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“I Adopted My Brother’s Two Bengals When He Passed Away. I Did My Best To Build Them A Cat Jungle In My Basement And Make Him Proud”
Coping with loss and grief is one of the very hardest things to endure in life, particularly when someone very close to you has passed away at a tragically young age. Hilton Patton from Edmonton, Alberta, decided that the best way to honor his late brother Boston was to build something truly special for the beloved Bengal cats he left behind, and the result is beautiful.
“The cats’ names are Benji and Nala,” Hilton told Bored Panda. “Nala is about 5, and Benji is about 3 I believe. They’ve had a hard time adjusting. Nala’s always been a more social cat who loves people in general, so she was a bit easier, but Benji has only ever loved, or even liked, one person, and that’s Boston. He’s never really let anyone else even pet him. But with Boston, he’d follow him around, jump on him, sleep on him, everything. Benji has only now just started to feel comfortable with coming down and playing with me and Nala.”
“For undertaking the project, I knew he would never want Benji and Nala split up, because he had actually specifically told me that. And I know he wouldn’t want them going to someone he didn’t know or completely trust. I honestly can’t even explain my whole thought process at the time, cause it really was just a lot of pain. Just nothing mattered except for doing something him. Money didn’t matter, my job didn’t matter, nothing mattered.”
“Emotionally, the construction of it I think was helpful at the time, cause I was in an extremely dark place and it was something I could pour myself completely into. All my money, all my time, it went to that. I’m still not out of the dark place if I’m being honest, and I don’t think I ever will be, but being near the cats and getting to see them every day does help.”
Hilton goes into detail about how he and his friends built the feline paradise below, and if you’d like to help him make it even better, you can check out his gofundme page here.
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“I know this probably will look quite amateur, and that’s honestly because it completely is. Going into this project, I had literally zero experience doing anything I did, I just knew I wanted to do something awesome for my little brother and his cats.
I had spent all my money and maxed out my cards on all the supplies and the only 2 things I could afford to pay professionals to do was the framing, and laying the turf. Also, I had a good friend do the electrical.
Everything else though, from the drywall, the shelves, carpeting the walls, making an optical fiber night sky, running speaker wire, were done by me and the help of some of my brother’s friends with no knowledge at all of what we were doing.”
“A quick walkthrough of the basement”
“Electrical done with outlets in only select places. The house electrical was framed off and made into a mini room to make sure the cats couldn’t get to it or hurt themselves”
“Drywalling starts, and not only is it exhausting, but we were also insanely bad at it”
“Walls all finished”
“We start running optic fiber wire”
“We really didn’t know the best way to measure it all out for where it would need to go, so this was our solution”
“The back of an average ceiling board”
“Wires start to stack up”
“Wires hidden. I also installed 4 ceiling speakers to play jungle sounds throughout the basement”
“Starting work on the main star system attraction”
“The finished backside of the main star system”
“1st half of his stars”
“Second half of his stars, I did my best to recreate a picture of him I know he loved”
“Here’s what it looks like at night”
“Before finishing the ceiling (we were a little all over the place) I started planning out shelves, and cut a small little cave for the cats to go in between the walls up high”
“Shelves start going up to see what they will look like, and marking their spots”
“Shelves part 2”
“Wall carpeting begins”
“Shelves put in place over the carpet”
“Concrete gets cleaned up and ready for turf”
“Turf has been laid! I was super glad that I was able to afford professionals to do this, because they did so much better of a job than I could have ever done”
“What I call the “sh*t pit” set up on a rug so that it could be easily cleaned if needed”
“Shelf made and air filter placed above the shit pit to eliminate any smell”
“Carpeting all the shelves”
“Setting up the water feature area. The two plants behind it are fake”
“Finished water feature area. The plants on the right are real, and called Boston Ferns, which was insanely fitting (and why I bought them)”
“Buying toys, and other premade cat furniture. Also installed a hammock for me to lay in when hanging out with the cats”
“Benji and Nala move in!”
“Nala getting comfy”
“Benji loves the wall cave”
“They realize they can climb the walls, and they love it”
“The basement has the cats in now, But it’s still missing a lot of what I hope to eventually add when I save enough money. Also, stop here if you don’t want things to get emotional”
“This is my little brother Boston. I did all of this for him. I wish he could see it. He passed away on Feb 03, 2018 from suicide. I love him and miss him more than words can possibly describe”
“I love you buddy. The pain hasn’t stopped for a single second since you left”
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What do you think ?
Jean van der Merwe 6 years ago
There could not be a more beautiful tribute to the life of your brother than this. You are bringing joy to the creatures that mattered to him. I was deeply touched by this. I wouldn’t be so sure that he does not see this anyway. I think something of us survives, even when we check out a bit earlier. I wish you healing and light.
TheReader19 6 years ago
This is so sad, I believe that a family member committing suicide must be one of the most painful losses you could go through with so many questions why and feelings of guilt. Nice that he was able to take the cats and give them a great home.
Bluebird11 6 years ago
If you're thinking your family/friends would be better off with you gone, please think again. Years ago, I had a chummy co-worker who killed herself & it still bugs me. Imagine the kind of pain it causes to people closer to you & call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255) instead.
morgan jeffries 6 years ago
My workmate killed himself last month. Although I was only a small part of his life, I still feel hollow and useless. Can't imagine what his family and friends feel like.
Load More Replies...
Jean van der Merwe 6 years ago
There could not be a more beautiful tribute to the life of your brother than this. You are bringing joy to the creatures that mattered to him. I was deeply touched by this. I wouldn’t be so sure that he does not see this anyway. I think something of us survives, even when we check out a bit earlier. I wish you healing and light.
TheReader19 6 years ago
This is so sad, I believe that a family member committing suicide must be one of the most painful losses you could go through with so many questions why and feelings of guilt. Nice that he was able to take the cats and give them a great home.
Bluebird11 6 years ago
If you're thinking your family/friends would be better off with you gone, please think again. Years ago, I had a chummy co-worker who killed herself & it still bugs me. Imagine the kind of pain it causes to people closer to you & call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255) instead.
morgan jeffries 6 years ago
My workmate killed himself last month. Although I was only a small part of his life, I still feel hollow and useless. Can't imagine what his family and friends feel like.
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