The Bionic Cat

Several people have brought to my attention the recent story of the cat with bionic feet.  Click here for a link to a story about this British cat, Oscar, who is lucky to have his life.  And click here for a link to a video in which Oscar first tries out his bionic feet.  Of course, Curry thought this was an interesting story, and wanted to blog about it.  One of the reasons for her interest hits us close to home.  I'll let her explain.

"I'm glad that there are veterinarians who care so much about us cats that they would make bionic paws.  Oscar, the poor cat in the story, may not have been allowed to live, had he not received these bionic paws.  I know that I would be very traumatized without two of my feet.  It would be very hard to get around, and I wouldn't have the freedom to do all the things I like to do, like running and jumping, and exploring on my own, without needing my mom right there all the time.  Oscar was lucky, indeed.  He won't be able to get around exactly the same as before, but once he gets used to his new paws, it will be pretty close to normal.  Thank you, humans, for helping him! 

Stumpy, Grayson's Mother

After hearing Oscar's story, mom and I immediately thought of Grayson's mom, Stumpy.  (Let me explain right now that neither of us named her...that's Uncle John's 'clever' moniker for her.)  You see, Stumpy is missing the bottom half of one of her hind legs.  She was like this when John rescued her, a pregnant (with Grayson & company) stray.  Stumpy actually gets around very well.  She has learned to compensate for the loss of one leg.  She had no problems during her pregnancy or the raising of her litter (Grayson and the other kittens turned out just fine).  But, what would it be like for Stumpy if Uncle John bought her a bionic paw?  I asked Uncle John, and his response was 'that would cost more than my car.'  So, I guess that Stumpy will not be the second cat to benefit from a bionic paw.  Oh well, she's managing just fine as it is.  I'm still happy for Oscar, and I'm happy that those scientists and vets are thinking of us felines in their very important endeavors." 

Happy 1st Birthday to Grayson!

"It was my brother Grayson's birthday on Sunday, June 20th.  He's one year old.  Technically, we're considering him an adult, but you know how it is (just think of human 18 year olds).  He still has some growing and maturing to do before I will grant him the respect that an adult cat deserves.  We had a party for Grayson.  Mom has been getting into celebrating our birthdays lately.  She never used to do this, but then again, I never used to blog.  There's a time to start new habits, I guess.  So, Grayson's First Birthday party was quite a bit more involved than the little family get-togethers we had to celebrate Willie's Birthday or My Birthday.  Mom sent an invitation to several humans through Evite.  I was surprised that so many people wanted to come over and celebrate Grayson's birthday, but they did.  Just look at them in the photo.  I guess humans will go for any excuse to have wine and cheese.  Mom told me she would like me to thank our guests Jan, Nicole, Angela, Christine, Adam, Kim, Tina, Phyllis, Sheri, Mike and Marcia.  There were even more people who wanted to come, but couldn't make it, including our cat sitters Carlos and Deb, and our Uncle John who lives out of state.  It would seem that Grayson has a lot of friends, but since he hid in the bedroom for most of the party, I know they were really here to see me.

The party went down like this.  People started arriving, and Grayson and Zorro started hiding.  Willie and I had a good time because we are much more social cats.  Willie got to run out into the hall a couple times, so that made him happy.  I got to be petted on my head, so that made me happy.  Some of the silly humans brought birthday presents for Grayson.  Willie got first dibs on some cool catnip mice, because he couldn't keep his nose out of the bag.  Willie also got to try on Grayson's new Harley Davidson collar from Jan.  He didn't like it.  Grayson looked good in it though, as you can see from the photo.

The humans ate a lot of cheese and grapes and drank a lot of wine.  They also talked a lot.  Hey, I'm a Siamese cat, and I talk a lot.  If I think a human is talking a lot, it must be so.  These people wouldn't shut up.  But it's completely OK, because they are my mom's friends and they were all good to me.  While the humans were talking, drinking and eating, mom brought out Grayson's birthday cake.  Don't worry, I have no stories to share of goofy human traditions like wearing hats, lighting candles and singing.  The cake was presented to us in a very causal way, and we just ate.  It was a two-layer cake crafted from three cans of Fancy Feast and Laughing Cow cheese that mom tried to squeeze through a Ziploc, pastry bag style.  Mom's decorating skills leave a lot to be desired.  However, Willie (upper right corner of cake photo), Grayson and I ate.  Zorro was still playing shy boy at this point in the party, so no cake for him. 

After a while, some of the guests had to leave, so the party got a little more quiet, and Grayson and Zorro spent more time socializing.  Mom opened Grayson's presents, and we played with them a little bit (check out Zorro and  Grayson trying to get into the foam balls).  In addition to the Harley collar and the catnip mice, Grayson got a new dangly toy (fun!), a chirping chickadee toy, Temptations treats, and some other assorted goodies.  Mom's friends were very generous and all of us cats benefited! 

As the party started to wind down, I collected my thoughts.  (I'm happy to be a big sister to Grayson, even if he is still a bit of a pest.  I'm thinking that in a few more months he'll be fully grown and hopefully pestering me less.  I'm also happy mom has so many nice friends who pet me, talk to me, and let me smell their hair.)  When the last guests left, mom gave Grayson a big hug and told him how much she loves him.  She tells us this all the time, but it's always nice to hear it.  So, happy birthday to Grayson.  The next birthday is in July, and it's Zorro's 8th.  After that, no more cat birthdays until April!"

The Grayson-ator Strikes Again

Dear readers, I must once again apologize for my lag in posting Curry's blogs.  There's no excuse really, other than feeling a little busy since returning from vacation.  Curry has been hounding me (if cats can "hound") to post her blogs.  Then something happened last night that neither of us could ignore.  Little Grayson gave Curry another reason to blog.  Here, she tells the story.

"I'm getting tired of complaining when my mom is too busy to type up my blogs, so I'll just let it go in the future.  This is the last time I will tell her how frustrating it is to have blog material and no one to type it for me.  I promise, this is the last time I will figuratively roll my eyes at my mom's defense of being 'busy.'  So, with that, yes, mom's right, that Grayson is a character.  You'll recall my May 26th blog ('The Flying Grayson') that described Grayson's little adventure getting stuck behind the bookcases.  Mom was really worried that he'd do it again while she was in Costa Rica, and that he'd be trapped back there for hours at a time.  Grayson proved her wrong.  He didn't do it again that week, nor the week that mom returned.  But then a couple nights ago mom woke up to the sound of Grayson scratching and crying, and he had done it again. At 1:00 AM mom had to, once again, remove the books from the bookshelf, pull it out from the wall, and release my crazy little brother.  I was asleep in the bed at the time, so I didn't see him do it.  I heard him do it though, and I didn't care.  I didn't even get up when mom went to check on him.  Apparently Willie did though.  Mom said that Willie was sitting on the desk chair staring at the bookcases where Grayson was trapped.

So this got mom worried.  Would Grayson keep doing this?  Would he get hurt doing it?  Would he do it if she left for an overnight trip?  Well, the answer is: yes.  Grayson had every intention of continuing to jump into the hole and trap himself at the bottom of the six-foot tall bookcases.  He kept trying to jump down there last night while mom was home and watching him.  She would tell him 'no, Grayson!' and get out the water spray bottle to deter him.  It worked for a while, but that boy was determined.  He started easing the front of his body down the side of the bookcase, and just as mom yelled her final 'Grayson, no!' he went over the edge, sliding down six feet into the pit.  For about 30 seconds he said nothing, and mom kept calling to him to make sure he wasn't hurt.  Finally, he responded with his little meow, and we knew he was OK.  He was playing a game with mom.

Once more, mom removed the books, and scooted the bookcase out from the wall.  This time, she didn't put everything back the same way.  She moved the bookcase down a few inches.  It doesn't look quite as nice as the old right-angle set-up in the corner, but now there is a way to escape, should Grayson continue to play this game.  My guess is that he will soon lose interest in the game, since mom doesn't need to react to it anymore.  I have to say, at first I thought my brother was being a little bit stupid in continuing to jump into the hole, but now that I've seen the pattern (that he only did it when mom was home, that he never got hurt, that he was really just fishing for attention), I have a new-found respect for the little guy.  He's still not my favorite brother, but I think I'll let him live to his first birthday (which is in three days...mom's throwing a party)."

Costa Rican Beach Cat

"Hello again, everyone!  Mom stifled me for a week.  She took off on vacation to Costa Rica.  That meant that not only would the boys and I need to be alone for a week, but it also meant that I had no blog secretary.  Thus, no blog posts for a whole week!  Just for that, I'm not going to tell mom about all the fun we had with our cat sitter Carlos.  I'm not going to tell her that even though we missed her, we enjoyed a week of freedom with nobody telling us what we couldn't do!


When mom came home, she told us that she met a cat on the beach in Costa Rica.  At first I was a little jealous, but then I grew to pity this poor little guy.  Mom said that he was young and very skinny (she could see his ribs) and had some open wounds, possibly from fighting, or just from living in the wild.  Even though the bartender at the beach bar told her that this cat had a home, mom wasn't really sure about that.  How could anyone have a cat and take such poor care of him?  There was one thing that may indicate that he does have a home: mom said he was a real sweetheart around her and the other humans she was hanging out with.  So, he knew how to give and receive love.  And his affection may have been entirely genuine, or it was a strategy to get some of mom's lunch away from her.  She gave him a small bite of bread, and when he gobbled it up without chewing, she have him a whole slice.  We cats don't usually eat bread (nothing against it, but it's not meat), so if this guy was chowing down on the bread, you know he had to be hungry.  Mom soaked a second slice of bread in cheese sauce from her pasta, and the cat ate that up too.  Mom said she felt so sorry for this guy, but other than giving him some hearty food, she couldn't do much else.  After a while, he left.

Mom hopes, and I hope too, that this little cat really did have a home and that his people will treat his wounds and feed him better, but we're not so sure.  Mom said she saw a lot of cats in Costa Rica, and all of them were thin.  Some of them clearly did have homes, but just weren't as fat as us spoiled American cats.  Others were strays, and mom's heart went out to them as she thought about me and my brothers here at home, and how much she missed us.  There were lots of dogs in Costa Rica too, including on the beach, mom said.  Again, they were thinner than American dogs, and some appeared to be strays.  It was often hard for mom to tell the strays from the dogs with homes, because there didn't seem to be any kind of leash laws, and many dogs ran around without collars.  There were good dog sightings, mom said, like the happy dogs playing near the surf, and the ones running on the path with their humans.  But mom's experience with cats and dogs in Costa Rica was overwhelmingly sad.  She wished the animals were better cared for, but with many people just making ends meet, animals were not their top priority.  Stories like these remind me how lucky Zorro, Willie, Grayson and I really are.  We have a happy home with lots of love, food, toys, and comfortable places to sleep, and we get good veterinary care.  I may complain about my brothers sometimes, and I may seem aloof as if I don't care about things, but I do, and I'm proud to be my mom's Siamese girl."