Grumpy Cat Gets Generous

Grumpy Cat is a sweet and magnanimous kitty who is donating a percentage of her merchandise proceeds to animal charities.

Tardar, AKA Grumpy Cat, closely resembles a Snowshoe cat. However, she is not a true Snowshoe, since her mother is a domestic shorthair calico and her father has gray and white stripes. And while the eight-month old kitten may be wearing a permanent scowl, the huge number of videos featuring this very unique kitty (whose appearance is, to say the least, quite unusual), has put a huge grin on the faces of the millions of cat lovers who have made her into one of the most shining feline stars on the Internet. 

While her veterinarian suspects that her shape and size may point in the direction of a neurological or genetic condition, which testing could confirm, since she is in excellent health, her guardians don’t want to subject her to any further “prodding or poking”. This said she will be receiving regular checkups to monitor any changes in her health.

No matter what, Grumpy’s perpetual frown has nothing to do with her disposition. According to Animal Tracks, one of her guardians, Arizona resident Tabatha Bundesen claims that most of the time Tardar is really a sweet little feline with a fetching purrsonality. Tabatha’s daughter thought that the kitty’s speckled coat color looked like Tartar sauce. But although her daughter misspelled the word, and wrote her name down as “Tardar," the moniker stuck like glue and now she is affectionately called “Tard."

Grumpy became an Internet sensation overnight; and quite by accident. After her photo was posted on Reddit, in September, many folks insinuated that it had been photoshopped. To prove that Grumpy was “for real," the family posted several videos of her on YouTube.

This adorable feline isn’t just another Internet fad. According to an announcement on her very own website, Grumpy Cats, (which has been averaging between 16,000 and 32, 000 unique hits a day), she recently made an appearance on the NBC’s "Today Show." Look out Simon’s Cat! This grumpy kitty could become even more popular than the famous British cartoon.

Thankfully Grumpy’s newfound fame has not gone to her head. She is very concerned about the huge number of unwanted kitties ending up in shelters. To help prevent growing overpopulation she cannot more strongly stress the importance of neutering and spaying.

Grumpy is also donating a portion of the proceeds of the sale of her wide assortment of T-shirts, mugs, and holiday cards—available on her website—to various charities. Her very first donation went to 4 Paws Rescue, a no-kill shelter in Youngstown, Arizona near where she lives.

Take a moment to meet Grumpy Cat up close and purrsonal by watching the video uploaded to YouTube by SevereAvoidance. It already has received over 4 million hits!

What was your first impression of Grumpy? Tell us in a comment.