The end of an era

Last week, Baci, our dear friend and four-legged family member, died peacefully in his sleep. For those of you who knew Baci, you will agree that he was certainly a unique cat. Not only was he physically striking, but he had a human-like disposition that even non-cat lovers seemed to love. I bought Baci from a breeder in Charleston, South Carolina, while I was working for Pirelli in Columbia. It was 1994 and I was living on my own and was set on getting a female Siamese kitten and naming her Baci (which means kisses in Italian). I remember going to the breeder’s home on Sam Rittenburg Road and upon my arrival, a little white kitten with huge brown ears and bright blue eyes started climbing all over me. The breeder assured me that this little kitten was a girl, so it was decided that she was the one for me. I had my Baci. I immediately took her to my mom’s vet and they said all was well. A few days later, however, Baci started acting puny so I took her into a vet in Columbia to get her checked out. First, the vet informed me that SHE was a HE and that HE had some horrible respiratory infection that he had most likely contracted at the breeder’s home. Traumatized, I took him home to my little duplex on Tugaloo Avenue and nursed him back to health, feeding him with an eye dropper and all! Meanwhile, during his recovery, I called the breeder to warn her that the other cats in her home may very well have the same illness that Baci did. She responded by offering to take Baci back and give me another kitten. I told her no thank you. She then offered to take Baci and nurse him back to health for me. I, of course, declined. I ended the conversation by telling her that I had just called to warn her about the illness for the sake of the other cats and to tell her that she needed to be more careful during the gender assignment of the kittens because I had a he instead of a she. The breeder was by no means happy that I had called. At any rate, even though we had gotten off to a rocky start, Baci and I were a great pair.

Then, I moved to Atlanta and Bucky Wall entered my life. Talk about true love…Baci fell for him immediately! And lucky for Baci, so did I. We quickly became a family along with Patches and Zelda (Bucky’s cats from the before-Jean era). Throughout the years, Bucky and Baci have had a very special relationship with each other. Bucky often refers to Baci as “the son he never had” and luckily for Bucky, cats don’t tend to do sports or go hunting or fishing! In return, Baci idolized Bucky and ran to meet him at the door every evening when Bucky returned from work. If Baci could have, I am sure he would have greeted him with a beer and a pair of slippers! When Bucky went out of town occasionally, Baci would pace inconsolably until he finally exhausted himself and had to go to bed without his dad. Baci slept right next to Bucky every night – he was a little hot water bottle who would patiently move from side to side as Bucky got settled into bed. Those two were definitely in cahoots together…Bucky made special trips to the market to get roasted chicken for Baci and without fail, Baci could convince Bucky to do whatever he wanted him to do, like give him more to eat or let him outside into the sun.

When we moved to Sweden, we decided not to take our cats because the wait to even get into quarantine was months long, so Baci and Zelda stayed with my parents and Patches moved in with Hank and Barb. The cats were fine, and Baci especially loved Bubba, but we were miserable without them, so we decided never to do that again. So, when we decided to move to France, bringing the cats (Baci, Pippi and Licorice at this point) was a top priority. Even though Baci was aged at 15 years old, we wanted him to make the trip. (Besides I don’t think my dad would have been too keen on keeping him again!) Since we were in transition between Lyon and Eygalieres when we first moved here, my parents brought the cats when they came to visit in October. Baci was slow to rally after the long trip, but he bounced back. And even as his health declined while he was here, he fully enjoyed life in sunny Provence. As our friend (and vet!) Doug Berger pointed out, not many cats have that chance!

People often remarked about Baci’s physique…he was slender with an angular face and pointy ears. He was poised and regal and reminded many of an Egyptian sphinx. Like many other Siamese, Baci’s teeth were not great and he basically only had a couple of fangs. We were always perplexed by how he managed to eat with his lack of teeth, but he did. He didn’t talk much, only meowing when totally necessary like when he was closed out of the house and wanted to get back in! Baci was certainly an amenable cat to his feline family members. He was unruffled when faced with both Patches’ dominating personality and Zelda’s quirkiness early in life. Then, he dealt with Pippi’s peculiarities with aplomb. When Licorice decided to join our brood, Baci took that in stride as well. He even remained patient as our new kitten Fanny pounced and leaped on him during the last couple months of his life. He was equally as composed with his human family members…Bucky sometimes pretended that Baci was playing the electric guitar and would gyrate Baci’s front paws all over the place while singing “Born to Be Wild.” Baci would put up with it until Bucky got bored. We also enjoyed squishing Baci’s ears down so that he looked like a little lamb – it always made us laugh and Baci remained stoic. He was such a good sport…

A few months ago, Baci developed renal failure and we knew it was the beginning of the end. We were hopeful that Baci might die on his own and save us from putting him to sleep. And he did just that. The girls and I were in South Carolina and Bucky noticed that Baci stopped eating and figured it was his time. That was Tuesday. We got home on Wednesday and we could tell that Baci wasn’t doing well. I went over to greet him on the windowsill where he was lying in the sun. He raised his head as if to say hello and I heard a small rumbling noise that I thought was a truck outside. I bowed my head to get closer to Baci and realized that the noise was him purring. Even though Bucky was his true love, Baci was happy that his mommy was home. As they say down south, he spent much of that day travellin’. He died that night in his sleep, lying in his favorite spot, snuggled against Bucky in bed. Bucky is convinced that Baci waited for the girls and me to get home before dying. I think he is probably right. Baci was an amazing cat and we were so lucky to have him. We loved him very, very much and he sure loved us too. In fact, Bucky says that he has never had a cat who loved him more. What a lucky guy.


Baci enjoying the sun in Provence!