I’ve been reading this blog for what feels like forever now, and it wasn’t until this very post that I noticed the interesting color patterns on Tunch’s neck and tail. Very cool!
21.
Tonal Crow
Tunch: “Hmm, a sparrow. Worth watching, but not worth meowing to be let out to chase. Speaking of food, where’s my tuna? Meeeeeeow!”
Happy Birthday Tunchie! If I’d only known I’d have sent you a tuna fishcake with candle. xoxoxo big guy.
24.
jacy
Many, many, many happy returns!
And tuna. Lotsa tuna.
25.
thejoz
Tunchy! Happy Birthday to the not-as-fat kitty!
I find it a little funny that cat food companies consider cats “senior” at like 7 years old…yet my cats did not pass away until they were damn near 20. 8 doesn’t seem all that old then, does it?
Here’s to Tunch living to see the big 2-0!
26.
KRK
Happy Birthday, Tunch! Nice tush!
27.
EnfantTerrible
Tunch and I have the same birthday. Enjoy your day, Your Felinitude!
28.
Mnemosyne
I ended up sitting at the vet’s office yesterday reading many issues of Cat Fancy (nothing serious, fortunately) and they had a bit of trivia in there that (IIRC) said that if you have a white cat with a few colored patches, the white is not considered its “true coat.” Its true coat is the color of the patches and the white is basically camouflage. So, technically, Tunch is a marmalade tabby, not a white cat.
FWIW.
29.
TuiMel
Feliz cumpleanos, Tunchito!
30.
gbear
Tunch is looking out the back door and thinking “Look at all that gawddamned rust!”
I hope those door screens are metal rather than fiberglass or nylon.
I’ve been reading this blog for what feels like forever now, and it wasn’t until this very post that I noticed the interesting color patterns on Tunch’s neck and tail. Very cool!
Tunch (blessed be his name) may actually be a chimera – he is actually genetically 2 cats that merged together in the early stages of development.
Either Tunch has lost some weight, or his ass is his “good side”. :)
37.
Rey
From one Taurus to another- Happy B-day Tunch!
38.
Chat Noir
@Mnemosyne: Ah Bach! That’s interesting. One of my cats has almost the same markings as Tunch (though more ginger color on his forehead and a few more ginger spots on his back). Felininity is fascinating.
39.
mr. whipple
Gorgeous pic, handsome cat! Happy Bday!
40.
Scott Alloway
Happy birthday, Tunch, from Scott, Marilyn and our rescue cat of one week, Lola. We welcome our feline overlords.
41.
Warren Terra
Someone will be getting some tuna in a little bit.
Is it Tunch? I’m betting it’s Tunch. Anything else just wouldn’t be fair.
42.
Bob K
Boris the Black (13 yrs young) is well – Black with envy. I can never decide with Tuna – Solid White or Chunk Light? When in doubt best have both (thus spoke Tunch) – I turned to the intertubes for enlightenment and all I got was more confused.
Chunk vs. solid is just how it’s canned. Chunk is, well, chunks, and solid is more solid. Both can be “squashed” into normal tuna fish texture, but it takes a little bit more work with solid than with chunk. It’s my experience that both light and white come in both chunk and solid.
Maybe next time I’ll just go with Pink Salmon Sardines or Mackerel.
43.
Comrade Mary
Yay, Tunchie! And not only does he look slimmer, but that is one fine ba-donka-donk on that kittycat.
Which reminds me: I was having one of those weird, discursive conversations with my guy a week or so back, while we were watching something on the CBC about smart rats. He told me that rats kind of creeped him out. It wasn’t the scaly tail, he said, but the way a rat’s ass looked. While guinea pigs and bunnies had really cute, round ba-donka-donks, he said, rats just narrowed down to nothing.
I thought this was an interesting rather than a vaguely alarming observation, which is why I’m sharing it with you guys instead of Dan Savage. Plus, I really like typing ba-donka-donk.
Too funny. “Badonkadonk” was the first word that flashed in my mind when I saw the Tunch photo, but I hesitated to mention it because I wasn’t sure it applied to males, and male cats at that.
My poor Gus has degenerative nerve issues in his lower spine that make his back legs relatively thin. So even though he’s a big old tom, he’s pretty narrow when viewed from the rear. Nothing quite so plush as Tunch.
48.
demkat620
Hey Happy Birthday Tunchie!
And btw John, I think your rug matches the sheets. Kudos for coordination!
49.
HRA
Happy Birthday to Tunch!
50.
Karen in GA
Happy birthday Tunch!
As a gift, along with the tuna, I highly recommend the almost life-sized stuffed rat I gave as an offering to my feline rulers a little while back. It has a pouch in the gut that holds lots of catnip, and it’s the perfect size for them to grip with their front paws and kick with their back feet.
They were pleased to receive it, and have allowed me to live.
51.
mai naem
Well, hellsbells happy bird day Tunchmeister. You got nothing on my cat KC who is closing in on 18. I am glad that your butler cum chef cum valet cum personal photographer followed my advice and didn’t photograph your highness on a black background.
52.
J. Michael Neal
Wow. Someone has a cat whose birthday they know? I don’t.
Monster was probably sometime in September 1994; my roommate found her in a tree in October that year, and she was really young.
Ringling was probably born in late 1997 or early 1998; she was a stray in our yard during the summer of 1999, and when we finally captured her and took her to the vet, he estimated that she was a year and a half old.
Dirk was either the summer or fall of 1999; we found him huddled under the wheel of our car when we were going out to lunch in February 2000. It was 5 below, and between the cold, worms, and ear mites, he was mighty miserable. The vet said he was about six months old at the time.
Eddie is a mystery. I bought him at PetSmart in June 2005, as a birthday gift for my wife. (She left him behind when she walked out; I got the better end of the deal.) He was found a few weeks earlier wandering around after being hit in the head with a blunt object and suffering pretty severe injuries. He was probably around two years old, but it was kind of hard to tell, because the damage to his teeth made it hard to use them to estimate his age.
That’s it. That’s as close as I can come to telling you when any of these furballs were born.
53.
spudgun
Happy, happy birthday, Tunch, you big, beautiful boy!
Happy Birthday to a cat in his prime, and looking quite in shape-heres hoping he has at least another decade+ to be the leader of the BJ gang!!!
57.
Ash Can
Hugs and smooches to Tunch!
58.
Cain
Happy Birthday Tunch! I think he’s as old as my KitKat. :)
cain
59.
Felonious Wench
Ah, two royal felines born today. It’s my kitty’s birthday today too.
However, she is tiny. Tunch is…not.
Happy birthday to my feline overlady and overlord.
60.
demo woman
Happy Birthday Tunch. He does look like quite svelte.
61.
beabea
Happy Birthday, Tunch!
It’ll be an easy birthday for me to remember now, because yesterday was my beloved kitty Sasha’s…though the first that she was no longer here to celebrate.
The waning days of April were obviously a fortuitous time for the birth of special felines.
A wonderful day of bird viewing and tuna to you, our feline overlord!
62.
mandarama
Happy birthday, Big T! I love the way the sunshine is glinting off his snowy fur in this pic.
63.
gurglebleg
Hey! Open up image support so we can post photos of our kitties too!
64.
robertdsc
Happy birthday, Tunchinator!
65.
Chat Noir
@J. Michael Neal: My two littermates were born July 21, 1999 (which would have been Ernest Hemingway’s 100th birthday). I got them from a co-worker after a pregnant kitty adopted his family (I knew ahead of time I’d be getting a couple of the kittens from the litter even before they were born). I remember writing down the day that they were born. We celebrate every year.
Our youngest, Hobbes, was a rescue who was less than four weeks old when we got him (I estimate he was born the night that Obama clinched the Democratic Party nomination in June ’08).
We just declared birthdays for them based on an approximation of their ages at adoption. Our giant tuxedo goofball Keaton’s “official” birthday is April 1st (of course), Annie’s is May 1st, and Charlotte’s is June 1st (she’ll be one (1) year old this year).
Happy birthday to Tunch. He looks happy as he surveys his realm.
75.
The Moar You Know
Tunch (blessed be his name) may actually be a chimera – he is actually genetically 2 cats that merged together in the early stages of development.
@monkeyboy: He probably is. Fur and skin coloring is carried on the X chromosome, and calicos are almost always female; I believe the ratio of female to male calicos is 3000:1, and it’s because there’s very few ways for a male to be calico – either a genetic abnormality like Klinefelter’s syndrome, or a chimera.
Tunch has “van” colors, but is not a Turkish Van – the tail on a Turkish Van looks like a squirrel’s, they can be any color, and they will swim in water if they can get to it. Tunch doesn’t have any of those qualities.
Some good explaining of the genetics of the calico’s coloring at the Wiki article: Calico Cat
76.
beabea
Tunch does have a beautiful coat. You can tell he gets Furminated regularly.
John sounds like has has plenty of projects already, otherwise I’d say something about maybe weaving a nice, soft blanket out of the furminatings.
77.
SIA
How many kitties have 75 humans wishing them happy birthday!?
78.
Deech56
Tunch’s doppelgänger, Li’l Girl, wishes Tunch a happy and filling birthday.
79.
Annie
Happy B-day, Tunch. You are truly a beautiful little guy…
80.
schrodinger's cat
Happy Birthday Tunch! My kitteh turned 8 just last month. Birthday boy looks gorgeous as always!
Ah . . . so Tunch is not only two cats in one body – he’s two sexes. I know there’s an incredibly witty, trenchant observation in there somewhere, but I just don’t do w/t well at all. Laura – so looking forward to the frame.
All this talk about chimeras and mosaics made me go back and look at the photo again – but all I came away with was: what a beautiful kitty, and equally, what a beautiful photo. Well done, John.
95.
satby
Happy Birthday to his handsome svelte self!
Many more Tunch!
Happy Birthday, Tunch! *raises “Our New Pet Overlords” mug in salute*
99.
fordpowers
cute… he’s a beast – but i like that about him.
100.
Anne Laurie
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Breeders sometimes call a spot on the top of a cat’s (or dog’s) head an “angel kiss”. In Tunch’s case, the angels had to sneak up from behind to smooch him…
So, technically, Tunch is a marmalade tabby, not a white cat.
True. But not, I believe, a chimera/mosaicist. The white spotting gene(s) in cats is independent of the color genes… Tunch inherited the orange coat-color gene, plus one or more “masking” white genes. (Last I remember, researchers were arguing there might be as many as six possible ranges for white spotting, ranging from ‘a locket & maybe a toe or tail-tip’ thru ‘tuxedo’ up to ‘white cat with a spot or two of color on the rump & head’.)
101.
booda
Tuuuuuuuuuuunch! Give ’em hell for many many more years to come. The birds that is…
In Tunch’s case, the angels had to sneak up from behind to smooch him…
Keaton came home from the vet yesterday with a lipstick smear on his forehead where (presumably) the vet tech who cleaned his teeth kissed him when she was done. Apparently Mr. Charm & Personality worked his magic once again.
TUUUUUUUNCHIE! Happy happy birthday to you (and to all others who have a birthday today, but especially you). I haz a happy now. I hope you got your tuna and everything else your little heart desires, you handsome boy, you. And, nice ass!
@Mnemosyne: Well, Keaton is an incredibly charming and handsome kitty, so I cannot blame the vet tech for smooching him.
104.
West of the Cascades
Happy Birthday, thinner Tunch!
Is John obeying you today?
105.
Caya
Happy birthday, Tunch! May you reign over the Cole household for many more happy years!
106.
Deech56
Good to see Captain Tunch getting some love. He’s got the classic “van” pattern – coloring at the head, tail, back and a couple of assorted places. True vans also have long hair with no undercoat – and are very vocal.
107.
firebrand
You can try all you want John, but you can’t photoshop away all that cat’s fat. He is one happy, tubby kitty.
108.
AnneS
The Tunchinator! What a beautiful boy he is. I love the rear view and the Turkish (Van) Tunch Tail in full glorious display. Happy birthday, Tunchie!!!
Happy Birthday, Tunch! You don’t look a day over 7.
110.
flukebucket
Late to the party of course. Happy Birthday big boy. I had no idea you were so young. Hope you enjoyed the Albacore. Looks like you were given the entire family sized can.
111.
Gatsby
Happy, happy, B-Day, Your Tunchitude! May you get prime quality tuna, and lots of it! Also, make sure that you live for another twenty years or so to keep John out of trouble!
112.
Mike from DC
Tunch: Preow, mrow. purr. mrow.
113.
Paul in KY
Late to the party, but Happy Birthday Tunch!
Keep on being the center of gravity the maintains all of John’s posessions in stable orbit around thy mighty mass.
114.
Tony Alva
I honor of his eight B-day, I’ve placed an order for some Tunch swag to help his buddies out. Happy birthday Tunch!
115.
Angela
I think the best present for Tunch would be a kitten or two.
116.
Restrung
I’m still fascinated by this photo of Tunch. I want to push my face into his furry, flabby side and inhale deeply.
117.
Gatsby
Ah! His Tunchiness! Warms my heart to see such a happy, well-cared for, kitty! Where’s Lily? Did she get something special too?
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EvolutionaryDesign
Happy B-Day, Tunch man! Full of fish?
Toonces
Happy, happy birthday, your royal Tunchness!!
Mark S.
Happy birthday, Tunch!
And you don’t look a day over seven.
Chat Noir
Happy birthday, o gorgeous feline overlord!
Mike Kay
what a cutie.
MattR
Happy Birthday Magnificent Tunch.
I like the rear view pic.
Bnut
I for one welcome my new feline overlord.
SIA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY mi’lord Tunchness!
Ah, a Taurus. That explains the Grand Corpulence of His Person.
I am not worthy.
dmsilev
Looks like he’d prefer a meal of nice fresh chickadee or sparrow…
dms
Zifnab
Happy Birthday, Big T.
Restrung
Yeah! Happy b-day, Tunch.
valdivia
Happy Birthday Tunch! We love you.
Politically Lost
(Nature show voice over including slight British accent)
And, now the tabby tailed white whale is slowly stalking its prey…
arguingwithsignposts
Can I just say fuck you very much lord blankfein?
Happy birthday tunch, but God, that man needs to buy his own damned pitchfork.
RJ
Joyeux anniversaire, petit chat.
@John Cole – no salmon for on his special day?
nalbar
The patch between his ears makes him look thinner.
.
Mike E
8–what is that in dog years?
MattR
@SIA:
I’ve always said he was as big as a Ford.
WereBear
Happy Birthday to His Tunchness.
Dave C
I’ve been reading this blog for what feels like forever now, and it wasn’t until this very post that I noticed the interesting color patterns on Tunch’s neck and tail. Very cool!
Tonal Crow
Tunch: “Hmm, a sparrow. Worth watching, but not worth meowing to be let out to chase. Speaking of food, where’s my tuna? Meeeeeeow!”
General Egali Tarian Stuck
When you are King, every day is your Happy Birthday.
All HAIL Tunch!- Lord of the Rift- now and forever
now pass the tuna.
Bad Horse's Filly
Happy Birthday Tunchie! If I’d only known I’d have sent you a tuna fishcake with candle. xoxoxo big guy.
jacy
Many, many, many happy returns!
And tuna. Lotsa tuna.
thejoz
Tunchy! Happy Birthday to the not-as-fat kitty!
I find it a little funny that cat food companies consider cats “senior” at like 7 years old…yet my cats did not pass away until they were damn near 20. 8 doesn’t seem all that old then, does it?
Here’s to Tunch living to see the big 2-0!
KRK
Happy Birthday, Tunch! Nice tush!
EnfantTerrible
Tunch and I have the same birthday. Enjoy your day, Your Felinitude!
Mnemosyne
I ended up sitting at the vet’s office yesterday reading many issues of Cat Fancy (nothing serious, fortunately) and they had a bit of trivia in there that (IIRC) said that if you have a white cat with a few colored patches, the white is not considered its “true coat.” Its true coat is the color of the patches and the white is basically camouflage. So, technically, Tunch is a marmalade tabby, not a white cat.
FWIW.
TuiMel
Feliz cumpleanos, Tunchito!
gbear
Tunch is looking out the back door and thinking “Look at all that gawddamned rust!”
I hope those door screens are metal rather than fiberglass or nylon.
& happy b-d to Tunch.
jeffreyw
Yay!
PurpleGirl
Tunch! Happy Birthday!
I’d guess he wants to get outside and get himself a bird.
monkeyboy
@Dave C:
Tunch (blessed be his name) may actually be a chimera – he is actually genetically 2 cats that merged together in the early stages of development.
The Grand Panjandrum
Happy Birthday to the Tunchinator!
Dave C
@monkeyboy:
That would explain a lot. . .
Church Lady
Either Tunch has lost some weight, or his ass is his “good side”. :)
Rey
From one Taurus to another- Happy B-day Tunch!
Chat Noir
@Mnemosyne: Ah Bach! That’s interesting. One of my cats has almost the same markings as Tunch (though more ginger color on his forehead and a few more ginger spots on his back). Felininity is fascinating.
mr. whipple
Gorgeous pic, handsome cat! Happy Bday!
Scott Alloway
Happy birthday, Tunch, from Scott, Marilyn and our rescue cat of one week, Lola. We welcome our feline overlords.
Warren Terra
Is it Tunch? I’m betting it’s Tunch. Anything else just wouldn’t be fair.
Bob K
Boris the Black (13 yrs young) is well – Black with envy. I can never decide with Tuna – Solid White or Chunk Light? When in doubt best have both (thus spoke Tunch) – I turned to the intertubes for enlightenment and all I got was more confused.
Chunk vs. solid is just how it’s canned. Chunk is, well, chunks, and solid is more solid. Both can be “squashed” into normal tuna fish texture, but it takes a little bit more work with solid than with chunk. It’s my experience that both light and white come in both chunk and solid.
Maybe next time I’ll just go with Pink Salmon Sardines or Mackerel.
Comrade Mary
Yay, Tunchie! And not only does he look slimmer, but that is one fine ba-donka-donk on that kittycat.
Which reminds me: I was having one of those weird, discursive conversations with my guy a week or so back, while we were watching something on the CBC about smart rats. He told me that rats kind of creeped him out. It wasn’t the scaly tail, he said, but the way a rat’s ass looked. While guinea pigs and bunnies had really cute, round ba-donka-donks, he said, rats just narrowed down to nothing.
I thought this was an interesting rather than a vaguely alarming observation, which is why I’m sharing it with you guys instead of Dan Savage. Plus, I really like typing ba-donka-donk.
Also: nice colours in that floor mat.
Keith G
Best wishes and many more to one cool kitteh.
Dei gratia Regina.
JenJen
Awwww! Happy Birthday, buddy!!
MattR
@EnfantTerrible: Well then, a happy birthday to you too, though I hope you celebrate with something a bit more extravagant than canned tuna.
KRK
@Comrade Mary:
Too funny. “Badonkadonk” was the first word that flashed in my mind when I saw the Tunch photo, but I hesitated to mention it because I wasn’t sure it applied to males, and male cats at that.
My poor Gus has degenerative nerve issues in his lower spine that make his back legs relatively thin. So even though he’s a big old tom, he’s pretty narrow when viewed from the rear. Nothing quite so plush as Tunch.
demkat620
Hey Happy Birthday Tunchie!
And btw John, I think your rug matches the sheets. Kudos for coordination!
HRA
Happy Birthday to Tunch!
Karen in GA
Happy birthday Tunch!
As a gift, along with the tuna, I highly recommend the almost life-sized stuffed rat I gave as an offering to my feline rulers a little while back. It has a pouch in the gut that holds lots of catnip, and it’s the perfect size for them to grip with their front paws and kick with their back feet.
They were pleased to receive it, and have allowed me to live.
mai naem
Well, hellsbells happy bird day Tunchmeister. You got nothing on my cat KC who is closing in on 18. I am glad that your butler cum chef cum valet cum personal photographer followed my advice and didn’t photograph your highness on a black background.
J. Michael Neal
Wow. Someone has a cat whose birthday they know? I don’t.
Monster was probably sometime in September 1994; my roommate found her in a tree in October that year, and she was really young.
Ringling was probably born in late 1997 or early 1998; she was a stray in our yard during the summer of 1999, and when we finally captured her and took her to the vet, he estimated that she was a year and a half old.
Dirk was either the summer or fall of 1999; we found him huddled under the wheel of our car when we were going out to lunch in February 2000. It was 5 below, and between the cold, worms, and ear mites, he was mighty miserable. The vet said he was about six months old at the time.
Eddie is a mystery. I bought him at PetSmart in June 2005, as a birthday gift for my wife. (She left him behind when she walked out; I got the better end of the deal.) He was found a few weeks earlier wandering around after being hit in the head with a blunt object and suffering pretty severe injuries. He was probably around two years old, but it was kind of hard to tell, because the damage to his teeth made it hard to use them to estimate his age.
That’s it. That’s as close as I can come to telling you when any of these furballs were born.
spudgun
Happy, happy birthday, Tunch, you big, beautiful boy!
Comrade Mary
@demkat620:
Strange, I’ve always heard it as “carpet matches the drapes”. So may we ask just how you know this?
Laura W.
@Church Lady:
Alright, that is going into the 2010 Third Annual Fat Cat Jokes At Tunch’s Expense Compilation.
That is just funny, CL.
Big City Mary
Happy Birthday to a cat in his prime, and looking quite in shape-heres hoping he has at least another decade+ to be the leader of the BJ gang!!!
Ash Can
Hugs and smooches to Tunch!
Cain
Happy Birthday Tunch! I think he’s as old as my KitKat. :)
cain
Felonious Wench
Ah, two royal felines born today. It’s my kitty’s birthday today too.
However, she is tiny. Tunch is…not.
Happy birthday to my feline overlady and overlord.
demo woman
Happy Birthday Tunch. He does look like quite svelte.
beabea
Happy Birthday, Tunch!
It’ll be an easy birthday for me to remember now, because yesterday was my beloved kitty Sasha’s…though the first that she was no longer here to celebrate.
The waning days of April were obviously a fortuitous time for the birth of special felines.
A wonderful day of bird viewing and tuna to you, our feline overlord!
mandarama
Happy birthday, Big T! I love the way the sunshine is glinting off his snowy fur in this pic.
gurglebleg
Hey! Open up image support so we can post photos of our kitties too!
robertdsc
Happy birthday, Tunchinator!
Chat Noir
@J. Michael Neal: My two littermates were born July 21, 1999 (which would have been Ernest Hemingway’s 100th birthday). I got them from a co-worker after a pregnant kitty adopted his family (I knew ahead of time I’d be getting a couple of the kittens from the litter even before they were born). I remember writing down the day that they were born. We celebrate every year.
Our youngest, Hobbes, was a rescue who was less than four weeks old when we got him (I estimate he was born the night that Obama clinched the Democratic Party nomination in June ’08).
gbear
@J. Michael Neal:
You just have to celebrate the adoption date instead.
de stijl
And one kitteh to rule them all.
YellowJournalism
Happy Birthday, Tunch. Wish for (more) fish!
cathaireverywhere
Happy Birthday to Tunch!
He’s such a pretty boy.
SIA
@ MattR
Haha! But Fords only come in 1 color.
Mnemosyne
@J. Michael Neal:
We just declared birthdays for them based on an approximation of their ages at adoption. Our giant tuxedo goofball Keaton’s “official” birthday is April 1st (of course), Annie’s is May 1st, and Charlotte’s is June 1st (she’ll be one (1) year old this year).
Close enough for government work, as they say.
Linkmeister
@Chat Noir:
Damn, Barack even got the cross-species vote?
kommrade reproductive vigor
Grovel, grovel, cringe, bow, stoop, fall/Worship, worship, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl.
Josie
Happy birthday to Tunch. He looks happy as he surveys his realm.
The Moar You Know
@monkeyboy: He probably is. Fur and skin coloring is carried on the X chromosome, and calicos are almost always female; I believe the ratio of female to male calicos is 3000:1, and it’s because there’s very few ways for a male to be calico – either a genetic abnormality like Klinefelter’s syndrome, or a chimera.
Tunch has “van” colors, but is not a Turkish Van – the tail on a Turkish Van looks like a squirrel’s, they can be any color, and they will swim in water if they can get to it. Tunch doesn’t have any of those qualities.
Some good explaining of the genetics of the calico’s coloring at the Wiki article: Calico Cat
beabea
Tunch does have a beautiful coat. You can tell he gets Furminated regularly.
John sounds like has has plenty of projects already, otherwise I’d say something about maybe weaving a nice, soft blanket out of the furminatings.
SIA
How many kitties have 75 humans wishing them happy birthday!?
Deech56
Tunch’s doppelgänger, Li’l Girl, wishes Tunch a happy and filling birthday.
Annie
Happy B-day, Tunch. You are truly a beautiful little guy…
schrodinger's cat
Happy Birthday Tunch! My kitteh turned 8 just last month. Birthday boy looks gorgeous as always!
J. Michael Neal
@Annie:
You must be talking about a different Tunch.
Linda Featheringill
Hey John: Is Tunch losing a little weight? Or am I imagining things?
Anyway, happy birthday to Tunchiboy!
CynDee
@ Tunch: very pretty picture of a very pretty kitty.
@jeffreyw: Where’s food?? Where’s a picture of birthday food?? What do you mean coming around here with no food? Do you feel OK?
Cat Lady
Happy birthday big guy. You rock our strange little BJ world.
Kristine
Happy Birthday Tunch!!
Backbencher
Happy Birthday Tunch
JGabriel
Just chiming in to say that from the angle above, it looks like Tunch is losing weight!
.
monkeyboy
@Laura W.:
If Tunch (may his reign last forever and all of the Kings of the world praise his name) is a chimera @The Moar You Know then
Tunch isn’t fat, he just has two cats living in his body.:
Laura W.
@monkeyboy: That’s too much fancy science pageant talking for my pee brain but is there any reason that he can’t be a mosaicism?
Because, you know, I do mosaics and that would just be way cool.
mg_65
Happy birthday to his majesty Tunch. I bow in his general direction.
Comrade PhysioProf
PhysioCat says, “Happy Birthday, FatASS!” lolz
Jim, Once
@Laura W.:
Ah . . . so Tunch is not only two cats in one body – he’s two sexes. I know there’s an incredibly witty, trenchant observation in there somewhere, but I just don’t do w/t well at all. Laura – so looking forward to the frame.
Will
Props, Tunch! You make my wife laugh!
Jim, Once
All this talk about chimeras and mosaics made me go back and look at the photo again – but all I came away with was: what a beautiful kitty, and equally, what a beautiful photo. Well done, John.
satby
Happy Birthday to his handsome svelte self!
Many more Tunch!
Laura W.
@Jim, Once:
Oh Good Lord.
I think I see what you did there?!
Mnemosyne
I hate to ruin all of the scientific fun, but I suspect that Tunch is merely a bicolor cat and not something more exotic.
I apparently have a bicolor tabby, a mask-and-mantle, and a tuxedo. Who knew?
Darkrose
Happy Birthday, Tunch! *raises “Our New Pet Overlords” mug in salute*
fordpowers
cute… he’s a beast – but i like that about him.
Anne Laurie
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Breeders sometimes call a spot on the top of a cat’s (or dog’s) head an “angel kiss”. In Tunch’s case, the angels had to sneak up from behind to smooch him…
True. But not, I believe, a chimera/mosaicist. The white spotting gene(s) in cats is independent of the color genes… Tunch inherited the orange coat-color gene, plus one or more “masking” white genes. (Last I remember, researchers were arguing there might be as many as six possible ranges for white spotting, ranging from ‘a locket & maybe a toe or tail-tip’ thru ‘tuxedo’ up to ‘white cat with a spot or two of color on the rump & head’.)
booda
Tuuuuuuuuuuunch! Give ’em hell for many many more years to come. The birds that is…
Happy birthday buddy.
Mnemosyne
@Anne Laurie:
Keaton came home from the vet yesterday with a lipstick smear on his forehead where (presumably) the vet tech who cleaned his teeth kissed him when she was done. Apparently Mr. Charm & Personality worked his magic once again.
asiangrrlMN
TUUUUUUUNCHIE! Happy happy birthday to you (and to all others who have a birthday today, but especially you). I haz a happy now. I hope you got your tuna and everything else your little heart desires, you handsome boy, you. And, nice ass!
@Mnemosyne: Well, Keaton is an incredibly charming and handsome kitty, so I cannot blame the vet tech for smooching him.
West of the Cascades
Happy Birthday, thinner Tunch!
Is John obeying you today?
Caya
Happy birthday, Tunch! May you reign over the Cole household for many more happy years!
Deech56
Good to see Captain Tunch getting some love. He’s got the classic “van” pattern – coloring at the head, tail, back and a couple of assorted places. True vans also have long hair with no undercoat – and are very vocal.
firebrand
You can try all you want John, but you can’t photoshop away all that cat’s fat. He is one happy, tubby kitty.
AnneS
The Tunchinator! What a beautiful boy he is. I love the rear view and the Turkish (Van) Tunch Tail in full glorious display. Happy birthday, Tunchie!!!
Bulworth
Happy Birthday, Tunch! You don’t look a day over 7.
flukebucket
Late to the party of course. Happy Birthday big boy. I had no idea you were so young. Hope you enjoyed the Albacore. Looks like you were given the entire family sized can.
Gatsby
Happy, happy, B-Day, Your Tunchitude! May you get prime quality tuna, and lots of it! Also, make sure that you live for another twenty years or so to keep John out of trouble!
Mike from DC
Tunch: Preow, mrow. purr. mrow.
Paul in KY
Late to the party, but Happy Birthday Tunch!
Keep on being the center of gravity the maintains all of John’s posessions in stable orbit around thy mighty mass.
Tony Alva
I honor of his eight B-day, I’ve placed an order for some Tunch swag to help his buddies out. Happy birthday Tunch!
Angela
I think the best present for Tunch would be a kitten or two.
Restrung
I’m still fascinated by this photo of Tunch. I want to push my face into his furry, flabby side and inhale deeply.
Gatsby
Ah! His Tunchiness! Warms my heart to see such a happy, well-cared for, kitty! Where’s Lily? Did she get something special too?