Le Bleu – 16 years
Today it’s Le Bleu’s 16th birthday – yay!
awwwww Mum’s lap is best
Last month Le Bleu had to go for an impromptu vet visit because of abces on his right cheek and general check-up. Blood works all good but weight down, so I’ve been splashing out on lots of different brands of wetfood to help increase appetite, and avoid more weight loss. It seems to be working. Appetite has picked up and, Le Bleu is still very active for a cat his age. He enjoys sitting out in the garden, now the weather is warming up, or curling up on the sofa with Tali. But his favourite place, which hasn’t changed in the last 16 years, is curled up on my lap!
Of all our cats, Le Bleu is the one I’m closest to. Some of my readers will have heard the story before. He was given into my care, back in 2008, as a 3 week old foster kitten, along with three siblings.
I bottle fed, weaned, and handed the kittens over to be put up for adoption. The three siblings were quickly adopted but no one was interested in the grey-blue one.
We already had 4 cats and a dog, at the time, when Le Bleu joined our family as a permanent member. His name came about because . . . fostering kittens, I didn’t want to give them proper names so as not to grow attached to them. Called them “Le grand”, ‘la petite”, “le bleu” and “ruban” (identical twin to “le grand” who had a ribbon as a collar to identify him). “Le bleu” was therefore originally just a way of identifying the grey-blue kitten from his siblings. However . . . when we officially adopted him, the vet asked for a name to register him and we realised the name “Le Bleu” had stuck. Also have to add . . . we’re huge NCSI fans. In the French dubbed version, the newest member of the team is given the nickname “Le Bleu” (I believe in original soundtrack that’s something like “probie” or “rookie”?). Anyhoot . . . back in 2008, Le Bleu was the newest member of the family, so it seemed doubly appropriate.
In 2009 Le Bleu had a very serious accident. Shattered femoral bone followed by dislocated knee joint, and it was touch and go whether the vet would be able to save either the leg or the cat.
Le Bleu has had a permanent limp ever since but that hasn’t stopped him leading a very full life. 16 years on, we still have the NCSI theme going with pet names. There was Gibbs, our Flat-coated retriever who died in 2022. And currently, we have (cats) Ducky, Abby and Ziva . . . as well as Tali (only true NCSI fans will know the inspiration for that one). And how ironic that, the grey-blue kitten who was the little scrawny newbie is still answering to the name of Le Bleu when everyone knows he’s the top cat in the family and all the other animals show him the utmost respect.