was the king of the castle, showing other cats and dogs who was boss! He feared nothing.
He had a very serious expression. As he aged, he loved to sleep under the bushes and lay in the sunshine. He could most frequently be found in the garden, our “Kush in a bush.” He lived in three states and 14 houses in his lifetime. Everywhere he went, people loved him…mostly US! All of the pets in our family have pretend jobs that we think fit their personalities – he was a wrestler in his youth (known as El Kusho), and a sushi chef in retirement. (Our other animals are a doctor, a construction worker, an airline attendant, and a former US President! We have quite a diverse household.)
Kush had a wonderful, adventurous life. In 2016 he started hiding under the bed and in the closet, trying to find a little peace and quiet in his household of two cat brothers and two dog siblings. He started showing us that he was in pain and unable to eat. His long, beautiful, happy life helped us to know that suffering was not in his plan. Home to Heaven came to him, and Kushie fell asleep purring in my arms on the bed where he slept for his entire life. Everyone in our human and pet family is different without him – the dog lays in his old spot on the couch looking forlorn. Home to Heaven also performed his cremation, and his ashes will stay in our home where he can be honored and remembered for the rest of our lives.