The death of a cat is one of life’s most unbearable heartbreaks. For one Minneapolis man, the grief of losing his beloved fur baby spilled out in an unusual way. Kelly Loverud memorialized his one-eyed cat, Steve, with obituary flyers stapled to telephone poles across northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Grieving cat dad writes touching obituary for one-eyed cat
Steve was Loverud’s 19-year-old female cat. When Steve died, the 48-year-old cat dad was distraught. A content creator and photographer, he wrote a tribute to his fur baby. Then, according to the Star Tribune, Loverud “staggered around” NE 4th Street, stapling the printed tributes to his feline friend on telephone poles.
“Steve ran the Sheridan neighborhood of NE Minneapolis with an iron fist-paw,” the obit read. Though the cat only had one eye, the cat dad warned, “Don’t let that fool you, she could still see the stupit [sic] shit you were up to.”
The obit said that Steve was cuddly, enjoyed “being vacuum cleaned,” and “was a girl with a dude’s name because I’m a dude with a girl’s name and we were in this together.”
“Steve was smart, funny, lethal, and cuddly,” the obit continued. “She was also annoying and loud as hell at times, but hey who of us isn’t.”
Man and cat had a long history together
Steve first came into Loverud’s life about 12 years ago when Loverud’s then-girlfriend moved in. He helped care for the cat, then known as Stevie Valentine.
Initially, Steve peed in the house and seemed fixated on the outdoors. Loverud realized that the feline needed to “get out and be a cat,” he told the Star Tribune. “She had this bloodlust that needed to be satiated.”
Steve began venturing outside – and returning with sparrows.
“A lot of people get really mad when they hear that, but she was just a cat being a cat,” he said. “And from that point on, she was pretty much perfect.”
Steve made the rounds through the Sheridan neighborhood, visiting people, sleeping on porches, scootering while snuggling in Loverud’s sweatshirt, and even barhopping (on a leash).
As Steve aged, however, she developed an eye disease. Eventually, the vet removed her right eye and replaced it with a silicone implant. “It didn’t change her life. It just made her look cooler,” Loverud insisted.
Unfortunately, Steve was euthanized on Aug. 16.
“She was the best damn cat a dude could ever ask for and it was an awesome 12 years,” the cat dad wrote in an Instagram post featuring the last photo of the cat. “Still, I’m devastated. RIP you little bastard.”
After Steve’s death, Loverud memorialized her at Burning Man by placing the cat’s collar and obit in a special sanctuary made of wood. On the last night of the festival, he watched the structure burn.
“She was the best cat a guy could ever want,” Loverud concluded the obit. “I loved her more than anything and I miss her tons.”
