RIP Fat Cat
Posted on: May 17, 2008 - 8:25pm
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RIP Fat Cat
The muse behind my Rambo-Kitty avatar has passed away. Eric the Cat (Fat Cat, to his friends) contracted a virus that attacked his brain, and he died at the vet late last night. He was 4 years, ten months old. In all sincerity, he was the coolest cat I've ever known.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
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That's too bad, man. I'm not much of a cat person, but Fat Cat was a real friendly creature, not the least bit standoffish like so many of the cats that have shaped my opinions.
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell
The last family pet I had was a cat. She was 12 years old when we lost her, that's been 6 years now and I still can't bring myself to find a new one. Someday I will. Dogs, cats, rodents, fish, birds, they are all friendly to have in the home for a pet / family. Sorry for your loss.
That sucks. I just lost my big fat cat Jack about a month ago - didn't post it here, but he got sick and the idiot local vet fucked up - he gave him IV water to rehydrate him - only thing was he weighed about 3.5 lbs more dead than he did the day before at the vet - this would be like a normal human being injected with about 2 gallons of water.
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That's too bad.I love cats.I had a cat who was nothing like the stereotypical cat.She was so friendly and devoted.Sadly she dispeared and never came back.
A cat is a atheist's best friend..
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
Oh boy does that suck. I know exactly how you are feeling right now. I lost my best friend Payton of 8 years to a urinary blockage. He died right in front of me this past New Years eve.
Hambi, I know you will miss him. But rest assured he has not only brought joy to you, but the picture is all over the net for the rest of the history of the net.
It is a sweet picture showing the irony of how humanity shouldn't take itself seriously when we bitch about any subject. We thank you for that contribution, and we thank nature for your oportunity to have such a wonderful pet to inspire you.
I'll be having a beer and make a toast to his memory tonight.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
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He's in a better place now, Hamby.
*grins*
Hamby,
I'm very sorry about the loss of your pet. I know how sad you must be...especially as he was so young.
My deepest condolences to you.
Well... Now that you mention it, my sense of irony kicked in really quickly. I was trying to think of something appropriately atheist to do with his ashes, but then I found out that cremation is free only if you don't want the ashes back. It's kind of weird. If you want to bury him, you can get him back for free, and if you want them to dispose of him, it's free, but if you want his ashes, you have to pay. I guess they just toss him in with other corpses in the free version.
Anyway, I can't properly attest to his current location, but I'm guessing it's somewhere on campus at the University of Georgia. Not too bad, I guess, but I have more beer at my house.
In all seriousness, thanks everyone for the kind words. I haven't spent a lot of time at my house since he died, and it's really odd to only see the one cat greet me at the door when I do show up. He was a long hair, as you can see, so I'm going to be finding Fat Cat hair bunnies for months. I'm going back this afternoon to hang out with Ash, my other cat. (So far, he seems happy to have me all to himself... )
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
Hamby, I'm so so sorry for your loss...
On another note - I worked at a county animal shelter, and yes, they do mass cremate with the free service which is why they can't give you ashes back with any certainty that you are receiving even a portion of your own pet. I know you're already taken care of the arrangements but maybe an "atheist" thing in the future would be to put a plant over the grounds so that the body could be new life as fertilizer. did that sound insensitive? i hope not.
*hugs*
Not at all. To be perfectly honest, I didn't want to see his dead body. He was very sick the last time I saw him, but he was alive. I'd just as soon not have the memory of burying him.
I readily admit that I'm weird when it comes to dealing with death. I've never been one of those "closure" people. I have good photos of him, and good memories. I guess my pragmatic side realizes that wherever he is, he'll be fertilizing something, and that's pretty ok.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
I was the family gravedigger for our pets. I would bury them pretty deep, carefully smooth out the pile of dirt after they were covered, removed roots and whatnot from the dirt, find a large flat stone and paint their name and years of life on it for a tombstone.
It's kind of like the last favor you can do for them. Let their remains stay together to be devoured by worms and not torn apart and scattered all over the place.
I've buried a lot of cats and dogs. And I've wept over many of them.
"I am an atheist, thank God." -Oriana Fallaci
Yeah. I've had pets my whole life. Burying them always hurts. I'm not sure what the difference is in this case. I kind of think that I didn't want to pick up the corpse and bring it home to bury it. Maybe because he died somewhere else, I just wanted to let him be gone. When I'm not as sad about this, it's going to be interesting to figure out what I'm feeling and why.
(Always the damn scientist...)
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
That sucks man. I've lost quite a few pets in my life, but the cat I have now is particularly special to me for whatever reason. I don't know what I'd do if he died so young (hint: probably something irrational).
But seriously man, I hope you feel better soon.
Well... I know it's not the same, but...
I sort-of like it when one of my snails kicks the bucket. It means I can let another one of their WAY TOO MANY offspring grow-up and take their place (sometimes a bunch of the buggers die at once, then I get to start over again with a bunch of mini-guys. It's fun).
I don't mean to sound callous or insensitive or anything (I really haven't had a kitty cat before - though my grandparents would usually have one or two for a year on and off), but isn't it sort-of nice that now you get to go find a new cat to bond with and groom into a companion (I'm asking that curiously, not aggressively)?
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
*Phew*
For a moment there I thought you were talking about Fat Cat from Aussie TV! He is a well known children's icon.
: Freedom - The opportunity to have responsibility.
: Liberty is about protecting the right of others to disagree with you.
That blows Hamby. I had to bury my two childhood dogs one summer apart from each other two years ago and it can be tough. It is very much losing a friend and experiencing sad emotions is completely normal.
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Yoda
Thanks again, everyone.
Just a little update. The preliminary necropsy report indicates that his brain was riddled with tumors. He had one in the center of his brain and another near the inner ear, in addition to an as-yet unidentified mass on the outside of his eardrum.
The good news is that he died quickly without a lot of pain. It appears his death was inevitable, so that's a best case scenario. At least he was drugged and comfortable.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
I must have been a closet atheist at a young age. I used to have goldfish and when the first fist died we buried it in the ground. My mom bought a rose bush and put it in that spot. Over 6 years and 4 goldfish I have to say, I've never seen such a large rose bush. When people would comment on how beautiful it was I would tell them how "my fish wasn't alive anymore so it gave it's life stuff to the rose bush."
This story probably doesn't help at all, Hamby, but I'm glad you were able to take Fat Cat out of a shelter and give him a home - regardless of how short it was. He's affected all of our lives through your kick ass avatar.