- she was the softest softest cat on the PLANET, never felt softer fur on any other cat
- she had tufty beans and bunny feet
- she was so expressive with her sounds, especially sounds of dissatisfaction "whyyy" "nooo"
- she would jump up on my desk and puzzle table to get attention "DEEAAATH"
- she would run all over the house chasing mosquito hawks and flies. We used to joke that when we go away and have a sitter come, just have them release a couple flies inside the apartment every day to keep her busy
- her favorite moves were flop-and-roll and snacks-and-snuggles, and she REALLY loved the belly rubs and armpit scritches
- she was OBSESSED with the cowhide on the futon at the cabin and would roll around on it nonstop
- when she was little, she was also obsessed with Chim Chune's towel and would frequently pull it off the back of my chair to roll around on it and shove her face deep into it
- she always preferred ripping at toys once she got them in her paws, over batting at them
- after we put the carpet squares down, she seemed to really enjoy sitting on them as her special spot and using them as scratch pads
- Akiko Doubledaggerfang. Nuff said.
- whenever we were gone and she felt lonely, she would drag all of her rope toys into my closet, the braided rope and the rope with the blue bunny and the sushi wand
- sometimes she would bring the braided rope to bed in the middle of the night too
- she would expectantly look at Chim Chune for lap time and would jump up even if the blanket wasn't ready
- one time she was being super chatty and Chim Chune asked her who her favorite dictator was, and she immediately went silent "you're right Kiko! The best dictator is no dictator"
- since Chim Chune cooks mostly vegan, the sniffing and looks of growing excitement and then absolute begging whenever we cooked fish
- despite the anticipation of fish, her favorite treat was probably a dove breast that she dragged to a corner and then completely demolished, devouring the bones and all
- she had a huge fluffy raccoon tail and a wobbly belly but really wasn't overweight
- I became so attuned to the sound of her jingle jangle bell coming up the stairs. I'm worried I'll be hallucinating the sound for a terribly long time after.
- I loved watching her eat kibble, the way she would scoop kibble directly from the puzzle feeder to her mouth and keep pawing and spinning the wobble toy around and around
- she liked to be with us when we were eating, so she would either snack on the grass when it was on the windowsill, eat kibble, or watch us from her perch
- she would bust into the bathroom like a linebacker knocking down a door and immediately jump in the tub when we were done showering "this is a human conversation! No cats allowed" "MEOOWWW"
- when she first came home, she immediately established Akiko's Room and Akiko's Orange Chair
- she constantly wanted to bump noses before, during, and after naps
- every time she wanted to snuggle if I was in or on the bed, it was an immediate flop up against me and motorboat purring
- it made it kind of hard to shift around in our sleep or in the morning, but I wouldn't trade the warm bulk of her body for anything
- she went crazy for the Whidbey Island catnip mouse and the orange tassels wand...top tier toys
- she liked to sit in the pots with the jaboticaba when it was small and she was small, and then later in the kiwi pot when she was bigger
- speaking of plants, she would obsessively try to eat any and all spider plants within reach (lil druggie) and even nibbled at the freesia leaves, the latter probably out of curiosity
- she liked being held so that she could hang her arms over the crook of my arm and streeeeeeetch out
- in fact, her whole body liked to stretch, she was such a loooong cat when sleeping with her arms out, body elongated, back legs kicked up a bit
- she would lay on my neck in a half-strangle every morning for hours if I would let her
- she was still warm when I found her, and I held her against me until she passed. I hope she knew mommy was there to comfort her until she was gone.
