I AM LATIFA, CAT EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Piper has written about me a few times already, in her own lame way, but I feel that she hasn't written nearly enough.  So I have been pestering her to let me write a blog entry myself, because I know I can do a much better job than any dog could do, although I didn't put it exactly that way to Piper.  Finally, she said yes, so here I am, writing!  I'm not going to repeat the stuff Piper already wrote about me, so if you want to read it, you can just put my name in the search box for this blog, and you will find the entries in which I am mentioned.

The last thing Piper reported about me was that I had got some x-rays that showed I had hip dysplasia on one side.  At least that's what Dr. Vodraska thought.  But when the radiologist looked at my x-rays, she said I have "severe hip dysplasia" on both sides.  Of course, I could have told everybody that and saved them a lot of time and money, since I know exactly how my hips feel.

The good news is that, after hearing my grim diagnosis, Mom told Aunt Tania that she would adopt me.  Ha!  This is exactly the outcome I had been hoping for because I pretty much like living here, and I especially like cuddling with Mom under the covers on a cold night.  I've really spent a lot of time and effort buttering Mom up and convincing her what a sweet little cat I am, and my hard work has clearly paid off.  Mom told me that my hip dysplasia made me basically unadoptable, and if I had been a nasty, mean cat that she didn't like much, she might have suggested to Aunt Tania that I be put to sleep.  So it's lucky that I did such a fabulous job with my "good kitty" act!

For anyone who doesn't know, here's how hip dysplasia works:  There is this bone in your thigh called the femur, and at the top of the femur, there's a round part called the femoral head.  This round head fits into a socket in the pelvis.  It's supposed to fit nicely and be cushioned by a layer of cartilage, which makes the joint work smoothly and painlessly.

But if you have hip dysplasia, the socket part is too shallow to hold the femoral head in place comfortably, so then there are problems.  Plus after a while you get arthritis in the joint, and that makes it hurt even more.  You can maybe fix this with surgery, or you can take a bunch of supplements that are supposed to build up the hip joint and make it work more smoothly.  So far, I am trying the latter approach because it's easier and cheaper.

About a week ago, I started taking this stuff called Cosequin.  It's made out of glucosamine and chondroitin, which are supposed to be in healthy cartilage.  So maybe if I take it long enough, my hips will feel all better again.  Dr. Vodraska said she could do laser treatment on me or even acupuncture.  I don't think there is any way I would sit still and let somebody stick a bunch of needles in me, though!  Mom said she might think about surgery for me later on, but not right away.  At the moment, I can still run around and jump up on anything I want to, although it hurts sometimes.  But what's a little pain if you are having a good time?

Anyway, I guess I'd say that the main disadvantage of living here with Mom is that there are way too many animals.  I would much prefer to have Mom all to myself, or maybe to share her with only one other cat.  We could easily get rid of the dogs, in my opinion.  They serve no purpose and just hang around acting stupid and barking.  The other problem with Mom is that she keeps bringing all these darned kittens into the house.  I am sooooo finished with kittens and that whole mothering thing.  I can't imagine why Jason puts up with the little pests, but it's probably because he never had to actually give birth or nurse any real kittens!