Bodacious - The Kilkenny cat who wrote his own book is dead

Bodacious, the Shepherd Cat from Kilkenny who wrote his own book, has passed away. The much loved feline died on the first day of spring, February 1 after taking ill three weeks previously.

His owner, Suzanna Crampton posted the news on Facebook yesterday. He had his own twitter account and had thousands of fans worldwide.

His book, 'Bodacious, the Shepherd Cat', was a best seller. In the beautifully crafted work, Bodacious told about life as The Shepherd Cat on Black Sheep Farm. ‘I wasn't always called Bodacious. I must have been called something else in my kittenhood in the nearby city of Kilkenny, but it's all a bit of a mystery to My Human. As far as she's concerned, I appeared one day and have never left. It's a secret I plan to keep,” he said in the book. Written by Suzanna from the perspective of Bodacious the cat, it is a beautifully written memoir of Bodacious’s life on the farm and everything that entailed — early mornings, frosty starts, beautiful sunrises, adventurous rare-breed Zwartbles sheep, hard work, entertaining animals, mouth-watering food, kind people and idyllic country living with its highs and lows. 
Suzanna often told Bodacious her favourite story of how she went out to buy red ribbon to wrap a gift for her friend, but instead came home with a gift for herself: a daring, assertive, ambitious cat looking for a home.
Suzanna Crampton grew up in the US but spent her summers at her grandparents’ small farm in Bennettsbridge. 
She studied agricultural and environmental sciences at Sterling Institute in Vermont and then pursued a variety of careers in a broad range of locations, including breaking and training Morgan horses in upstate New York and working for a wildlife charity in South East Asia. 
She returned to Kilkenny in 1997 where she taught photography and now farms, blogs and tweets about her sustainable farming.
Suzanna lives on her family farm in Kilkenny with her flock of Zwartbles sheep, alpacas, horses, chickens, dogs, cats and Bodacious, who strolled into her life 11 years ago.
Suzanna is the granddaughter of Kilkenny's most famous writer, Hubert Butler, recognised as one of the finest essayists of the 20th century.

She wrote this poem in his honour following the death of Bodacious

In tribute to my feline friend

Imbolc though it be, frost bones lie lacy in patterns reflective of still leafless winter trees.

Bodacious’ fire of life never left, just wained slightly with illness, his pain muffled by quiet enjoyment of companionship.

My heart breaks with the loss of my feline friend.

He walked by my side through wind, rain, sleet and snow.
He followed where no normal feline would dare to go.
He chose to walk with me across flooded muddy fields, through the Beast from the East’s deepest blizzard snow.

He kept me company as long nights lambing stretched into daybreak.
He would sit with me to watch the gloaming indigo sky turn into dawn, then day.
On hot days enjoyed a spin on the Quad, head lifted into the cooling breeze.

Life has gone from Bodacious, his strident demanding yowl no longer heard.

He is buried now where wild flowers grow.