The Passing of a King



He was sweet tempered, protective, loyal, intelligent, comical, playful, gentle, a fierce fighter, deeply loving, patient, understanding, sensitive,  proud, majestic, a warrior,  stubborn and ornery.  



He bonded with me years ago, and became my closest friend and companion who could almost always coax me out of sad, angry, stressed or depressed moods. He would come and cuddle up with me just for warmth and companionship. He could soothe my wounded feelings, and generally coax a laugh or smile from me when no one else could. 



I  will always feel that the spirit which lived in him was an angelic one. There is no other way I can describe what I felt every time I looked into his eyes. 



He was my cat. His name was Bogus Khan and he lived up to his name. 



Bogus stood about 10 to 11 inches tall(this is my best guess since I never actually measured his height) and measured about 24 inches from head to tail when full grown(Thom and I did measure him a couple of times when he was in a particularly good mood and allowed it). He was jet black with 4 white socks and a large snow white patch on his chest, another large white patch on his underbelly, and had the most beautiful sparkling iridescent eyes, which I have never seen in any other cat in my life. His fur was incredibly soft, thick and silky to the touch, so much so that it was sheer delight to pet him.  He had the sweetest high pitched cry which could deepen into the most frightening low pitched roar you could ever imagine when angry or was issuing a challenge to another cat or any other predator for that matter. Bobcat, hootowl, it didn't matter to him. He had long oversize interlocking incisers that could bite deeply into his opponent.  He had a fighting maneuver that Thom and I named the "flipflop" meaning that when he was fighting another animal he would flip his body back and forth with all four sets of long razor sharp claws coming at his opponent from all different directions. This maneuver, combined with his body power, agility, and blinding speed made him a most deadly opponent. At the very least that maneuver saved his life, once when attacked by an older bobcat out in the Carmel Valley Hills trailer park when he was about 4 years old and later here in Missouri out on AD Road not long after we moved from California to Missouri.



Thom and I were most fortunate to have him for 12 + years before he left this world about 4:30 am Sunday morning October 5th 2003.