Odie the Cat, Pet Store Mascot, Dies at 22

Odie, in the foreground, lived to be 22. Roy Schmall's younger cat, Homes, died at 21.

​The Richmond District is mourning the death -- and reflecting on the life -- of one very cool cat.

Not long after Roy Schmall first founded Cal's Pet Supply on California and 22nd, he found a tan kitten wandering around outside. His daughter named the kitten Odie, after the dog in the Garfield comic strip. Three months ago, Schmall brought Odie back to the store to keep an eye on him during working hours. On Tuesday, Odie's life came fill circle; he died in the early morning hours in the store where he'd first entered Schmall's life and had since become a crowd favorite.

He was a methuselean 22 years old.

"He didn't seem to be in pain," said Schmall, who has erected a makeshift memorial to his ancient cat and accepted several condolences from customers during a phone interview. "He had no problems. His kidneys were okay, his thyroid was okay. He was just kinda old."

Odie's path to 22 years was littered with plenty of potentially deadly detours. For much of his life he was an outdoor cat, and had a propensity for wandering into traffic. He had a habit of commandeering neighboring cats' food, but, being the charmer he was, escaped without a scratch.

Astoundingly, at age 18, Odie meowed for the first time. "I did not realize he could speak until four years ago when he started meowing," says Schmall. "He never made a noise.

"He really was a very special cat."

H/T   |   RichmondSF Blog