# Dug up our dead cat



## buthus (Apr 4, 2007)

Our backyard has become a pet cemetary.. a couple cats, a bunch of rats and a few other creatures.  Now I'm in the midst of major landscaping including digging deep trenches for French drain pipe.  One trench had to be dug right next to one of our cats grave.  I even had to tweak the trench a bit to avoid her remains.  I figured the pipe will bend ...Im not digging up that old cat!    
So..I was sitting in the trench taking a break and noticed that the trench wall caved a bit revealing the blanket we used to wrap the cat in.  Its been about two years (if my memory is correct) since she was buried, so at least I wasn't looking at some micro biology project that I onced loved dearly.   
Since the trench was not to be filled back up for some time, I decided I better just dig her up and bury her in a deeper hole at the bottom of the trench.  Figured I better ask my GF what she thinks because the cat was her familier...mine is buried another 20ft over.    So we dug her up and checked her out.   We both look at life in general through scientific eyes (at least we try) so keeping her skull felt OK.  Funny though..when I place my hand on the skull all I can feel is that goofy cat's head just as it felt when she was alive.  And those big eyes looking up at me ...crazy.  
I enjoyed the reconnection.





She never really had a proper name except for "the Bum".


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## Goomba (Apr 4, 2007)

That's radical. A part of me has always wanted to scoop up my old dog Brutus and inspect his bones. Good luck with the landscaping.


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## bugmankeith (Apr 4, 2007)

Wow thats amazing looking with the teeth and everything. Looks like a sabretooth cat skull.


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## The_Phantom (Apr 5, 2007)

I could never do THIS personally with my cats....they were put in plastic boxes...I do NOT want to know whats left.

However, I have dug up about 3 gerbils that died.


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## buthus (Apr 5, 2007)

Wasnt sure what kind of reaction I'd get with this thread, but figured it would be more positive than if I were to post it on a cat forum!   




bugmankeith said:


> Wow thats amazing looking with the teeth and everything. Looks like a sabretooth cat skull.


Oooohh... I just so happen to have a cast of an actual adult sabertooth!    Got it when we did some freelance work for a company called BoneClones.  

Roy Horn nightmare...


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## bugmankeith (Apr 5, 2007)

The cat skull looks like sabretooth jr.

I found an anole I buried, the bones were lined up like a preserved fossil, I re-covered it.


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## gunslinger (Apr 8, 2007)

That is very neat, the sabre tooth skull with a modern day one ......... kind of gives an interesting historic and evolutionary perspective.  Kind of like a museum piece.


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## P. Novak (Apr 8, 2007)

Buthus that skull of the sabertooth looks enormous, whats the size of it? Is that a regular cat skull next to it?


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## buthus (Apr 10, 2007)

Novak said:


> Buthus that skull of the sabertooth looks enormous, whats the size of it? Is that a regular cat skull next to it?


"She" was truely a big cat.  Roughly 14.5" from tip of the fangs to the back of the head.  (yes, thats my cat's skull next to it) Fangs are about 7".  Whats truely amazing is how strong big cats skulls are...they evolved to bite in and hang on.  The sabertooth was the ultimate design for this attack method.  Bigger prey, thicker hides ...think furry elephants, giant sloths and massive hoofed animals.  Though, I would suspect the trade-off for those big fangs was great and with the coming of man and the colder climate prey got smaller (and faster) making them more of a liability than an asset.


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## gunslinger (Apr 10, 2007)

So that sabretooth is a cast of an actual fossil / skull?  It sure is sweet, and looks more realistic than I thought a cast would.  I checked out there website, man the stuff they make is awesome.

What work did you do for them to get that beauty cuz i see those are pricey?


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