After 15+ years full of adventure, our cat Boo has finally used up his 9 lives.

When we adopted him 13 years ago, he already had some scars from life on the streets. But he was friendly, energetic, and loved to sleep in the most ridiculous places.

Life on the streets gave him a real food -scarcity complex. Unattended food would quickly be swiped. We often found half eaten cucumbers on the ground. The one time we tried leaving dry food out for him he ate until he puked and then ended up with an expensive bladder infection.

For the first 8 years he was an indoor cat who longed to be outside. Twice he caught birds while sitting on our balcony. We tried letting him out on a leash, but that only intensified his desire to explore, and he would spend hours mewing and scratching at the door.

When we moved into a ground-floor townhouse, we considered letting him explore outside more. But before we could really decide, we left to Manitoba to ride out the early pandemic days and left him with a house sitter. He escaped several times and disappeared for days. When we got home, we had an outdoor cat.

Sometimes he would go for walks with us. Often he spent his nights outside hunting mice at the bakery next door. He would return with gifts for us in the morning, usually live ones that he would eat in front of us when it was clear we weren’t interested.

A lot of people complain outdoor cats are bad for birds, but Boo did a great job keeping the mice population in check.

I’ve spent most of the past 4 years working from home and it was comforting having him around to keep me company.

A month ago Boo didn’t come home after a night adventuring. We looked everywhere and canvassed our neighbours. He just disappeared without a trace, which I think means a coyote got him – they were active and brazen in January.

I miss him and still find myself looking for him when I get up in the morning. Astrid is also sad, but also wants a new cat. We’re going to wait a bit.

More photos.