Ponsonby grieves for Lasagne, Buddy, Oscar and ‘Ed Sheeran’ - the ginger cat that loved Prego

Ponsonby's famously feisty feline - the cat that liked to hang out in bars, restaurants, pharmacies and law firms - has died.

Ponsonby businesses are mourning one of their most colourful customers.

A famous ginger cat - known variously as Lasagne, Ed Sheeran, Oscar and Buddy - had to be euthanised on Sunday.

“Rest in Peace, little big man,” said a social media tribute from staff at Prego, the equally famous restaurant in the Auckland suburb where the cat liked to sit on customers’ laps and drink from their wine glasses. “You were the coolest cat. A feisty little feline, but cool nonetheless.”

Famous for surprising late-night revellers exiting Ponsonby Rd’s bars and restaurants, the stray has been fed and cared for by lawyers, pharmacists and restaurant workers for the past six years.

Nobody 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 may have lived 23km away in Auckland’s Buckland’s Beach.

“I take solace in the fact that I don’t think any cat would have ever been loved by as many people,” said lawyer Chris Gill, who dubbed the cat “Buddy”. “At midnight, he’d sit on the corner of the street and say hello to everybody in every imaginable state of inebriation as they wandered along.”

At Prego restaurant (where he was labelled “Lasagne” before amassing a number of other names) he liked to sip from customers’ glasses and treated the outdoor shade sail as a personal hammock. At the nextdoor pharmacy, “Buddy” (as staff there knew him) would routinely lounge across the computer keyboard, blocking access.

At Ponsonby's Prego the cat known as Lasagne, Oscar and Ed Sheeran "ruled the roost".

The cat could be temperamental in nature. One favourite story centres on the time he bit a woman. She went to the pharmacy for treatment, and found him smirking at her from the counter. According to another, as yet unverified story, one former Ponsonby resident has been bussing daily from the North Shore to visit and feed the stray. And, while he had a permanent shelter in the doorway of legal firm Gill, Coutts and Co, he liked to spend his nights under the floorboards at Prego.

“There was a loose board underneath our place from Prego,” says Gill. “And he used to sleep under the restaurant, I expect because it was quite warm. Then he would pop out in the morning and heat himself on the bonnets of our cars.

“He was extremely well behaved in the bar - not so well behaved in our office. He had a penchant for doing his claws on the couches.”

Unichem 218 Ponsonby Pharmacy owner Heather Fitzgerald said staff who fed the cat daily (”he preferred treats to regular cat food”) had been concerned they hadn’t seen him for the past three days.

“On a really wet day, he’d just come in here and sit for the whole day. And he’d always want to sit on the keyboard at our point of sale computer - half the time we couldn’t serve people!”

Prego’s social media post about the cat’s death has prompted multiple tributes.

“He was the coolest ginger dude in town, fly high handsome boy,” wrote Heidi Somerville on Facebook. “He was such a character,” posted Irene Gardiner. “I loved the way he used to lie on the counter at the chemist next door, never mind the customers . . .”

Buddy, as he was known at Unichem 218 Ponsonby, in his favourite counter-top position.

Brandon Lela’ulu, Prego general manager, said he’d never met a cat with so much character.

“His favourite resting spot was on the outdoor sail, just above the mushroom heater. In the middle of a lunch, he’d just crawl along and rest right above the heater. Everybody’s got a photo of the cat on their knees. I would be horrified when I’d see on social media that he’d be drinking out of people’s wine and water glasses.

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

Lela’ulu said when the restaurant was closed during high Covid alert levels, “I’d drive past and see him sitting in the courtyard by himself, ruling the roost”.

Prego staff never fed the cat, says Lela’ulu.

“We’ve had a no-dog policy for some time and it would have been very inappropriate of us to be feeding a cat! But he just came in and did his own thing. He wasn’t invited as such, but 99 per cent of customers loved him. He made people’s experience so much richer.”

Buddy (or Lasagne or Oscar or Ed Sheeran) photographed on a visit to Est. 1901, a Ponsonby Rd bar near Prego.

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

Bolster said staff there discovered the cat was microchipped and had made phone calls trying to track down an owner.

“I’m not sure what happened there ... they bought a cage out which we popped him into. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, and he was breathing very shallow little breaths. One of the vets came out and just took one look at him and said ‘we’re going to help him off to another place’ ...”

The Ponsonby businesses who have cared for the cat over recent years are discussing possible farewell plans and tributes, including a permanent brass memorial plaque.