A grieving podcaster posted a moving tribute to his late cat after he was forced to put it to sleep after its prolonged pain living with cancer.
Will Menaker–a co-host of the left-wing comedy/political podcast, Chapo Trap House–tweeted photos of his beloved cat and wrote:
"Yesterday, I had to say goodbye to a friend."
He was touched by all the emotional reactions from social media users who read his loving tribute, and he later followed up with:
"The fact that people think Scorsese died and are finding my cat instead fills my heart."
Menaker said he first encountered the "street cat" when he lived on Quincy St. in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 2017.
He said the stray fella would often allow Menaker and his girlfriend to pet him after following them up the steps to his apartment building.
"One night coming home alone, and a little drunk, I wondered how I was going to shut the door on this cat if I see him again?" he wondered.
"I'd never had a cat before, but it was around Thanksgiving and it was getting cold out."
"Sure enough he was there waiting for me," he said of his furry friend that would emerge from underneath parked cars.
"So I asked myself, 'what would happen if I picked him up?'"
"Then I picked him up and thought 'what would happen if I took him inside?'"
He would soon find out that once he crossed the point of no return, he would become attached.
"I did, and from that moment on I was in love."
"I won't say I 'had' a cat, but from then on I shared a house with a tuxedo cat I would name Marty."
He continued:
"He had striking green eyes and a notched ear from being TNR'd (trapped, neutered, and released), so he had lived on the streets for quite some time and was at least 4 or 5 years old by the time we crossed paths."
"That's the extend of what I knew of his life before I met him."
Menaker described Marty as always being "friendly but aloof, outgoing but possessed of a Sphinx-like dignity that nothing could assail" despite many attempts to pick him up and shower him with affection.
"Marty lived with me in the first apartment I lived on my own following the end of one long-term relationship–one in which I had lost a dog in the process of leaving–and the beginning of another with Katherine."
"His presence in my life marked huge changes, as the show took off–Felix described him as an angel investor in the show–and I became not a different person per se, but just the one I am today."
Sadly, Menaker's time with Marty was nearing the end when his beloved pet started suffering from cancer.
"Yesterday, we had to say goodbye."
"After months of trying to treat a cancer that he had been suffering from, he had enough."
After watching Marty no longer able to eat and drink and consequently becoming severely malnourished, he and his partner had to make a difficult decision.
"He was struggling to breathe and began hiding himself away under the couch to die, so Katherine and I decided to make the only decision we could on his behalf."
"He went to sleep in our house and in my arms. I know this is a small tragedy in the grand scheme of the world, but one that I feel acutely knowing that I expected many more years with my friend."
Menaker said he and Katherine were "heartbroken" but "grateful for the years that we did have him in our lives."
In his grief, he held onto a spiritual notion that gave him hope.
"I firmly believe cats are connected in some way to the other side," maintained Menaker.
"They have been around human civilization for roughly 9,000 years and are the only animal species that has domesticated human beings and not vice versa."
"They say cats know God because they know that we are not Gods ourselves."
"Whatever happens after our deaths, I think cats are somehow involved, and I hope that when it comes time, Marty will guide me on my own journey to the Western lands."
Menaker concluded his post by saying goodbye to Marty and said, "I'll miss you terribly."
Soon, RIP Marty began trending on Twitter and people offered condolences.
Those who could relate commiserated with Menaker.
R.I.P. Marty.
You adopted the best human.
