All About Boodie

Summer remembers Boodie, and tells a little about her life.

Boodie came into my human’s life sometime before February 2002. You rarely saw her on the blog because she was a bit shy. When my human first met her, at a rescue where she volunteered for a time, she was semi feral. She and her sister had been dumped in a box and left in the parking lot of a vet clinic the rescue worked with. They were five months old and hissed in fear at everyone. My human discovered that the one way to connect with them was through playing with fishing pole-style toys. Playing was the only way they would interact with people.

My human’s soul cat passed away in February, 2002. She already had Binga, and she didn’t want her getting used to being an only cat. (Because, Binga.) She already had plans to bring home a Somali kitten in a few months. So in the meantime, she brought home Boodie as a foster to help socialize her. By then, Boodie was nine months old.

Well, the rescue never took her back. They called for her once for an interested adopter, who didn’t take her. And then my human never heard from the rescue again. So she wound up with Boodie by default.

ragdoll mix cat playing with somali kitten

Boodie was never much of a people cat, although she got used to my human and her then-boyfriend. She much preferred the company of other cats. When my human eventually did bring home Sparkle, the Somali kitten she had been waiting for, and founder of this blog, Boodie was the one who became her friend first, before Binga. (Because, Binga.)

Boodie was a very quirky cat. She didn’t really meow. She made weird, sort of space alien noises. After trying for a long time, my human eventually was able to capture this on a video in 2011.

ragdoll mix cat playing

Boodie never got tired of playing for her whole life. One of her favorite games (other than the fishing pole toys) was to find a fuzzy toy and carry it around in her mouth, screaming loudly (the only time she was ever loud). Usually she did this at around 3 in the morning.

ragdoll mix cat flopped on her back

When she wasn’t playing, she could often be found just like this. She was a very floppy cat, which makes sense because she was some sort of ragdoll mix. My human suspects she may have come from an unethical backyard breeder that dumped her when nobody bought her.

ragdoll cat amazed at all her leftover fur after grooming

Boodie had cottony fur that matted easily, had a thick coat, and it was always a chore to groom her.

ragdoll cat after grooming, with somali cat

She did clean up really nicely. Like me, she didn’t mind having her claws trimmed. Unlike Binga, who would scream like she was being murdered.

Even though Boodie was shy and often hid from strangers until she was much older, she was actually featured in a video! My human shot it as part of a sponsored post. Sparkle and Binga were in it, but Boodie got the best scenes. That was also in 2011

Although she was arthritic and deaf the last few years of her life, Boodie kept enjoying sun puddles, and playing loudly with toys in the middle of the night. Up until about a week ago, she was doing okay, and only slowing down gradually but not much. But then she stopped eating and within a few days, lost interest in doing anything at all. The vet that came to our house said it could be any number of things, but it was likely congestive heart failure. It was her time, so we let her go.

somali cat, ragdoll cat, and tortoiseshell cat

It’s odd to think that the original gang who started off with this blog are all gone now.

somali cat after ragdoll cat was put down

The vet had to work with us outside because of Covid, and after she left and Boodie was gone, I spent a lot of time smelling the blanket she had been lying on. Even though Boodie was not a noisy cat (except at 3 A.M.), the house is very quiet without her.