Austin writes: How I Got My Name.

It has come to some people’s attention, after reading the about page of this blog, that I, Austin, do not have the same surname as the humans. My full name is Austin Moody-Murphy, which might sound stupid, but is not my fault.

Firstly, Toni is to blame. Back in the day before I was born, good old Toni was utterly and absolutely obsessed with a certain rugby player name Austin Healey.

<—– That’s him, there, in case you care. Toni, being totally rugby obsessed and totally Healey obsessed, decided that she’d call her new cat (that’d be me) Austin in an ode to the object of her affections. It got shorted to Oz, and that was me, born in July 2000 and named after a rugby player. (Note from Toni: and a very good rugby player, at that).

And you’d think, really, that that would be the end of it, wouldn’t you? That, when it came to me, she’d exhausted her naming-cats-after-rugby-players possibilities, don’t you? Had I not suffered enough? Well, no. She and Paul were chatting one day about how I was named after Austin Healey, and they jokingly said they were give me a surname also after a rugby player. And before you ask, no, there isn’t a Moody-Murphy player out there – but there is a Lewis Moody and a Geordan Murphy. Here they are:

 

Now when deciding my “surname” (what is wrong with my humans?) they couldn’t decide which to go for. You see, Geordan Murphy is Irish – like Paul. Lewis Moody is English – like Toni. So they couldn’t decide, and in the end said “Moody-Murphy” and found it really funny, and unfortunately, it stuck.

So here I am, named after three Leicester Tigers rugby players. This was all cemented when Paul came home from the pub with three entry cards to win a trip to see the British Lions play in New Zealand in 2005. Toni filled one out for her, one for Paul, and then used the third as “me”, filling out Austin Moody-Murphy as the competition entrant. Amazingly, I won! Not the trip to NZ, but a DVD of the previous Lions tour. How many cats do you know who officially own their own DVD? Huh? How cool am I?

I’m even registered at the vet as “Austin Moody-Murphy”. I like it, actually, gives me a sense of identity away from the humans. So yes, that is how I got my name.

Donncha writes: THEY have been SHOPPING!

FINALLY. M&D get off their arses and actually go shopping. When Toni got back, I was all, “got anything for me?” and throwing myself at her legs, then she said: “there’s lots of nummies for you guys!”

Which I didn’t really like, ‘cos that implies that it ain’t just stuff for me, but that I’ve gotta share it with my stupid sister and Austin. But even so, what a haul! We’ve got:

• Whiskas dry cat food, tuna flavour (good call on the flavour there)
• Whiskas WET cat food! And we never get wet cat food! I haven’t had any yet but I’ve seen it and we totally have it here to be had at some point!
• A NEW TOY! And it’s the coolest toy ever. It’s a scrunchy base (fantabulous for, erm, making scrunching noises) and then sticking out of the top is a whirly-gig type thing with three dangling toys attached. I’m actually still too full from shovelling all that Whiskas dry food into my mouth so I haven’t played with it yet, but Darcy has and I’m assured it rocks. (Note from Toni: Also, it was only £2! And it’s one of the best toys I’ve seen for ages).
• Cat Nip drops. Haven’t been allowed these yet, but when I am, I’m gonna go mad.
• Milk drops. Apparently these treats are specifically for Austin, which is So Not Fair as he also got…
• A bottle of cat milk. Now, I like cat milk, but not as much as he does, so the parents have only bought one bottle and have promised it to Austin.
• A huge blue feather boa thing that looks like it will shred up really nicely.
• Whiskas kitbit treats.

(Please notice how much Whiskas stuff we have, someone at Whiskas. Send us free stuff!)

So yeah, right now, I’m really impressed with the humans. AND, I’ve been told by a reliable source (Toni) that there’s a new BED coming in the post as well as some new toys (and also, some flea treatment, but I’m not so excited about that to be honest).

I love the humans, you know. Especially now it seems The Diet is OVER…