Kooger O.T.

[Palm crazy]

Just wanted everyone to know, that knew Kooger that he was very sick the last 6 weeks and even though he was on some pretty heavy medication he pass away last night around 7pm at home. He was a remarkable pet and will truly be missed by many.

He didn't suffer to much but had real hard time breathing.

Kooger lived a long happy life at 19 years 3 months old. Kooger R.I.P. He will truly be missed by me.

Kooger 2011 Click on photo's to play.

Kooger 2012 during snow storm....Thanks for looking.

Edited September 10, 2012 by Palm crazy

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Sorry Roger. He looked like a cool member of the family.

[DoomsDave]

Sorry to hear. But, it sounds like Kooger had a long, good loving run. 19 years is a while.

[Stevetoad]

im really sorry to hear this news. i always looked forward to seeing the updates of your garden with him leading the way.

[Palm crazy]

Thanks everyone for the nice words and thoughts, but to tell you the truth I am ok with his passing. I wish him terribly and will also, but he is always in my heart and that's all that matters.

Here something a good friend wrote about kooger, (roommate). Thank again everyone.

Kooger the Bobcat (Born July 1993, Bovey, Minnesota - Died September 9, 2012, Olympia, Washington) We ask that if anyone has any photos of him if they could post them on this page so that we can show co-workers, friends and relatives. We do not have a lot of photos. We have both lost many photos in pc crashes and had very few posted to photo sites.

IT IS WITH GREAT SADNESS, BUT JOY IN REMEMBRANCE, that I report the passing of a real gentleman, Kooger the Bobcat. Anyone who has lost a pet they dearly loved who was a member of the family can relate to this loss. However, Kooger was more than just a pet. He was a majestic animal and we will never get over this loss. He was a celebrity, well loved and personally greeted by hundreds of people in his lifetime. He had a companion Canadian lynx named BoBo who passed away six years ago. Kooger was a people cat, more gregarious and engaging than any dog you might imagine and way more people-oriented than a regular feline. He was very upset if people came into the yard and did not acknowledge him. He was interested in everyone. He gave everyone a friendly chirp when they came up to his cage, and if he really liked you he would turn around and mark you with his scent. He was impossible not to notice as he was bigger than life itself. Kooger and Bo enjoyed an expansize two-story kennel that takes up much of my yard, built around a 120 year-old cherry tree that was even taller. Kooger and Bo would spend much time playing together in the cage and jumping up into the tree. But Kooger’s main interest was people. He loved long hair of both women and men, and beards were his favorite. His favorite thing was to smell arm pits, which he would be very passionate about---so much that you might get a love bite. Over all the years while people would warn me about the dangers of a wild animal and what was I thinking letting these cats move in, he never bit anyone (except the love bite in the armpit of a friend of mine) plus when Colleen Wasner walked into the cage with rabbit fur slippers, he bit into her foot. But Kooger as it turns out was such a good boy with the best of behavior one could hope for, and who gregariously mingled in the yard with whoever I might invite over. There are no words that could adequately express the significance of our feline friend since he was a fixture, inseparable from the garden and the Grugan-Myers House. My friend, and former roommate who lived with Kooger, Susan Lasiter, said it best in a text message to me earlier today: “This brings great sadness to me - I have singularly known you & Roger & Kooger as one presence. My experience with you three and the house and plants is One. My love for this One is combined with much soul & memory.”

Kooger had a purpose for living on this planet. He was here to evolve just like people. He came to live this life of domesticity so that he could feel the love of people. So that he could evolve into the higher expression. He still had his animal instincts, yet he took an interest in people’s emotions and could read them well. There were only two people in his lifetime who came into the yard who he would growl at and didn’t feel good about, but everyone else who had the opportunity to meet him, he just loved. Kooger was so friendly and lovable that when people met him, they would say “I want one.” There were many people who we encouraged NOT to order one, explaining what a great responsibility they are and how long of a life they have, and what a lifetime commitment that it is. When BoBo died six years ago, Roger made the decision not to replace him as a companion. It would have been very difficult for Kooger, used to being the boss, to adjust to a new younger feline challenging him. However, Kooger was so people oriented he seemed to do just fine and had plenty of visitors and fun cat toys to play with. Roger would frequently bring him out into the yard during the workday, and you did not bring Kooger back to the cage until Kooger was ready. He did not like to be rushed.

When we left his body at the vet for cremation, it was not as difficult as we had thought, because we knew it was only the shell--the vehicle from which he would learn about life and communicate and feel the love, which is the only thing that he took with him. Now he will be with BoBo, hunting in their happy hunting ground, and running and playing until such time as he is ready to move on, like we all do.

Kooger came into my life in January 1996. I had a good friend named Roger who was introduced to me by a friend due to our mutual interest in tropical gardening. Roger at the time was in a rental situation where he would have to give up his two feral felines, Kooger and Bo. My parents helped me buy my house at a young age. I had previously had so many roommates (19 of them) come and go, but I welcomed Roger to move in. Never did I realize that 15 years later Roger would still be living here. Not only did I benefit from his collection of semi-tropical plants but also welcomed two additional permanent roommates: BoBo, the Canadian Lynx (lynx canadensis), who passed on six years ago, and Kooger, the Bobcat (lynx rufous). Together those two creatures brought great joy to my home, as well as my previous beloved domestic feline, Kunta Kitte, who disappeared when he was 17 years old, and Susan’s cat, Luna, who is buried behind the waterfall.

-Bill

[kahili]

19 years is such a long time to know and care about anybody, let alone a pet. What a huge loss to lose such a great companion. I do know how hard it is to watch them in decline and to have a certain "relief" that that part of their life is over. Kooger had a really wonderful life with you two-it doesn't get any better, and I wish I could have had the experience of meeting him. It sounds like he brought joy and wonder to all that met him (except the slippers...lol that was funny). Rest in peace Kooger-you were loved

[Tassie_Troy1971]

very sorry to hear about kooger

I remember seeing him in alot of your garden pictures Rodger .

Danylle and i have a big cat called Hunky and we know how attached one grows !

[DoomsDave]

very sorry to hear about kooger

I remember seeing him in alot of your garden pictures Rodger .

Danylle and i have a big cat called Hunky and we know how attached one grows !

Hunky looks a tad chunky . . .

[Palm crazy]

Thanks you, all of you. That means a lot to me during this time.

I have lots of great memories and funny stories of them playing together and getting into things. LOL! I had 19 years 3months with kooger and I could't be happier for that. And 11 years with Bobo the lynx, (who was the baby of the family really.) But kooger was the one people always fell in love with because he had no fear of people, and both of them only knew love from us humans. I would not have traded a million dollars for the two of them, basically they were like my kids.

I can say from experience having him with me 24 hours after his death was the best medicine for me. Gave me time to really grieve. And the video's I have of him are so comforting.

Thanks everyone I feel much better !!!!