Foss

Foss was owned by artist and humorist Edward Lear. The kitten was introduced to the Lear household in 1873, when a misguided servant cut the poor kitten's tail off because he thought this would stop it from straying. The unfortunate tom-cat was not at all handsome, nonetheless, he became famous through the cartoons drawn by his master.

Mr. Lear loved the cat so much that when he moved to a new area, he instructed the architects to design his home as an exact replica of his previous one. This was solely to make the transition to the new home as less stressful as possible for his feline friend.

Foss died in 1887, and was given a full burial with a large tombstone in Mr. Lear's Italian garden. Why the age of Foss is recorded on the tombstone as 31 years instead of reading 14 years remains a mystery. But it was only two months later when he himself died at the age of 76.

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