Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for September 07, 2021

I feel her pain…with two knee replacements. Huh.

I think Puck is being a little pessimistic about knees ( as is Burt).

The knee (and the ankle) is the price we pay for opposable thumbs and bipedalism, and I still think we came out on top of that one.

LOL at “curse unlocked at 127,750.00 steps”! I have missed Puck’s wonderful charts! ❤

I was having trouble with my right knee, but I got one of those velcro wrap braces and that’s made a world of difference.

As a 35-year-old whose knee has started bending backwards all the time for no reason, I feel very seen today.

Love the name of the chart: KNEECAP RECAP

This is the most perfect description I and my 47-year-old osteoarthritic knees have ever come across.♥

…You mean I could have filed a warranty claim when my knee went bad at 14?

Um, Pucky, where did you get that hinge from? The people may need to know which door they’ll struggle to open…

I love Puck’s charts. They make a great comic even better!

Pain beret. LOL! Yup, that’s where my knees hurt when I overstress them.

I still drink milk and take calcium supplements and my knees and legs work fine!

This is comic has caused my morning coffee to spew all over my computer screen! Ha ha ha haaaa! My knees, that crack, pop and snap, totally agree with Lupin, and also Puck’s chart!

A problem I have is that I was made long ago, on Imperial measure and with BSF threads. But now all the new replacement parts are metric, and so none of them fit.

Woman, I hope you realize you are not alone! And Georgia, I hope this doesn’t reflect your real life.

Is that 127750 steps, or 12775000 with the separator in a weird place? Both options seems a few orders of magnitude low.

Terrific comic!

Knee replacements are a real blessing.

We need a chart that compares (obviously superior) cat knees to (totally inferior) People knees. Perhaps Beatrix can do the research and Sophie can whip out the illustration.

The Woman clearly didn’t opt for the extended warranty.

Lupin is going to be That Cat. You know the one, who goes ahead and meows what everycat is thinking regardless of whether it’s tactful or not. Then sits back and sips his (decatfeinated) coffee while every other (Siamese) cat gets his fur ruffled by it.

OMGoddess! Laughed till I leaked! So true

35 years??? That’s it. I’m not getting out of bed!

I dunno, mine went bad at 22 when my husband tried to kill me, but that’s a story for another time…

Actually, my right knee is already an agglomeration of screws and a cadaver parts because of my trip to the bottom of a set of stairs the hard way.

Strengthening exercises and kaiut yoga repaired my knee enough that I can backpack again at 52. Post-surgery for a torn meniscus. Don’t settle for pain and inactivity; try, try, try to find a solution that works for you. It took me about three years to get through the whole process and it’s been absolutely worth it.

I like the “pain beret”.

and don’t even get me started on the shin design. (not shown)

It’s all true!

Indeed, I have to see an orthopedic surgeon on October 4th for possible knee replacement. A visit I don’t look forward to, but can’t avoid.

35 years…which is when, by pure coincidence, the warranty expires.

OT: GSD Mom and Akiro update

For ‘creaky hinges’ as knees tend to be – WD-40 just WON"T fix that … (unfortunately)! … :)

Best wishes for a full if slow recovery. Attempts to overachieve in PT can come a cropper.

Well, it’s either the knee or the hip…and it often boils down to how said joint has been used/treated throughout life and little bit of genetics (some people are more prone to it than others). I’ve heard overall body weight can sometimes have a role in it too.

I’d just like to point out that “Pain Beret” would be a great name for a punk band.

Mine lasted 55 years, then I traded them in for titanium and plastic. Walking is great, but I can’t kneel in church, or anywhere else. And if I take a bad fall, its an automatic trip to ER for X-rays to see if I cracked anything. I try not to fall. ;)

OMC – kitties have little berets over their knees, too!

Cat knees aren’t perfect, either. I’ve had two cats that had to have ACL surgery (for torn knee ligaments). I told everybody my cat had a football injury.

Maybe the CURSE UNlOCKED on Puck’s chart is the price needed to fix everything.

Despite multiple decades of hiking, biking, extensive walking, standing, and hauling heavy objects. Mine have held up pretty well despite the abuse I’ve heaped on them. My feet and ankles are another matter.

I fully expect to have the ice bags out later, as I will be down on the knees replacing the toilet seat later today. It doesn’t take long, but it will be long enough for the Iill effects to set in.

My right knee went at 33. Left was 35. Not a DAY more for sure.

After spending a few months in Switzerland I’m fairly sure their knees do not have an expiration date. The REAL problem with knees is that there is no warranty.

The human body is a kludge.

Mine didn’t start giving me trouble until getting into a car accident at age 40.

Now 85 & knees hips are just fine. However need 2 AFOs [ankle foot braces]. Left leg paralyzed from knee down due to Shingles at age 71 because Doctor gave me Shingles shot 72 hours after blisters arrived thinking it would ‘help me’. Then l years later both legs got highest level severe progressive polyneuropathy after back surgery in 2013 to ‘cure’ painful sciatica. Still manage to walk 2 miles a day. However my wife, now 84 had left knee replacement, & right hip replaced. There is always something…. Celebrated between NW Tucson Monsoon storms with my version of Pete Seeger’s Coal Creek March:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S2uYa7yyCAVnFcOEkCdhIxiAQZ2DLWcy/view?usp=sharing

Having had an injury to my left knee that chipped my patella I can concur that “pain beret” is an apt name for it.

Could be worse. Cats, dogs, other quadrupeds and birds walk on their toes. Imagine having to walk on your toes.

The problem with human knees is that people don’t walk properly. Everyone knows how to walk, right? NO. ABSOLUTELY WRONG. Why is this?

Partially because everyone takes it for granted—until injury or merely many years of abuse make it painful and difficult. Having been forced by medical circumstance to relearn the skill twice, I offer the following, taken from a paper I wrote on this many years ago:

Wear proper shoes. These are surprisingly rare. Most people wander around in what I call “foot pillows” that absorb so much of the force of impact while walking that the leg muscles forget how to do their jobs properly. I habitually wear shoes with the thinnest soles I can find. In cold weather, I may be forced to wear thicker soles as protection from the cold, but I still choose footwear with the least cushioning. Also, the shape of the insole should fit your foot, not the other way around.

Walk with a proper gait. If your heel is slamming into the ground or floor with every step, it’s hurting everything up to your cervical spine. As the foot comes down, the knee should be slightly flexed, and the muscles of the leg cushion the impact. Try to develop the habit of having almost the entire foot coming down at once and rolling to the ball of the foot and toes, allowing that leg to take part of the force of the next step.

Shorten your stride. This reduces heel impact and helps you roll into the next step. If you need to go faster, keep the stride the same distance, but make them faster. A good “rule of toe” appear to be for the stride length to be about the width of your shoulders or hips.

A sense of foreboding hath settled over me.

I had a bad knee for many years but my doctor fought against doing a replacement because he said I was way too young. 10 years later he gave up and did the replacement.

A mishap injured dem dry bones,

A mishap injured dem dry bones,

A mishap in the armchair of wry ones,

Now hear the word of the Ouch.

Knee bone connected to the tile floor

Tile floor disconnected pain beret with a wild roar

(Chorus) Dem bones, dem bones gonna run off soon.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna run off soon.

“Curse Unlocked” explains it all!

This is so timely. I will turn 40 in January, and my otherwise perfect knees began hurting three months ago. I have now started PT (like four days ago) and am still 5 months away from 40…..what will be next?? I share Puck’s pessimism.

Ha ha – yes! Except mine sound more like popcorn or Rice Crispies than a door hinge!

My knees lasted 70 years with no problems. Of course, I am soon to turn 71, so I look back on last year as “the good old days.”

So weird! My husband had knee replacement surgery just this morning. The doctor just called and said everything went really well. I will go back to the hospital and see him in another hour. (He’s a little past the expiration date) I love the description of two floppy door hinges!

Lupin “business casual” loaf.

O.T.

As the owner of two severely-arthritic knees (no cartilage left in either one of ’em! Just bones grinding together!) I agree with Puck and Lupin. Poor design choice!b

I love the cat explanation of our weird knees. Luckily I must not have walked as much as others since my knees haven’t expired yet. Yay for preferring reading and crafting etc. to exercise and stuff. :)

Albert is home!

Better research is badly kneeded.

35 years? Where do I go to get my money back! Would have loved to see 35 years on the left knee, instead it was more like 16 to 18. And Puck’s chart is missing ligaments!

“Pain Beret”… I love it! Especially since I had a knee replaced last year. :)

Georgia has announced the next Breaking Cat New book will be out in Feb 2022.

The title is: Behind The Scenes With Burt

It looks great and you can pre-order it. More pre-orders will help the book.

My knees do some popping from time to time, but it’s the neck that gives the “rice krispies” effect.

One of my cats had a kneecap that would pop out from time to time. Instead of surgery (which doesn’t always work) he learned to just give it a quick shake and pop it back into place. This isn’t so unusual in cats and especially dogs.

Knee problems are NOT FUN!!! I’ve had problems with my knees since I was 12 —-or 1972. My sincere condolences to anyone else with similar problems.

We have your word for it, eh?

My right one went out at 18. It just gave out getting up from a table. It only got worse from there.

I’ll be sure to take fewer steps.

So far my knees are still going, it’s my intestines that expired! They really do not warn you the warranty expires at 40!