Happy Birthday Scooter!
Best Wishes from everyone here at Catster HQ.
Hi, evrybuddy, Skeezix heer. Today is a vary speshul day. My good frend Scooter is sellebrating her 20th berthday! Yes, yoo red that rite: her 20th berthday! She was kind enuf to interrupt a vary important nap to purr with me.
Skeezix: Aside from being a meezer (which is noted as a long-lived breed), to what do you attribute your longevity?
Scooter: Attitude, especially determination! That probably comes from my meezer genes, so meezerness definitely has a big part in my longevity. So does good fortune — Bastet has smiled on me. I know too well that many cats are not as fortunate health wise as I am.
Catster has played a part, too, educating my mom on several health issues that affect me, providing great role models for both of us and giving encouragement and support through bad times.
Skeezix: Will you be sellebrating with a jar of Gerbers chicken baby food?
Scooter: Yes and no. I’ll definitely celebrate my 20th with chicken baby food, but I eat Nature’s Goodness brand now. I hope Gerber stock prices don’t take a tumble now that the news is out!
Skeezix: How are you and your Catster frends going to sellebrate?
Scooter: Over in The Olde Furts Home where I spend a lot of time, we’ll probably break open some new packages of pee pads, spread them around to make comfy napping spots and have a group nap. That’s my kind of celebration!
Skeezix: As you look back on your long life, is there anything you regret not doing?
Scooter: I regret that my older sister and I never got along well enough to snuggle. Back when I was the new kitten in the house and she was The Queen, I wanted to snuggle and nap with her after I was tired out from pouncing on her.
She wouldn’t snuggle! Eventually I quit trying . . . maybe I was even a little mean to her after that. The last year of her life, though, when she was old and frail, I tried to be considerate, letting her have the best napping spots and not bothering her. I’m glad I was kind to her then. Now I’m even older than she was. My other regret is that I don’t know if lizards taste like chicken. I caught two lizards in my life but I wasn’t allowed to taste them. If I catch one now, Mom says I can keep it, so I still have a chance. I can’t see all that well anymore, though, and the lizards in my back yard run faster than they did a few years ago!
Skeezix: What stand out as some of the hilites of yer life?
Scooter: Turning 20 and chatting with you, Skeezix — that’s a real highlight!
Skeezix: Youre always a top vote-getter in Catsters World’s Coolest Cat Show. Are you planning on entering this year?
Scooter: I probably won’t enter, but I love to look at the entries and will definitely vote as many times as my paws can handle. I was fortunate — and very proud — to be in the finals in three categories in 2005 and three different categories in 2006, but I only observed (and voted) last year and plan to do the same this year.
Skeezix: Whats a typical day like for yoo?
Scooter: Most days are good! I nap a lot, but that isn’t all. Since I have a few favorite napping places, I move to a different spot several times a day. Between naps, when I’m up and moving around, I spend love time with Mom and Dad. I’m not a lap cat anymore, but I love to be held. My favorite is when Mom holds me on her shoulder and pets me, while I purr in her ear, or when Dad takes me out in the back yard on a warm afternoon.
Of course I eat, and I also take medicine every morning, have my spoonful of baby food twice a day and visit my litter box several times — but naps and love and the back yard are the best parts of my typical day. Oh! And reading the Cat’s Meow Blog, of course!
Skeezix: Do you have any age-related health problems, and if so, how do you deal with them?
Scooter: Most older cats probably have the same health problems I have: failing kidneys (although mine aren’t that bad), hyperthyroidism, arthritis, and the skinny-butt-wobbly-legs thing. I need a few medications, but all of them except one are added to my food or mixed with a spoonful of baby food, so I don’t mind. I even eat the special kidney food and like it! I’m not crazy about receiving sub-q fluids twice a week, but I tolerate it and I know it helps me feel better.
I think I’m dealing with my old age problems pretty well right now. They’re a bother, but they haven’t overwhelmed my life nor taken away my enjoyment of my life.
Skeezix: What advice can you give to other cats who are inching up on the 20-yeer mark?
Scooter: I can give some hints that helped get me to 20.
Keep moving. Every little bit helps. I move from one napping spot to another several times a day. Even if you nap in one spot, get up every couple hours, stretch, turn around a few times in your bed, change directions, turn around a few more times . . . then you can lie down and go back to sleep.
Stay curious. That should help keep you moving, too.
Accept help when you need it, whether it’s getting into your favorite chair or grooming your hard-to-reach parts. Of course you should do it yourself when you can, but when you can’t, let your mom or dad help.
Purr, purr, purrrr. It makes you and everyone around you feel good.
And of course, enjoy each and every day with your family, regardless of your age.
Skeezix: You were Catsters Cat of the Day on Sept 21st of this year. What did you do to sellebrate? How did being COTD change your life?
Scooter: What an exciting day! After reading so many great messages from friends old and new, I enjoyed a long nap in a sunny window. After that, I was rested and ready for the party that evening at The Summer of Scooter. The entire experience was a hoot!
Skeezix: Well, it was a pleasure and an honor to chat with you today, Scooter! Look! I brot yoo a toona cupcake! I’ll spare yoo my singing, but how about making a wish and blowing out the candle?
Scooter: My wish is that all my friends can live at least as long as me. As for blowing out the candle… do mind taking care of that? It’s time for my nap!
Skeezix: All yoo Catsters, pleeze drop by for sum complementary toona joose and wish Scooter a Happy 20th Berthday!
