Ponsonby mourns Lasagne, Buddy, Oscar and ‘Ed Sheeran’ – the ginger cat who loved Prego

Ponsonby businesses are mourning one of their most colorful customers.

A famous ginger cat – known as Lasagne, Ed Sheeran, Oscar and Buddy – had to be euthanized on Sunday.

“Rest in peace, little big guy,” said a social media tribute from staff at the equally famous restaurant Prego in the Auckland suburb, where the cat loved to sit on customers’ laps and drink from their wine glasses. “You were the best cat. “A courageous little cat, but still calm.”

Famous for its revelers springing surprises from the bars and restaurants of Ponsonby Road late at night, the stray animals have been fed and cared for by lawyers, pharmacists and restaurant staff for the past six years.

No one knew how the cat came to live on the streets of Ponsonby, but a microchip scan shortly before his death on Sunday revealed he was once called Reco – and his owners lived in Buckland Beach, Auckland, 23km away. Will be.

Attorney Chris Gill, who called the cat “Buddy”, said, “I take solace in the fact that I don’t think any cat has ever been loved by so many people.” “At midnight, he would sit on the street corner and drunkenly say hello to everyone as they passed by.”

At the Prego restaurant (where they were labeled “lasagne” before accumulating several other names) he loved to sip from customers’ glasses and treated the outdoor shade sail as a personal hammock. At the pharmacy next door, “Buddy” (as the staff there knew him) regularly hovered over the computer keyboard, blocking access.

Cats can be temperamental by nature. A favorite story centers on the time he bit a woman. She went to the pharmacy for treatment and saw him smiling at her from the counter. According to another, as yet unverified, story, a former resident of Ponsonby has been commuting daily by bus from the North Shore to meet and feed stray animals. And, while he had a permanent haven on the doorstep of the law firm Gill, Coutts & Co., he liked to spend his nights under the floorboards in Prego.

“There was a loose board under our place from Prego,” says Gil. “And he slept under the restaurant, I hope because it was quite hot. Then he would go out in the morning and warm himself on the bonnet of our cars.

“His behavior at the bar was great – his behavior in our office was not so good. “He was fond of making his claws on the sofa.”

Heather Fitzgerald, owner of Unichem 218 Ponsonby pharmacy, said staff who fed the cat daily (“he liked other things rather than regular cat food”) were concerned after she had not seen him for the past three days.

“On a very wet day, he just came here and sat all day. And he would always want to sit at the keyboard at our point-of-sale computer – half the time we couldn’t serve people!”

Many people paid tribute to Prego’s social media post about the cat’s death.

“He was the coolest ginger dude in town, a high-flying handsome guy,” Heidi Somerville wrote on Facebook. Irene Gardiner posted, “He was such a character.” “I loved the way he lay on the counter of the chemist next door, not to mention the customers. , ,

Brandon Lailalou, Prego’s general manager, said he had never met a cat with such character before.

“His favorite resting place was on the outer sail, right above the mushroom heater. In the middle of lunch, he would just crawl over and rest right on top of the heater. Everyone has a photo of a cat sitting on their knees. I used to be horrified when I would see on social media that he was drinking people’s wine and water glasses.

“But, you know, he was in control. “He’s the king of this place.”

Lela’ulu said that when the restaurant was closed during higher COVID alert levels, “I would drive by and see him sitting alone on the patio, ruling.”

Laila’ulu says the Prego staff never fed the cat.

“We have had a no-dog policy for some time and it would have been very inappropriate for us to feed the cat! But he just came in and did his job. He wasn’t invited anyway, but 99 percent of the customers liked him. “They made people’s experiences so much richer.”

On Sunday night, the cat Prego appeared in the staffroom, looking clearly unwell. He went home with staff member and veterinary nursing student, Zoe, who asked her father, Nick Bolster, to take him to an after-hours veterinary clinic.

Bolster said staff there discovered the cat was microchipped and called to locate the owner.

“I’m not sure what happened there… They bought a cage from which we took him out. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, and he was breathing very shallowly. One of the vets came out and just took one look at him and said ‘We’re going to help move him to another place’…”

Ponsonby businesses that have cared for the cat in recent years have been discussing possible farewell plans and tributes, including a permanent brass memorial plaque.