Manuelita Buendiaz Jr. (2008/2009–2026) - 17 years old.
‘A brief biography of an unusual life…’
Manuelita was an adventurous cat with boundless curiosity, passionate artist, and loving family member.
Manuelita "Manu" Buendiaz Jr. was born in Georgia and rescued by FurKids Atlanta in 2009 alongside five siblings. A black-and-white tuxedo cat with daffodil-yellow eyes, four white socks, a mustache, goatee, and black tail, Manu was an artist, explorer, conversationalist, and beloved family member. Manu was adopted by John Coulter and Anna Frischknecht and they lived together in Midtown Atlanta among the modernist towers of Peachtree Street.
She was a project supervisor to all human activity. No package crossed the threshold before undergoing careful quality customs inspection, every garden plant received necessary taste tests. Manu would negotiate terms when invited to return from outdoor romps.
Requiring feline representation, Manu assigned herself a welcomed and choice position at each dinner and gathering like a well-placed security camera. A tiny tugboat in tow, punctuated paws and corn-yellow eyes shadowing as faithfully as a lighthouse studies the sea.
Mornings consistently transformed Manu into a liquid yogi of origami folds. She offered her belly for rubs with theatrical flops and gave stern head boops and kisses with conviction.
Balconies were shrines for suntanning, wildlife commentary such as chirping and barking mandates to birds and policing squirrels, as well as the occasional unauthorized border crossings into neighbors apartments.
During mercurial and rambunctious games of hide-and-seek, Manu transformed into a primal wildcat and stalked, prowled, and peered around corners, wide eyes glowing as if gazing upon a treasure and celebrated her hunts with victory dances.
A discerned listener, and music aficionado, part muse, part groupie, Manu was especially fond of Mark’s drum sessions. A fervent vocalist, with a song in her heart, Manu’s crackling roar demanded affection, activities or appetizers with conviction. Her robust vocabulary included meows, chirps, songs, grumbles and affectionate purrs. Snack requests blared like public announcements. An avid chomper, scarfer and snatcher of turkey, Greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, wheatgrass and homegrown catnip. Overflowing with tart audacity, defiant hoof stamps lodged formal disagreements over dinner time delays, diet, dosage, and display.
Manu practiced the art of strategic chair defense, from warm window seats, to closet coats with familiar scents, once claimed, favored nests became sovereign territory to be fiercely defended. When diplomacy failed, she devised clever plots to relocate occupants. Any brush, tooth or hair, left unattended quickly became her property, and while lavishly kempt, Manu could and would groom herself with any unguarded brush. Manu’s Piggie and E.T. plushies were cherished members of her inner circle. During naps she traveled elsewhere. Her lips-smacking and paws aflutter, telling of dreams rich with treats and adventure.
She loved loafing inside boxes, sunny windows, gardens, tree climbing, hunting, and harmless mischief. She was an excellent listener, understood an impressive amount of English, and was wiser than she had any right to be. While amply fed, Manu once decided not to wait for a scheduled meal, and opened a cabinet, unzipped a backpack, and tore through the plastic of a cat-food bag, to feed at her leisure, demonstrating her cunning, and hearty appetite.
A seasoned traveler, Manu lived in Georgia, Colorado, Missouri, New York, and California, and visited more than twenty states. She rode the rumbling subways in New York, relaxed on patios and balconies in Brooklyn, tromped through Kansas City farmland, played with Kuno the three-legged cat in Denver, and spent her Los Angeles years sunbathing in a pomegranate and bamboo garden. Along the way she visited historic Savannah, Boston’s burbs, the Fredericksburg Virginia cemetery, the Painted Desert, and Grand Canyon National Park, where she chased squirrels.
Beginning in Atlanta, Manu revealed a cat-like, feverish instinctual affinity for scratching at paper, and began creating minimalist artworks using paper, carbon-copy paper, and stencils. Her work was exhibited at the Midtown Art Exhibition and SCAD Open Studio Night in Atlanta, and later shown in Denver, Boston, and New York City. Often presented under the guise of a human artist, Manu's career included charitable donations, the ‘Gatita Acústica’ animation shown at film festivals, an NFT, and artwork featured in a video game. Over her lifetime she created over 200 works.
Through daily insulin, subcutaneous fluids, a special diet, and remarkable determination, Manu conquered diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis, partial blindness, and the loss of a few teeth, with considerable bravery and rarely a complaint.
Manu was family to John Coulter, Angela McCormick, Mark Coulter, Anna Frischknecht, Dita, Mike Coulter, Leasa Coulter, and Kuno. Manu shared her life with many animal friends, including Floyd, Sibley, Fran, Katana, and Lily.