Gigabyte

Many people have commented on how Gigabyte's name fit him, but he had to grow into it. I adopted him when he was just 6 weeks old. His mother was a barn cat, killed by coyotes when he was 3 weeks old. My parisitology professor, Dr. Foreyt, had kids who hand raised Gig and his two siblings until they were old enough to adopt out. I remember having to lock Gig in the bathroom of my trailer in Pullman when i was gone, because he was so small I was afraid Bob would mistake him for a mouse and do him in. Gigabyte did eventually grow from a scrawny little kitten into his 18.5 # self (though Tony always called him the 20 pounder) and Tony always loved in when people said "wow, that's the biggest cat I have ever seen! He was occasionally allowed outside with supervision, and though he was fairly content indoors, he occasionally did sneak out - however he would quickly get scared and end up hiding under the trailer or deck or garage until someone came with a can of pounce! He was a very loving cat, and was quite amenable to all of our new additions. He helped Kitten groom and provided a pillow for kaitlyn (many times!). he even tolerated Matt's not so gentle pets, and could be occasionally seen sleeping next to Hamish (the dog). He even tried to make friends with a lizard once. He was Tony's favorite cat for many reasons, probably highest among them that he was our only cat who never once peed outside the litterbox. He liked cheetos and milk, and well lots of human food and cat food and occasionally dog food. Gigabyte saved many lives in his time as a blood donor, and though she only ever took one unit at a time, I still remember Cheryl (the wisconsin blood donor nurse) calling him her two unit cat.

Gigabyte lost a short but intense battle with acute renal failure and likely cancer on December 13th. He was a wonderful cat who will be missed intensely, but he left behind many wonderful memories to help us through.