A few nights ago, some buddies and I were discussing the merits of our various feline and canine friends, and the subject of pooties and bunnythumpers came up.
You may now be wondering, "What on earth is a bunnythumper, and why would a pootie want one?"
For a demonstration by one of my resident furry rulers follow us below the jump...
So, what is a bunnythumper? Let Thisbe model for us...
A bunnythumper is that part of a pootie's hind leg that, when they have caught something (like a toy, or possibly the other cat), they use to "thump" the entraped victim. Additionally, this part looks kind of like a bunny's hind leg, hence the term "bunnythumper".
Naturally, the next step in our conversation was to discuss the relative merits of our various pooties' thumpers...things like fur, presence or absence of tufts, funny colouration, and, well, length.
There were engineers and a biologist present, and also plenty of beer, so various theories were floated about bunnythumper length and how it might relate to breed, skeletal size, sex, nutrition, etc. No agreement could be made, so a study was proposed.
Everyone went home to measure any bunnythumpers they could get ahold of.
You may now wish to ask, "How do I measure pootie bunny thumpers? That sounds like fun!"
And you would be crazy to ask, but we've got plenty of the crazy here, so...
Start with an innocent pootie:
...or two (larger sample sizes are generally better):
Hopefully, in the beginning, your pootie will be in a good mood. If you're extremely fortunate, the pootie will be asleep, with a full thumper extended for ease of measurement.
I was not this fortunate.
My encounters began with curiosity, "What is that long plastic thing? A cat toy?".
That quickly changed to irritation, "Hey, don't mess with my feet. What are you doing? I don't try to measure you when you're just sitting there! I am so not sticking around for this."
Then there followed a bit of a gentle struggle, which will be left to the reader to envision.
If you're feeling particularly cherry, have a go at photographing the evidence! This is where a helper comes in really super handy. I didn't have one, so I ended up with slightly blurry photos.
The second one is an "action" shot.
And, of course, don't expect gratitude for your trouble and concern. You will likely end up with a reaction like this:
Or this:
Of course, any self-respecting pootie person knows that sort of thing can be easily remedied by treats and possibly a little of the green stuff. For the pootie! Man!
Oh...and what was the conclusion about bunnythumper length vs. cat size/breed/etc.? None; the study was inconclusive. A general consensus was achieved that it isn't how big the thumper is, its how the pootie uses it. ;-)
A word of caution for anyone considering bunnythumper measuring in their own home: It is likely that the pootie will attempt to make teeth-to-measuring-device contact. Please be careful of pootie's teeth and also aware that your measuring thing of choice may very well bear the marks of your folly for years to come.
That said, pootie (and any other animal) photos welcome! Extra points for thumpers belonging to actual bunnies!
(And I hope I haven't stepped on any other pootie diarists' toes. This is a one-time pootie event for me, so it won't happen again! Best to all!)