A cat owner has raised eyebrows after deciding to freeze-dry her dead feline in order to be "together forever".
Soren High, a 35-year-old fashion designer from Portland, Oregon, has gone viral for the unorthodox way of dealing with the grief of losing Loki, who died aged 16.
Loki passed away in February in a tragic accident that Soren called "the most traumatizing experience".
Freeze-drying is similar to taxidermy and involves applying very cold temperatures to the body in a vacuum, to remove all moisture from the body temperature, essentially freezing the animal in time.
It has meant that Soren is keeping Loki's body on their bedside table, but is ultimately planning on displaying the cat on a shelf in the living room.
Soren, who used they/them pronouns, told Insider: "I knew I wanted to have [Loki] preserved the day I took her home. It was an immediate knowledge that we were going to be together forever."
After sending off Loki's corpse to the freeze-drying service in Ohio, Soren shortly received him back, complete with flowers and ice packs.
Soren documented the after-care process on TikTok including cleaning his glass eyes and maintaining his fur. The video of "unboxing" Loki garnered 4.8 million views on Tiktok.
upon receiving the corpse in the post, Soren said: "I'll admit it, it completely broke me at first. And then you see how perfect and complete she is, and then suddenly you are whole again."
Loki died when Soren was out for a walk with their dog Peter. The dog lunged for a rabbit but instead attacked Loki who was sitting outside, and later died from his injuries.
Soren opted for the freeze-drying process after taking psychedelics whereupon the cat seemed to condone preservation. "She told me to just love her and this was what I felt like loving her was." Soren said.
The procedure cost a total of $3,000 (£2, 422) the creator asked followers for donations in order to afford the costly 'procedure'. They ultimately raised $4,300 — with the remaining $1,300 going to two animal rescue organizations.
Some have called the decision "strange" and vile, and likened it to "demonic torture."
But others wished they had done it themselves. Someone wrote on her 'unboxing' video: "this was beautiful. I truly wish I knew of these options when my boy passed due to cancer. im glad she’s home"
Soren said they chose to share the story to show viewers that freeze-drying was an option. And, most importantly, it was an option that made them feel so much better.
"I think grief is incredibly complicated, and everyone's going to do it a little bit differently," Soren said.
