Nibbler - The Best Cat Ever (June 2009 - January 2026)

 

This past Tuesday we laid our sweet Nibbler to rest after finding out his entire abdomen was full of cancer. Though it couldn't have happened in one day, he'd seemed like his sweet little self just the day before. I never thought when I took him to the vet because he wasn't purring and seemed "off" that I would end up needing to put him down that same evening. While we knew he was old and that his passing was a possibility, we honestly expected to have a few more years with him. It came as a bit of a shock to us, and I'm still mourning his loss. Writing this post is helping me move forward with wonderful memories of the joy and love and fun he brought to our home. 

I wrote several posts about Nibbler before we had kids, so I'm going to leave links to those posts and then include my favorite photos and experiences with him.

1st post about Nibbler

2nd post about Nibbler and how he interacted with the other cats

3rd post about Nibbler

4th post about Nibbler and how we decided to spend lots of money in order to save his life

5th post about Nibbler and how we first got him

6th post about Nibbler and how he made our other cats into better cats

7th post about Nibbler and how his surgery and recovery went

He was so small and adorable when we brought him home. He looked so cute on the perch, especially once Leela warmed up to him and started mothering him.

I remember how much fun he had sitting near the computer monitor watching the mouse move. I also loved how he would cuddle all over us. I'd hoped for a lap cat, which he was. But he was just as likely to sit on my chest or neck or shoulder or legs as on my lap. His preference was to climb or jump directly to our chests. I'd never known there were cats that actually enjoyed being held!

It was so cute when he tried to climb the Christmas tree and played with the ornaments. And it was so sweet when I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms just like a baby. No matter how old he was, he always wanted to be our baby.

It took a few months, but it was worth the wait to see them all cuddling together for the first time. 

The cuteness continued, and he taught himself to play fetch with milk carton ties.

He was very playful, even trying to chew Oscar's shoelaces while he was wearing them.

He excelled at making himself comfortable wherever he was. Who knew there were so many comfy places to sit in our 1 bedroom apartment with two other cats vying for position?!

This was just so cute - sitting on Oscar's computer keyboard. It's a very effective way to say "pet me."

His little face was so adorable. And we loved seeing him cuddle with Fry and Leela.  

He was still cute even with his stomach shaved and stapled. He recovered so well and was so active after surgery that a couple staples fell off on their own. 

Here he's jumping right to my chest while I was playing the Wii, and Leela had no issue with him just straddling her. They're looking at me like "what?"

This middle photo is when I was pregnant with Tyler and fell asleep on the couch. He plopped himself on my shoulder and fell asleep with me. 

We cat sat a friend's cat name Selleck for about 5 months. Nibbler did not get along with him for over a month (they were both dominant males), but he eventually learned to tolerate him. They never cuddled together, though, like he did with the other cats. They'd just sit near each other.

In spite of being the smallest, he was always picking on the other cats just for the fun of it.

When Tyler was born, Nibbler was unwilling to be left out of the snuggles.

When we held our babies, he wanted to be held too.

He even figured out how to sit on me while I was nursing. And when daddy was playing with Tyler, he'd hop right up between them. 

He adjusted well to a very grabby Tyler.

He claimed all the baby stuff as his own. At least Tyler didn't mind.

At most he would walk away if Tyler bugged him, but he never hissed, bit, scratched or retaliated against him. 

Whenever he saw us getting comfy, he'd cozy up and get comfy too.

This was one of my favorite moments. I was in bed holding Allison and he came up for pets too. At first he tried climbing on her like she was part of my chest, but I moved him over to the side. He got the message that he couldn't climb on her, but he still put his paw on her back, and she gave a little smile.

He often came up while I had Allison on me. And when I didn't have her with me, he and Leela merged into one large cat with two heads.

As Allison got older she loved having him nearby to pet and snuggle with too.

Oscar bought a poof for us, but the cats all claimed it immediately.

He was a VERY tolerant cat!

When Amy came to visit, he loved on her and on her sandals. 

He was often on the changing table, so Allison would cuddle and play with him when she was put up there.

Here she's even sitting on him and squealing with delight over it. Did I mention how tolerant he was?!

He was not to be left out of cuddles while I was reading to Allison.

It wasn't long before she was treating him like a living pillow.

One night we realized we couldn't find him and suspected he was in Allison's room. We turned on the camera to see he'd jumped into the crib! What could have been a parent's worst nightmare just resulted in him nuzzling her and making biscuits next to her head.

He may not have loved it all the time, but he came to accept his new role as Allison's pillow.

Usually he would want to interact with me and make biscuits on my neck, but often if I fell asleep, he'd curl up and sleep next to me. 

Sometimes he'd wrap himself completely around my neck like a giant scarf.

When we'd clean our couch cover, he'd climb to the top of it.

These photos were from his last months in our Washington house.

He did not love the move to Colorado, but it wasn't long before he was finding new soft places to snuggle.

We'd tried letting him be outside in the yard to give Fry some company. He adjusted to it but was never a fan of it. He did love sitting in all our new windowsills, especially with the curtains closed behind him.

He found the sink the first time he went to the vet in Colorado.

Here he is giving me some sweet cuddles after Fry passed away. 

Nibbler loved when we were sick and spent all day in bed. Those were some of his favorite days.

He'd liked the cat tree we had at our old house, but he never took to the one we bought here. He only showed an interest in it when Leela was on it. After she passed, he didn't care about it at all.

Here he is snuggling with me, Tyler and Oscar's shoes, and a random Christmas gift.

In Colorado he discovered many sun spots in our house. We'd often find him on the piano or on the stairs just soaking up all the sunlight.

When Oscar was painting and had to cover the furniture with fabric, he found a way to still be comfortable on his favorite chair. He'd also climb up to the bathtub to be near Oscar while he took a bath.

He even climbed up on mom when she came to visit. 

I loved when he would hug me with both paws around my neck. Even if his claws were sharp, it was just so sweet!

Whatever's on the bed is where he's going to sit, whether it's perfectly made or covered in laundry.

He remained fun and playful even in his old age.

My piano playing was not going to stop him from getting his loves!

He's always known how to get the loves he wants ever since he was a kitten. He'd just go right up and take them notwithstanding anything we were already doing.

For a long time my neck was his favorite place, but after we moved to Colorado it quickly became daddy's armpit. 

He really enjoyed rubbing against and eating flowers, which is typically more of a young cat thing. He also had a preference for men when we'd have guests over.

At 15 years old, he discovered a new game - whacking balls we tossed at him. 

A few months ago he started putting his paw on Oscar's finger while getting "pit."

The inflatable ball we'd been tossing to him got punctured by his claws, but he was more than happy with the foam ball replacements we picked up for him.

We became more willing to give him human food as he got older. Here he is really trying to chew threw a piece of steak.

I fell back asleep on my side while cuddling him one morning. When I woke up I found him sitting across my neck.

While we were doing Lego organizing, he ran up and found a small spot of table to sit in. However, he couldn't figure out how to get out. Silly kitty!

These photos are the last ones we captured of him happy before finding out we'd need to say "goodbye." For some reason he became more interested in watching TV during those final months.

Although Nibbler was given a clean bill of health after his last vet visit in August, somewhere along the way he started to decline sharply and just did a great job of hiding it from us. After avoiding us all day on January 6th, I finally noticed him run under our bed limping. When I pulled him out (which he typically tolerates and starts purring as soon as he's in my arms), he meowed in protest. We put him gently on the bed and pet him, but he never purred and his breathing was labored. As a cat who normally purrs on demand, the fact that he wasn't purring was a huge red flag. The only time that happened before was when he ate something he shouldn't have, so I rushed him to the vet thinking something similar must have happened. They took X-rays, and the vet came back with bad news - his abdomen was so full of fluid that he couldn't even see most of his organs. He'd lost 1.5 pounds since his last visit, and he was having to heave his whole abdomen just to breathe. He was also dripping snot from his nose constantly without even sneezing. We can't know for sure without blood work, but his best guess was that it was an aggressive leukemia or lymphoma. The vet said the cancer had likely spread back to his leg, which is why he was limping. It was either send him immediately off to the emergency room to spend $15,000+ with no guarantee we'd come home with our cat or say goodbye. I called Oscar and the kids and we all gave him some final pets before he was given drugs to make him as comfortable as possible and then euthanized.

These photos are shortly after he passed. He was so small that it was difficult for them to get to his vein in order to give him the euthanasia. The kids wanted me to take some last pictures of them with him after he passed, even if they were crying in them. 

I will miss him more than I can possibly express. He was our baby before we had babies, and even after that he never wanted to stop being our baby. He made the other cats into better cats modelling for them what ideal cat behavior is. He loved to be held and hugged, and if we were holding our babies, he wanted to be held too. He was a constant in our lives for 16+ years, and the house feels empty without him. It hurts so much, and I'm not sure when this gaping hole in my heart will heal, but I'm grateful for all the cuddles and loves we've had with him. I'm grateful that Oscar took me on a random trip to the Kent Animal shelter in 2009 where I could have my pick of several kittens but ended up being immediately smitten by the first one I saw. How lucky are we to have had 16+ years with a 1 in a million cat!