On the morning of Monday 7 August 2006, Fujiyama was killed, at the approximate age of 16, when the car under which he was sleeping was moved. Reportedly he did not suffer. Suffering from arthritis, able to move only with difficulty and pain, and possibly partly blind, his life was long for his kind, and his passing was quicker and less painful than it might otherwise have been.
May he rest in eternal summer as an eternal kitten, with mousies and butterflies in abundance.
This is my large, white, neurotic cat, Fujiyama. When I got him back in 1990, he was a tiny little kitten who could sit on all fours in the palm of my hand, so I named him Fujiyama in the hope that he would grow up big and strong like the famous mountain, and silly me, it worked.
I am a cat person. I like cats. Cats are soft and warm and cuddly. Cats are quiet and clean. Cats have claws and fangs and kill stuff and eat it. Cats are cool.
Dogs weird me out. Dogs are slaves. That blind, unquestioning obedience gets on my nerves. When a cat jumps in your lap, it's because he wants to; because he likes it there. When a dog gets close to you, he's trying to curry favor with his master/god. I vastly prefer the cat's air of independence to the dog's of servility.
Fuji doesn't like having his picture taken - probably something about my otherwise-familiar face having this strange thing in front of it - so I often have to sneak up on him with the camera.
Warm sun above + warm ground below = happy cat. In the winter, when his window is closed and he can't come and go as he pleases, he will scratch to be let out, and often balk when I open the door and August isn't on the other side. Since this usually gets me out of my nice warm bed at about 3am, he gets a gentle but swift nudge in his fuzzy backside - if he asks to use the Big Litter Box, he's darn well gonna use it!
He does keep himself nice and clean...
...most of the time.
Behold the awesome catliness!
Worship the majestic felinity!
Ain't he just adorable?
Lap Full o' Cat.
Do you have a cat... or does the cat have you?
Toasty.
Awwwwwww....
CAT!
Evicting the cat from the chair. "We'd climb up the side of a sign-board an' trust to the stick o' the paint...."
An ancient tradition.
Mid-July 2006: Shade-seeking kitty.