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SALT LAKE CITY — Pompous Albert, a once-rejected show cat who instead found online fame after he was adopted by a Utah company, has died, his owners posted online Wednesday.
"After living and sharing my most exceptional life with you, my loyal fans, co-workers and family, my brilliant life has come to an end," his owners posted Wednesday, directed to his 308,000 followers on Instagram. "I could not have asked for more — a voice for uniqueness, sarcasm, adoption/rescue and humor."
KSL.com featured Albert's unlikely journey back in 2016 when the then 9-year-old cat had just surpassed 100,000 online followers. He gained fame from his often displeased or angry-looking photos, something that was actually far from the truth of his actual curious and gregarious personality.
Albert lived in an office space with a few other cats in the Salt Lake City area. His owners asked many media outlets that covered him through the years not to name the business or location for fear he or the other cats might be stolen.
"He's very demanding of attention — all the attention. But, he's very sweet and has a great purr," Deana Peat, one of the employees, told KSL.com in 2016. "And he does like to just lay on my desk and fall asleep."
While most of the posts embellished his angry appearance, his owners also used his fame to promote pet adoption and rescues.
Albert's owners didn't disclose the cat's cause of death, other than it was "sudden and painless." The text was accompanied by a slideshow of photos taken throughout his life as an online personality.
"Oh what a ride, so I'm off to the rainbow bridge where I shall hang out with new friends eternally in a never-ending sunny spot," the post concluded. "Oh, what is the office going to do without me?"
Scores of condolences flood the post, including other famous online animal accounts.
"This makes me so sad. You will be so missed," one person wrote. "Sending hugs to your humans."
Or as one person put it, "Raise hell up in heaven sweet boy."
