It is with deep sadness in our hearts that we share that our beloved Kiki passed away last week (Monday, July 29th) after nearly 16 years of full time nomadic adventures with us.
The boat feels so empty without her.
Kiki conquered our hearts back in November 2008. We had stopped in to visit our friend Martha on her ranch in Oregon while traveling up the coast in our small Oliver Travel Trailer.
As soon as we sat down to dinner, three tiny baby kittens crawled up into Cherie’s lap – and Martha asked us if we wanted a cat.
We knew in an instant what the answer would be, even though it took a while for our logical heads to catch up with our enraptured hearts.
These three kittens had been found abandoned in the ranch’s chicken coop at just a week or two old – and were presumably orphaned barn cats, with a mom lost to coyotes. The chickens seemed a bit clueless as to how to nurse kittens, so Martha and her kids had taken them in – originally needing to bottle feed them.
When we arrived to the ranch – they were roughly seven weeks old, and quite rambunctious.
The kids had named them: Kiki (after the animated Miyazaki classic Kiki’s Delivery Service!), Simon, and Bear.
It didn’t take more than a moment for us to start deciding which of the three kittens we might audition to join our journey.
We observed and interacted with them all, but the one named Kiki kept catching our attention.
She was spunky and curious, but just a tad bit more reserved than her siblings before just pouncing into mischief. She seemed to have the right personality for a cat that would be constantly exposed to new things living on the road.
But could we actually take on a cat in our tiny little trailer?
We both identified as cat people – so we had a strong desire to find a way to make it work.
When we had first hit the road together in 2007 – Cherie left behind her cat Alma with a loving ex. Alma just wasn’t made for road life. Chris had lived with cats some before too – though a history of cat allergies made him wary. Would a new cat trigger him?
When we initially set off we were in an even smaller trailer that barely had room for two humans – so a traveling cat was at first out of the question.
But once we upgraded to the slightly larger Oliver travel trailer – we had actually been occasionally discussing the possibility of allowing ourselves to be adopted.
If the right cat came along….
And here she was – hopping right into our laps!
To test the waters, we brought Kiki out to our trailer to spend a work day with us to see how she liked it. She took one look around, and said ‘Hi, I’m home – I own you now.’
She certainly seemed happy with the tiny living space.
So we decided to take each other out for a test run.
We bought the necessary supplies and made plans for Kiki to join us for a few weeks on the road, to make sure she thrived in the small space – and that Chris would be able to keep his allergies in check. If it didn’t work out – Martha assured us Kiki would be welcome back at the ranch.
On that initial trip, Kiki rocked it – and there were no allergic reactions at all.
To seal the deal – Kiki got officially inducted into technomadic life by the original Technomad, Steve Roberts, himself.
And that was that – she became part of Technomadia.
Some might even say, she became Technomadia.
Here is her first adorable appearance on our YouTube channel, way back in 2009:
Kiki’s Technomadic Adventures
There weren’t too many examples of nomadic cats online back then, so we had no idea how it might work traveling with a cat. But she seemed to be made for it.
She quickly shifted from wanting to ride in her carrier, to sitting on one of our laps or shoulders as the other drove.
We kept her adaptable by constantly introducing her to new environments, other pets, and their people. We wanted her comfortable anywhere she went.
She was always the most curious when we arrived at a new location. As soon as we would start backing into a new campsite – she’d be standing to look out the window, ready to have her leash clipped so she could go explore.
She’d always be eager to go for a walk around the campground, or find connecting trails.
A cat on a leash was constantly drawing attention of other campers – ‘Is that a cat on a leash???’.
She quickly became the most social of our household, wanting to interact with others and let them love on her.
Dogs didn’t intimidate her one bit, unless they non-consensually sniffed her butt. Ask a lady first!
Only two things seemed to scare her – vacuum cleaners, and over-excited little girls charging towards her at campgrounds screaming “look at that kitty on a string!”.
She was a ferocious hunter too – gobbling up lizards by the score, and offering to handle any mice problems she encountered.
And in 2013, Kiki returned to Martha’s ranch for a family reunion too.
Some Adventures & Misadventures….
Kiki’s general comfort and curiosity have gotten her in trouble more than once.
One particular heart stopping encounter was when she chased a grasshopper and ended up pouncing on a rattlesnake in Colorado – getting bitten on the face.
We probably set a speed record driving down a twisty mountain road to get her to a university veterinary hospital. Fortunately – she recovered quickly, and was fine (and more wary of snakes) by the next morning.
And then there was the time she fell overboard while at anchor on the St. Johns River, right after Chris had the drone up – spotting a huge alligator swimming around the boat. It didn’t take him but a split second to jump in to swim after her, and Cherie followed closely behind with the paddle board to rescue them both.
There was a LOT of adrenaline pumping in all three of us that day!
And then there were the two separate times that she caught bats that came aboard our boat.
They seem to fly right into her mouth!
Kiki has joined us for many festivals and events, and we often successfully lobbied event organizers with ‘Leave the pets at home’ rules to officially welcome her, considering that Kiki was at “home” wherever she happened to be parked.
No matter where we took her – she always “loved” to dress up for special occasions.
There were only a few times we ever found ourselves needing to travel without her – on cruises, or train trips. When we did – Kiki would stay with her grandmeows or other friends along the way.
But mostly, she traveled with us.
She has traveled by RV, boat, ferry, train, car, and airplane. She’s visited 48 states, Canada, and she even moved with us to the US Virgin Islands for a season.
She was quite the adventure cat!
But she was also a working cat – she co-founded the Mobile Internet Resource Center, and she was our chief bandwidth tester. When we needed to burn through gigabytes of cellular or satellite data, we just needed to search YouTube for “Bird Videos for Cats” and she would be entranced for hours sucking down 4K streams.
Kiki worked her way up the ranks – she was initially dubbed Major (Major Underfoot, that is), then promoted to Captain Underfoot. And by the time she was 10, she had earned the designation of Admiral – now that she was in charge of a nomadic fleet, plus her crew.
There were a LOT of projects for her to oversee with so many vehicles to be responsible for.
She loved life in her bus, on her boat, and traveling by van.
She was always the most happy when at home, with her people – no matter where that home happened to be.
Her Robot Love
Kiki loved her people.
But she also loved food.
And if her people were not providing it – she would find ways to encourage them.
She knew how to spin paper towel holders to unravel an entire roll, and then shred it – making noise until someone came to check her art project, and then reward her with food.
Or she would bang the window blinds in the morning – swatting them as if she was ringing a dinner bell.
Or sometimes she would stick her paw into our sleeping mouths – “your mouth is full, mine is empty. Let’s fix this situation…”
To make it so we could sleep through the night – we enlisted a helper. A robotic feeder that would keep Kiki company in the early mornings, serving her breakfast.
She loved loved loved her robot friend – and even learned how to hack it to get extra food.
And she trained us humans well too – she would do “the cute thing” every afternoon, standing on her hind legs and then giving us a high five to get her daily wet food delivery.
It was the highlight of our day – and she was a little hoover who (almost) always left her bowls empty.
The Warning Signs
A few weeks back we noticed that Kiki wasn’t always finishing her overnight kibble.
When a food obsessed cat starts leaving food uneaten – we began to worry.
Since it was at first only the dry food she wasn’t eating – we suspected it might be a tooth issue.
She had recently had a checkup and bloodwork, and as far as we knew she was in excellent health for a nearly 16 year old cat.
But we wanted to get her checked out ASAP – especially when we noticed her belly was starting to noticeably swell too.
We had just departed Wilmington when her appetite dropped precipitously, so we made a u-turn to get back to Port City Marina downtown where we had access to a vehicle, a secure marina slip, and ample electricity for all-day air conditioning.
We got Kiki in to Banfield for an urgent checkup, and the vet came out after giving Kiki a checkup and an X-ray and told us that her teeth were fine but that it appeared that there was serious fluid buildup happening in her abdomen.
“If this was my cat, I would take her to the ER right away”.
Yikes – our hearts dropped.
We dashed over – and the local veterinary ER hospital kept Kiki overnight for an ultrasound, fluid sampling, and further diagnostics.
It was so hard to leave her there, not knowing what might be wrong.
The vet let us know the next morning that he suspected an aggressive cancer.
We took Kiki home and waited a week for further test results to come back, but her appetite just continued to decrease and we knew it was not looking good.
The further tests ruled out anything easily treatable.
Any further diagnostics or treatment paths for the cancer would be extremely invasive, and even the best outcomes would at most buy her just a little extra time.
We knew all we could do was to make her as comfortable as possible.
We took her back to the ER and the vet drained 1.6 lbs of fluid, 10% of her body weight. That helped a lot and she stabilized for a while – but we knew her time was near.
As her appetite continued to dwindle away – we tried dozens of different treats and food options to keep getting nourishment into her.
We didn’t know whether we had days or weeks left. At times she seemed to stabilize – and we briefly fantasized that we might have months. But then her appetite vanished completely, and we knew it was almost time.
We soaked up every moment we could with her.
On Sunday, July 28 – with her not having eaten anything in 24-hours, we could see that she was beginning to become uncomfortable.
She let us know the time had come, so we contacted LapofLove.com to make the hard but loving choice of scheduling in-home euthanasia the next morning.
We enjoyed one final loving day together, before we helped her with her transition.
And then the tears flowed for days.
We had to get used to the hole in our hearts, and the emptiness on our chests where she once snuggled us every day.
It has been a bit over a week now – and we are only just starting to feel a little back to normal.
We know many of you have followed along for a long time, and Kiki has been a part of your lives too. So we welcome the warm embrace of our Technomadia community as we celebrate Kiki’s life together.
Thank you for being here all these years, and being a part of our lives – and hers.
Admiral Kiki “Kikinator” Potato Head
Oct 10, 2008 – July 29, 2024
Always In Our Hearts
To read all of Kiki’s blog posts, visit her Kiki’s Corner.
Here’s a quick video montage we put together for her YouTube fans:
I read this post when you first posted it, but I came back to revisit because we are now going through the same thing with our kitty. She traveled with us for 9 years and was such a great adventurer. Our kitty is now 13 and started exhibiting the signs, like she stopped eating maybe 2 weeks ago. The vet diagnosed her with cancer last week. She has deteriorated quickly since then and we have an appointment with Lap of Love tomorrow morning. We are devastated and I think you know exactly how we’re feeling right now.
Keeping you guys in our thoughts as your transit this journey.. Lap of Love is such a blessing to help with the process. We miss Kiki everyday, and cherish those last moments with her.
My husband, Ed and I are from your SKP Saguaro family. We have talked to you briefly on a couple of occasions. We don’t know you personally, even though we live up one row from the Clubhouse near you. This park is a huge community. and it’s hard to get to know everyone well. We were sad to see your Kiki went to the Rainbow Bridge, although I’m sure she will wait patiently for you there. We have our “Sir” Emmett Baglehound who is 16 1/2. He has travelled the country with us from Benson to many points beyond, including Canada and Mexico. He has learned to tolerate us in our Ram Tellaro van that is similar to your Blooper. He definitely prefers the spaciousness of our Benson fifth wheel and casita, though. Although, he still gets around pretty well, we know his time is nearing. Thanks for you article. It will help us transition when his time comes. Safe travels. Hope to see you in Benson soon.
I am so, so sorry to read about your precious Kiki’s passing. You gave her a wonderful life filled with love and adventures. We just had to have Peaceful Pet Passages come to our camper for our 16 year old Yorkie, Levi Jack. His dementia got too bad for his little brain. We understand the sadness and grief. Be gentle on yourselves.
My deepest condolences on your loss. As a cat owner and lover virtually my entire life I know how tough it is to lose a kitty and wish you comfort as you cope. Be sure to remember that Kiki had a wonderful run and you gave her a fantastic, loving, fun life!
My deepest condolences, and thank you for sharing her life well lived with all of us
Tears
Virtual hugs
I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. Kiki was such an inspiration to us when we decided to start RVing with our cat. She (and you two) provided insight and advice. So we made the leap with our 17 year old boy and he traveled with us for 2 years. His time came to an end just weeks ago, so we share in your pain but know that all the years of love we gave and received will outweigh our sadness over time.
A.A. Milne said it best:
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard….”
Hugs to both of you.
I read this as soon as it came out, and I cried with you, but couldn’t put together any words. I loved reading Kiki’s story. But really there aren’t any words I can say to make it better. Just know that there are many of us out here who have been pet parents and we know what it is to grieve the loss of a fur baby. Admiral Kiki was such a special girl, even those of us that never met her will miss her. Hugs from Colorado.
Kiki was one of the lucky ones in that she knew she was loved every day of her life. Thanks for providing such a loving home for Kiki. I just gave my two extra kisses and hugs tonight in Kiki’s honor.
I am moved to tears, mixed happy and sad. What a beautiful tribute you both wrote celebrating her life and impact on your hearts and funny bones. The last portrait of her is stunning! Rest well Kiki in the cradle of light and may your next adventure be as amazing.
What a beautiful tribute to your beloved cat who was such an important part of your life. Wishing you both the best. So sorry for your loss.
Kiki was a wonderful companion, a beautiful cat, and a great friend to all who met her. Every time I think of her absence, my heart gets heavy and sad. Much love to you both as you miss her daily. May her memories bless you always.
Thank you for this, so much. Love that last photo of Kiki. You captured her spirit there I would say.
Deepest condolences on the passing of Admiral Kiki. Your celebration of her life post is a beautiful heartfelt tribute to her
Thank you for sharing so much of Kiki’s wonderful life with all of us. We know how our pets are full members of our family–and how deeply we feel their loss. May you always smile when you remember the joy you shared together. Kiki would like that….
So sorry
I remember when you bought the Oliver finally giving you enough room to adopt Kiki. She reminds me so much of a cat we had who also walked on a leash and loved riding in the car. (Before our RV days.) We will all miss Kiki.
Sharing this beautiful homage of Admiral Kiki brought tears to my eyes, as I have been following the blog for so many years, enjoying your adventures and specially Kiki’s experiences. I have shared my life with cats, and each one of them brought happiness, laughter and love. The pain that comes with the loss of our furry companions will diminished with time, but our love for them is forever. No words will soothe the hard times you are going through, the memories will eventually bring more smiles and laughter’s. It’s been three years since Elgato, our last boy passed away. There is not one day that passes without mentioning him. I created gardens for each of my furry companions, and when I am back home, I relish working in those gardens. Great video and pictures to honour Kiki! Virtual hugs to both of you.
I have followed you for years- pre boat- and I know you have just been the best cat parents . I cried and cried reading this. You are good people and I hope you will emerge from grief soon. ❤️
What a beautiful tribute to Admiral Kiki! Thank you for sharing her with us all over the years. Wishing you a transition from heartache to sweet memories. RIP Kiki!
I remember a time, when a little girl was enthralled by Kiki, and toured her around in her little cart, feeding her treats one after another. Our entire family sends our love and pray that Kiki’s spirit will be there waiting to greet you both on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. Reagan sends a big hug, and will always remember.
À wonderful tribute to a wonderful cat. The kitten pictures of her are so precious, and reading her adventures over the years bought tears to my eyes. RIP Admiral, and hugs to you both.
Nina
We have been readers and watchers of your videos since the bus days. As cat lovers we loved seeing Kiki in your videos, made us smile. Kiki looked like our our Big Easy, a male version of Kiki. He passed a couple of months before we started our fulltime life in 2018. I am very sorry for your loss.
Sad news. She had a wonderful life of adventure and love. Hope all those sweet memories help heal the hole in your hearts. Sail on Admiral Kiki.
Thank you for sharing Kiki with so many of us along the way. We loved having Kiki visit our cabin along Lake Huron.
Run free and healthy at The Bridge, sweet Kiki!
I was very sorry to hear abut Kiki. It is so hard to lose a pet and a part of you and Chris is now gone. Every cat that I’ve lost has made me cry for days but the memories make it a little easier. Please know you have many friends and family who wish you the best and offer support.
We are so sorry to hear of your loss. In reading Kiki’s story, it brought back memories of our Sunshine that loved the RV life. It is so special to find a kitty that loves the adventure of new places. Our hearts and thoughts are with you.
Thank you for the loving life you gave your precious furbaby.
I’m so sorry. I pray y’all are comforted. She was a great cat. Sadly, Jackson was anti-cat, so we never met. 🙁 Words don’t seem adequate. I guess the best I can offer is a virtual embrace and then quietly sit nearby until you both feel better.
I’m so sorry to hear about Kiki. I was actually just thinking of her the other morning and wondering if she was still around. The montage video is beautiful. I will be thinking of you both as you move forward in life without her. Thank you for sharing your journey with us all!
I have tears pouring down my cheeks while just moments ago I was laughing at her antics. This is the loveliest tribute I have ever seen. I have loved following Kiki through these years and hold you both in my heart as I know how hard it is to say goodbye to a loving pet. Thank you for sharing Kiki with us all. Sh
Holding you close to my heart. May the sharpness of your grief slowly turn to the softness of wonderful memories kept alive by your special photography of her. You gave her a wonderful life. In time there can be another Admiral traveling companion.
What a heartbreak! 🙁 It brings back memories, of course, of personal losses, but yours is so poignant with her integration with your lives so clearly defined. My tears now are for your loss.
It brings tears to my eyes reading this. I loved following Kiki’s adventures because she looks a lot like our cat who also was a great traveling cat. So much of what you describe reminds me of our years fulltiming with 2 kids and a cat. Our kitty is 13 now and we’re no longer RVing. My heart goes out to you both, this tribute was beautiful. ❤️
So very heartbroken to learn of Kiki’s passing. We totally get the big gap in your lives and hearts now, but hope you will eventually be able to adopt another travel companion, in Kiki’s honor.
We had one lonely summer after our sweet Millie passed, and then adopted 2 mature cats, who quickly settled into rv life. Only one of them still with us and at 19 1/2 years old we know his days are numbered too now.
It never gets any easier, losing them, but we know we will adopt more senior kitties from our local shelter, at some point.
Wishing you both well as you move forward, and may your happy memories of Kiki help.
Oh what a beautiful tribute to Kiki your Admiral. I have tears streaming down my cheeks. Thank you for sharing the story of her life and how she came to be part of your crew, and your journey and adventures together. Kiki was one amazing, awesome kitty. You know we know your pain. In time the pain in your hearts will lessen… but your memories of 16 years of love and adventure will always stay with you. Hugs to you both. ❤️ Love you Kiki!
Soooo sorry to hear of Kiki’s passing. Folks that have never had pets (and some that have) never understand the level of grief that follows a furry family member’s passing. This is especially so with those who have been with us for so long. *Hugs*
So sorry to hear your Kiki trusted companion friend buddy and guiding Admiral crossed the Rainbow Bridge recently. We hope your hearts heal soon.
What a beautiful journey Kiki had with you two beautiful souls. She must have known when she chose you that it would be a magical adventure filled with love and many special treats. My heart is with you, and I’m sending much love and support, and trusting you are holding on the the good memories together to keep you moving forward on your journey.
Again I’m so sorry and yes you made me cry again
My heart is breaking for your loss of Kiki. I share your loss. I, too, have tears. I loved seeing Kiki in your adventures. You created a beautiful video celebration of her life. My thoughts and love are with you. May her memory be for blessing
OH!! We are So sorry to hear of Kiki’s demise!! What a fabulous life she had with you!!
May her loss become less intense as time goes by and the wonderful memories of her sustain you!!
I’m so sorry…she’s been a constant companion for many. She lived a great life.
May Kiki return to you in her next life. I just wish that I could of met Kiki.