Remembering Howard

Howard was a Thanksgiving cat. Under the auspices of his Auntie Agnes, he joined our family in November 1998. After his arrival at our home, child guard latches were installed on the lower cabinet doors in the kitchen and doorknobs replaced the elegant latches on the pantry and exterior doors. The floor space in front of our refrigerator became his special place.

An animal psychic divined that Howard had once been a gamekeeper in Africa who so admired lions that he came back as a cat. When he allowed Panda and her daughter Kodiak into our house, he became the alpha male of their small pride. In later years, he sometimes allowed Panda to share a sunny spot on the back of the couch with him.

He often posed for pictures and enjoyed a brief celebrity in San Francisco’s Japantown when his photograph won third place in a Nichi Bei Times photo contest. Over the years, his image often appeared on the weather page of our local newspaper. In 2005, he became an avatar on the Internet, but preferred real-time activities such as napping or exploring boxes and the kitchen counter. He also made many unique contributions to the hand-knitted accessories of CatKnits.

On September 18, 2007, Howard was diagnosed with inoperable, metastasized abdominal cancer. His leonine spirit lives on in our hearts and we will always be thankful for knowing him.