Saturday, September 18, 2010
Fat Eric - A Photo Memorial (Part 2 of 2)
I have so many photos of Fat Eric, it was hard to choose the right ones for this final tribute. He was usually happy to pose for the camera, whether at home, in the garden or on his travels. Eric was a well-travelled cat. He made regular trips not only to the kitty jail and the v-e-t but also to his Devon Grandma's house.
He objected to being put in the Evil Cat Carrier and didn't particularly enjoy being put in the car, but once the journey was well underway he would resign himself and usually slept most of the way. His Scratchy Mouse always accompanied him on his travels. 
Scratchy Mouse was a combination of scratching pad and best friend, often used by Eric as a pillow or a foot rest. His other favourite scratching post was our wicker laundry basket, the state of which remains a memorial to his claws! 
He also enjoyed snoozing in his fleece bed next to the radiator, but only in the winter months. 
He was a very snuggly mancat who liked to be close to his humans. 
When I broke my leg last year, Eric was happy to spend hours on my lap administering purr therapy.
Eric liked spending time in his garden if the weather was fine. He never tried to visit neighbours' gardens, but would potter round his own and sunbathe on the patio. In the winter he tended to prefer to stay indoors in the warm. This was one of his favourite spots in the garden. 
Eric's one problem with enjoying his garden was the constant arrival of Evil Intruder Cats. He hardly ever tried to fight them, since most Evil Intruder Cats would take one look at the huge ginger cat advancing towards them and then they would turn and flee. His arch-nemesis was Marmite, the black intruder who likes to fish for newts in our pond. Eric was non-plussed by the fact that Marmite tended to hang around instead of running away. 
Eric did tolerate the visits of Skinny Ginger, although they once had a punch-up. 
In the last few months of his life, Eric spent quite a bit of time with our neighbours' new kitten, Leo. 
Leo liked to follow Eric around - probably looking for a mentor to tell him how to be a Ginger Mancat - and Eric seemed to get used to his presence. 
Since Eric has been gone, Leo has been on several excursions into our house, apparently looking for him. I think he misses him. We all do.I would like to share a few photos of Eric I never used on his blog. These are photos from my phone. This one is a funny one - Eric trying to see what I was doing one day when I was fiddling with my phone...
and this one is a beautiful profile shot. 
Getting to the end of this tribute to Fat Eric, I would like to thank Ann at Zoolatry for all the graphics she made for Eric over the years - birthdays, Christmas, special occasions, etc. These two she made to honour his passing. 
And finally, this is the last photo of Eric ever taken.
Thank you again for visiting Fat Eric's blog. He was a special boy and it's been lovely sharing him with all of you for nearly five years. I am hoping to continue visiting all his friends, and I have just started a new blog, Between Cats, which I am going to use to keep up with the cat blogging world until I am adopted by another kitty. Please come and visit me there, and thank you again for being Fat Eric's friends.
Fat Eric
1995-2010
