Zatoichi (Stickers Bruce Wayne Wolverine) Smith-Northrup 2005-2018

I don't know why the only thing I continue to update on this blog is when our cats pass away, but here we are again. In the summer of 2005, we brought home two cats after visiting Melinda's sister in Houston. One gray and white long-haired male kitten along with his mother, a short-haired calico. The vet estimated he was born in March. By this point, I had settled on the idea that you brainstorm several names for a cat, pick one prominent name, then you keep all the other ideas as middle names.

So Melinda's grand-nephew had been calling him "Stickers" because of his tiny claws. I tried out but quickly passed over "Bruce Wayne" and "Wolverine" because the shape of gray on his face seemed like a superhero mask. The name that stuck was "Zatoichi," which you probably know is a series of Japanese films about a blind swordsman who was also a masseuse, because you're the kind of person who reads my blog.

I think he had a stroke this morning because he fell over and started spinning himself in circles. (I assume he was paralyzed on one side and started pushing with his feet on the side that still worked.) He was gone within minutes.

He's survived by his step-sister Lozie. The second picture on this page is the two of them hanging out together:

















Below is another pic of Z that I got made into a fake bus driver ID, as a joke for Melinda.