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[Rat Of Wisdom]

So my awesome cat Thob Geshudegen died of old age just now. He'd been catching vermin like a pro ever since embark (as evidenced by all the "Cat cancels store corpse: too injured" bugspam), so I wasn't content with him being pitched in the graveyard with the rest of the pets. No, I wanted something special.

So I opened up the floodgate leading to my first ever well (I'd sealed it because I built a much better one after I shook off my fear of dorfs tumbling to their deaths) and built a coffin right next to it. Enabled it for burial, disallowed citizens but allowed pets, but they wouldn't bury him- they just tossed him in the same refuse pile goblins get chucked in (I'd made sure to disable all other empty coffins for burial).

So I thought, hey, let's disallow cat corpses here, have him dumped right next to the coffin and unforbidden, they'll be sure to notice and bury him.

Designated a dump tile, activated it, dumped the corpse.

Dorf comes along, picks up the corpse, I'm thinking "hey, just as planned."

Dorf happily meanders along the corridor, up the stairs, past the depot, into the well chamber-

AND CHUCKS POOR THOB'S REMAINS INTO THE GOD DAMN WELL.

*silence* ... ... *facepalm*

I mean, I can't stop giggling, but really it's horrible, especially considering this was one awesome cat. Are there utilities that let you teleport items?

[Aspgren]

Check the grave. It's probably already occupied.  With graves it's a "first come first served" kind of deal and the first pet to die is now in that grave. err.. sort of. It has most likely been turned into meat and leather and such. but spiritually it's there.

So the dwarves get told to dump the corpse and figure that the well is a great place to dump stuff! They're intelligent like that. What with the dead cats and drinking water and all.

[Karik]

One awesome cat.  One awesome burial.

[Rat Of Wisdom]

No, it's definitely not in use, and all my other dead pets have been buried. I have a surplus of coffins, both unbuilt and built but unoccupied. D: Poor friggin' cat. I put the coffin by the well so he could hunt vermin and fish in the afterlife, dammit.

[KaelGotDwarves]

That sounds absolutely correct for dorfs.

Dwarf companion can bring things back to life, but I don't know if the cat would die of old age again. There's no way to warp items.

[Rat Of Wisdom]

It's fine if he dies, he had a long and fulfilling life, but the ignominy of being pitched down the well is just too much. I don't even do that to goblins, man. (Although to be fair they've usually been separated into their component parts well before they ever see my wells.)

Starting up Dwarf Companion now!

[Shinziril]

The problem you had here is that if you designate a dump zone next to a channel, your dwarfs will assume you want refuse dumped down the channel (not on the ground next to the channel), so your dumped cat corpse got thrown in the well. 

Not sure why they wouldn't put him in the coffin, though. 

[Aspgren]

Great way to treat your hero. Bring him back into the miserable decaying state that he last suffered - and now he's wet to boot.

... hold on. I can't remember any cat getting a burial in any of my forts. Not cats .. and not work animals.
scratch that. i checked and sure enough there are buried cats.

[Rat Of Wisdom]

That's a little bit of a ridiculous assumption to make, given the fact that you can designate a dump zone over a channel just as well, but I'll be sure to remember that in future.

He's alive again, btw. He may die of old age again too of course, but now (because the coffin is already the only available one and the only one that accepts pets) maybe he'll be buried straight away. Grr >.<

Great way to treat your hero. Bring him back into the miserable decaying state that he last suffered - and now he's wet to boot.

No, his corpse is quite clearly still at the bottom of the welll; apparently he belonged to Schrödinger before my engraver found him. (She'll probably receive bad thoughts from him decaying, but balance out because she's comforted by him too.)

[Retro]

That's a little bit of a ridiculous assumption to make, given the fact that you can designate a dump zone over a channel just as well, but I'll be sure to remember that in future.

Actually, dwarves won't dump things into a hole if the zone is solely over the hole - the zone marks where they stand. That's why if you center a 3x3 zone over a channel, it'll display only 8 of the 9 tiles as eligible for dumping uses.

That said, hilarious anecdote.

[blue emu]

Surely the most DWARVEN way to honor a dead cat is to make an Artifact out of his bones and skull. Maybe a Cat-Bone WarHammer.

[Rat Of Wisdom]

Actually, dwarves won't dump things into a hole if the zone is solely over the hole - the zone marks where they stand. That's why if you center a 3x3 zone over a channel, it'll display only 8 of the 9 tiles as eligible for dumping uses.

That said, hilarious anecdote.

Ah, k. Guess I hadn't encountered that yet. (It was confusing to my facial musculature. I was grinning and sadfaicing at the same time.)

Surely the most DWARVEN way to honor a dead cat is to make an Artifact out of his bones and skull. Maybe a Cat-Bone WarHammer.

Yes. True. However, I'm unwilling to tinker with the universe quite that much... (Can you even specify output item types with Dwarf Companion?) Also I don't have any legendary hammerdwarves who'd wield it.

[Karik]

Wasn't there a movie made about someone raising a cat from the dead...I think it ended with loads of FUN.

[blue emu]

Surely the most DWARVEN way to honor a dead cat is to make an Artifact out of his bones and skull. Maybe a Cat-Bone WarHammer.

Yes. True. However, I'm unwilling to tinker with the universe quite that much...

Not much tinkering would be required. Let the cat decay. Next time you get a Strange Mood that required Bones and/or Skulls, just pause and forbid every bone in the Fortress except dear little kitty's... easily done via the stocks menu.

That won't control the type of Artifact that you get, of course... it might be a Flood-Gate decorated with spikes of Cat Bone.

[Quietust]

Since you brought that cat on embark and it adopted one of your dwarves, it's likely you just ran into this bug:

000132 □ [dwarf mode][pets]   cats aren't buried and that makes the adoptee sad

Cats that arrive with immigrants get buried properly.