In Memoriam: Dante
Feb. 2nd, 2011 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lbd_nytetraynToday marks one year since Dante passed away. I wonder what he was doing at this time 365 days ago. Was he even alive at this point? I have no clue. All I know is that he was locked up in the vet clinic, and in a few hours, we would receive the call informing us of his fate.
We only had Dante for what felt like a few short years. Knowing that there have been other pets, other cats who have lived much longer lives, I can only determine that he was tragically taken from us far too soon.
With but a few exceptions, 2010 is a year I do not think I would mind being erased from my history. Some of you may remember some of why that is, but this would be the biggest reason, never mind that we are still paying for it.
I didn't write about Dante much here, not as much as I should have, I feel. Following his passing, I had intended to create a sort of small online tribute to him, but it was a long time before it even began to feel right. And of course, there had been some other distractions as well. Eventually, I realized that the mark of one year from the day he died would soon be upon us, and elected to wait until then.
And that time is now. Following are some of the pictures we had taken (you never take enough, it turns out) of Dante, and some thoughts and memories.
This may be a familiar shot for some, as it's when I first introduced Dante to you all. Nadia is usually fairly adamant that Dante was never a very small cat, but I'll always remember when he fit easily into our arms and underneath our computer monitor. It was a place he always liked to be, even when he eventually did get a little too big for it...
Most cats aren't very fond of water, but Dante? He loved it. Not in excessive amounts, though; if you wanted to bathe him, for example, he wouldn't want any of that.
But an empty tub? He would go in there and meow until someone turned on the faucet enough for him to get something to drink. He would also lick the condensation from soda cans, and generally go for water anywhere he could get it...
...including our own glasses of it!
Dante also liked to hang out in the bathroom sink, and wouldn't be bothered if the faucet dripped on him a little. He did so when he was a smaller cat...
...and as he got bigger...
Typical for some cats, Dante was a curious sort as a kitten. Watching him paw at things on monitors and elsewhere was always fun.
Following are a couple of "classic" Dante moments.
Here, Dante shows his appreciation for Microsoft's first video game console. Despite the Xbox 360's greater notoriety, I don't think he ever displayed any similar sentiment towards it.
And around this time, Capcom had released Mega Man X Command Mission, which we of course played to completion...
...Dante seemed to hold a particular fondness for the Air Bus lady, from his perch atop the television. Sadly, as time went on, his affinity for climbing to the higher areas of the apartment diminished.
He was truly a cat after my own heart. He loved video games...
...Coca-Cola...
...and he was into Transformers, too!
I believe his favorite parts were the missiles, particularly when they accidentally shot off somewhere.
Though he was a bit timid, perhaps even "scaredy," Dante could be a pretty relaxed cat, and could make himself comfortable just about anywhere:
But even so, there were certain places which were irrefutably "his," including this chair...
...as well as this one:
Cammy has pretty much taken over use of that one, however.
This is one of my favorites:
For a time, Dante made a habit of putting that toy into the doorway of his litterbox, as you can see circled in red. We never figured out why he did it, but my favorite part here is how immensely proud he seems of himself.
Speaking of Cammy, she and Dante would often hang out and relax together... when they weren't playing around, that is. Here's just one shot of them hanging out on top of our old entertainment center:
Even though he didn't go up on top of it towards the end of his life, I sometimes wonder if the change in that and other things somehow affected him negatively.
More often, they would share the sofa:
Not shown: Dante sleeping with his back out, perfectly emulating a napping Dagwood Bumstead.
And here is a picture of them both enjoying a Garfield cat toy from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shinkuu:
Prior to that, I somehow discovered a way to make a more cost-efficient cat toy:
As you can see, he approved. For a while, anyway.
Unfortunately, we couldn't let him get too excited; he suffered from his heart palpitating if he got too excited. Sometimes he would even go into mild seizures, which left him meowing helplessly.
Unrelated to anything, I just like this one of Dante in a coat:
He is The One.
Here is a picture of Red holding Dante for a "zombie cat" impression. That was one great thing about Dante: unlike Cammy or Tango, his size aside, he was easy to pick up and get close to. He didn't tend to resist like the others do. I really miss that.
He also had a purr unique to the lot. Cammy's sounds like snoring, while Tango is like a Geiger counter. Dante's was more like a regular cat-like purr, sort of motorboat-like, and he seemed to like doing it a lot. It was very relaxing on a rough day to just lay your head against him and listen to it. Unfortunately, the others only want to get up-close on their terms, as a rule.
Speaking of Tango, Dante wasn't quite sure what to make of the kitten when we were watching him for Red's brother, before we took him in (after Dante's passing):
For the most part, Dante kept his distance; while Tango dominated the living room, he would just stick to the bedroom.
Nonetheless, Dante did grow accustomed to having the hyperactive little one around, and perhaps managed to teach him a thing or two about the fine art of chilling out:
And then we have this, the last picture of Dante taken before that fateful visit to the vet.
Looking at it makes me wish I could hold him one last time, offer some sort of comfort... I never imagined that I'd never get to see him again. I feel even worse for waking up irritated the morning Red tried to get him in the carrier for the trip to the vet, and he was resisting.
I wish he'd never gone.
To wrap things up, we did manage to get a few pictures professionally done at PetSmart some years back. Sadly, the one in which Red and I were present with Dante was the one picture of the batch which we didn't get back for some reason. God knows I hate that now.
Anyway, this is the one I keep in a frame under the computer, where he used to like laying:
I wish we'd been able to do the professional thing one more time, perhaps get Cammy in there as well.
As a bonus of sorts...
I wish we had a video camera to take footage of Dante with. I have a phone which can record video now, thankfully, but at the time, all we had was some function of our digital camera I never quite figured out. When I went to take a picture of Dante, the flash never went off, and we wound up with two short video clips (seven and 10 seconds, respectively) instead.
I'll always hold these dear.
And that's pretty much it, at least for this. I still have some other photos, but I'm keeping those to myself for now. Maybe another time I'll show them (though I have posted some in the past). I know what's here seems like a lot, but like I said: it's never enough.
Hopefully one day we'll all be reunited. But for now, I miss you, Dante.
--LBD "Nytetrayn"
We only had Dante for what felt like a few short years. Knowing that there have been other pets, other cats who have lived much longer lives, I can only determine that he was tragically taken from us far too soon.
With but a few exceptions, 2010 is a year I do not think I would mind being erased from my history. Some of you may remember some of why that is, but this would be the biggest reason, never mind that we are still paying for it.
I didn't write about Dante much here, not as much as I should have, I feel. Following his passing, I had intended to create a sort of small online tribute to him, but it was a long time before it even began to feel right. And of course, there had been some other distractions as well. Eventually, I realized that the mark of one year from the day he died would soon be upon us, and elected to wait until then.
And that time is now. Following are some of the pictures we had taken (you never take enough, it turns out) of Dante, and some thoughts and memories.
This may be a familiar shot for some, as it's when I first introduced Dante to you all. Nadia is usually fairly adamant that Dante was never a very small cat, but I'll always remember when he fit easily into our arms and underneath our computer monitor. It was a place he always liked to be, even when he eventually did get a little too big for it...
Most cats aren't very fond of water, but Dante? He loved it. Not in excessive amounts, though; if you wanted to bathe him, for example, he wouldn't want any of that.
But an empty tub? He would go in there and meow until someone turned on the faucet enough for him to get something to drink. He would also lick the condensation from soda cans, and generally go for water anywhere he could get it...
...including our own glasses of it!
Dante also liked to hang out in the bathroom sink, and wouldn't be bothered if the faucet dripped on him a little. He did so when he was a smaller cat...
...and as he got bigger...
Typical for some cats, Dante was a curious sort as a kitten. Watching him paw at things on monitors and elsewhere was always fun.
Following are a couple of "classic" Dante moments.
Here, Dante shows his appreciation for Microsoft's first video game console. Despite the Xbox 360's greater notoriety, I don't think he ever displayed any similar sentiment towards it.
And around this time, Capcom had released Mega Man X Command Mission, which we of course played to completion...
...Dante seemed to hold a particular fondness for the Air Bus lady, from his perch atop the television. Sadly, as time went on, his affinity for climbing to the higher areas of the apartment diminished.
He was truly a cat after my own heart. He loved video games...
...Coca-Cola...
...and he was into Transformers, too!
I believe his favorite parts were the missiles, particularly when they accidentally shot off somewhere.
Though he was a bit timid, perhaps even "scaredy," Dante could be a pretty relaxed cat, and could make himself comfortable just about anywhere:
But even so, there were certain places which were irrefutably "his," including this chair...
...as well as this one:
Cammy has pretty much taken over use of that one, however.
This is one of my favorites:
For a time, Dante made a habit of putting that toy into the doorway of his litterbox, as you can see circled in red. We never figured out why he did it, but my favorite part here is how immensely proud he seems of himself.
Speaking of Cammy, she and Dante would often hang out and relax together... when they weren't playing around, that is. Here's just one shot of them hanging out on top of our old entertainment center:
Even though he didn't go up on top of it towards the end of his life, I sometimes wonder if the change in that and other things somehow affected him negatively.
More often, they would share the sofa:
Not shown: Dante sleeping with his back out, perfectly emulating a napping Dagwood Bumstead.
And here is a picture of them both enjoying a Garfield cat toy from
shinkuu:Prior to that, I somehow discovered a way to make a more cost-efficient cat toy:
As you can see, he approved. For a while, anyway.
Unfortunately, we couldn't let him get too excited; he suffered from his heart palpitating if he got too excited. Sometimes he would even go into mild seizures, which left him meowing helplessly.
Unrelated to anything, I just like this one of Dante in a coat:
He is The One.
Here is a picture of Red holding Dante for a "zombie cat" impression. That was one great thing about Dante: unlike Cammy or Tango, his size aside, he was easy to pick up and get close to. He didn't tend to resist like the others do. I really miss that.
He also had a purr unique to the lot. Cammy's sounds like snoring, while Tango is like a Geiger counter. Dante's was more like a regular cat-like purr, sort of motorboat-like, and he seemed to like doing it a lot. It was very relaxing on a rough day to just lay your head against him and listen to it. Unfortunately, the others only want to get up-close on their terms, as a rule.
Speaking of Tango, Dante wasn't quite sure what to make of the kitten when we were watching him for Red's brother, before we took him in (after Dante's passing):
For the most part, Dante kept his distance; while Tango dominated the living room, he would just stick to the bedroom.
Nonetheless, Dante did grow accustomed to having the hyperactive little one around, and perhaps managed to teach him a thing or two about the fine art of chilling out:
And then we have this, the last picture of Dante taken before that fateful visit to the vet.
Looking at it makes me wish I could hold him one last time, offer some sort of comfort... I never imagined that I'd never get to see him again. I feel even worse for waking up irritated the morning Red tried to get him in the carrier for the trip to the vet, and he was resisting.
I wish he'd never gone.
To wrap things up, we did manage to get a few pictures professionally done at PetSmart some years back. Sadly, the one in which Red and I were present with Dante was the one picture of the batch which we didn't get back for some reason. God knows I hate that now.
Anyway, this is the one I keep in a frame under the computer, where he used to like laying:
I wish we'd been able to do the professional thing one more time, perhaps get Cammy in there as well.
As a bonus of sorts...
I wish we had a video camera to take footage of Dante with. I have a phone which can record video now, thankfully, but at the time, all we had was some function of our digital camera I never quite figured out. When I went to take a picture of Dante, the flash never went off, and we wound up with two short video clips (seven and 10 seconds, respectively) instead.
I'll always hold these dear.
And that's pretty much it, at least for this. I still have some other photos, but I'm keeping those to myself for now. Maybe another time I'll show them (though I have posted some in the past). I know what's here seems like a lot, but like I said: it's never enough.
Hopefully one day we'll all be reunited. But for now, I miss you, Dante.
--LBD "Nytetrayn"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-02 11:56 am (UTC)I remembering seeing Dante for the first time last year and seeing him again in your posts is lovely, he has so much personality from the looks of the photo's! I love the witty way you phrase his actions (Especially thought the transformer bit was cute!) I love the progression of his size too, he turned into a rather large fluffball in the end! ^^
Sending a big hug out to you today. I can see he's very missed and even though he's gone, very, very loved :)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 03:28 am (UTC)He was definitely a big boy by the end-- picking him up was difficult. But now I wish I'd still done so a bit more...
And again, thanks for the thoughts. I really do miss him, a day doesn't go by that I don't think about him.
--LBD "Nytetrayn"
no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-03 08:01 am (UTC)Cammy and Tango get to reap the spoils of that, at least.
--LBD "Nytetrayn"