@ShaulaEvans I don't have any cool facts but will a picture of some baby praying mantises do?

Happy birthday to Mia, who turns 20 today.

Let me tell you about Mia. She came to us when she was 11 and is a foster fail (to be fair, we never really set out to foster cats, so when we brought her home it was always only going to be for good). She and her sibling, Ted – a sweet natured orange and white shorthair – had lived with a couple who broke up and couldn't keep their cats, so we agreed to take them despite already having three cats (and four Kids under 12) at the time. What can I say? We like a challenge.

Mia is a lapcat, through and through, and she will fight any other cat who wants to take her rightful cosy place, whether that's a warm human belly or the couch, which she's doing her best to cover in fur.

When she was 14, she got hit by a car and we thought that was it for her, but the vet was confident that she would make it. The surgery was going to cost $2k, though and we were like, well. That's just not possible, right? We barely made it from week to week as it was. Enter my friends from the internet... an old friend from livejournal messaged me and said she was happy to help pay for Mia's surgery if I wanted. She said, don't let her age or the cost influence your decision. So I made a crowdfunding account and she and other friends met the target within days and Mia got her surgery (a leg amputation). Soon after that we also built our catio. Apart from the surgery, it's the best cat investment we've made.

And here she is at 20. She's quite deaf and probably can't see as well as she used to but she still enjoys cuddles, yelling at everyone, and devouring the expensive tinned cat food and any spare roast meat you might want to toss her way. I don't know how much longer she has but we're just enjoying her company while we can. Who knew this crotchety old lady – who was already quite old when we adopted her! – would make it this far?! I do believe she's just alive out of spite at this point

#caturday #HappyBirthday #cats