There are some odd things happening in the history of August 3 birthdays. First of all, yesterday the featured birthday was an inventor from the 1800s named Elisha. And guess what, another inventor from the 1800s named Elisha was born today; Elisha Otis. You’ve seen his name — he invented the Otis Elevator. But we’ve seen the typical arc of an inventor’s life from the 1800s (especially the ones named Elisha), so let’s move on to another coincidence. This one happened on August 3, 1967, when both Skin and Creme were born. But I’m not talking about skin cream. Skin is a British singer for the band Skunk Anansie, and her real name is Deborah Dyer. I wouldn’t ordinarily mention a moderately-well-known singer, but Skin has the advantage of being born on exactly the same day, in the same year, as Creme. Her real name was Creme Puff, and what makes her remarkable are a couple of things:
- She was a cat. A domestic tabby.
- She lived to the age of 38 (not in cat years, either).
Creme Puff lived in Austin, Texas, and her human (Jake Perry, who was not born on August 3) was very devoted to her. He fed her cat food mixed with broccoli, eggs, turkey bacon, coffee (with cream) and every other day a few sips of red wine. He converted his garage into a home theater and projected nature documentaries for Creme Puff and the other cats in the family (one of which lived to be 34). Perry built wooden steps onto the walls inside his house for the cats to climb on. And he built what might be one of the first “catios,” a screened outdoor porch for the cats to enjoy.
Creme Puff is mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records, but for some reason Granpa, Jake Perry’s cat who lived to be 34, was the winner of the Cat of the Year award in 1999. Creme Puff, who lived until 2005, was apparently never interviewed about her feelings about being snubbed by Cats & Kittens magazine, which hands out the award.
