Oskar the Blind Kitty - Memed - video Dailymotion

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Memed is a new series profiling famous viral Internet animals and their rise to meme fame. This episode features Oskar the Blind Kitty. Subscribe to The Pet Collective: http://bit.ly/tpcsub Website: http://www.thepetcollective.tv Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thepetcollective Twitter: https://twitter.com/petcollectiveTV Tumblr: http://thepetcollective.tumblr.com Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/petcollectivetv/ Google+: http://gplus.to/thepetcollective  Oskar and Klaus are the two most adorable cats on the Internet. Oskar became a viral star when he was adopted by Mick Szydlowski and posted a video on him batting a hairdryer. Soon, the Internet demanded to know their story. He posted a second video of Oskar playing with his toys and no one could believe was blind. Everyone was truly inspired. Oskar and Klaus have gone on to win awards, sell their own merchandise and inspire millions of viewers.  Experts on Viral Internet Cats weigh in from Tumblr, I Can Haz Cheezburger and Buzzfeed  Special thanks to Mick Szydlowski and Oskar & Klaus.  To learn more about Oskar and Klaus visit:   http://www.oskarandklaus.com/  Featuring:  Ryan Broderick, Buzzfeed Amanda Ferri, Tumblr Emily Huh, I Can Haz Cheezburger  Producer: Brittni Brown Camera: Nick Fabiano, Gabe Evans, Shawn McPherson, Dan Delorenzo, John McCarthy Graphics: Kate Reynolds, Phillip Cruess Editor: Phillip Cruess, Hunter Hill

Transcript

00:00Oscar definitely inspires me. He's just a very happy, positive cat that wants to

00:04play all the time, is purring all the time. There is very little to dislike.

00:08There's no negative consequence to this.

00:16I'm Mick Zalowski and my cats are Oscar the blind cat and Klaus. They really take

00:23care and protect one another. Oscar has very strong senses that really help him

00:29navigate. When you see him interact and play, especially like in a new

00:32environment, both ears kind of start facing forward so he can pinpoint the

00:37source of the sound very well. He has an amazing memory. He makes all of the

00:41proper, you know, turns, you know, ten steps, take a left, go another five steps,

00:45take a right, and he doesn't bump into anything at all. He blew away whatever

00:49expectations we had for his happiness within the first day he was home.

00:54With cats, they do just, you know, silly, goofy, unpredictable things and they just

00:58maybe the most common unifying language in the world is sitting down over a cat video.

01:02You really cannot stage those moments. The reason why we resonate with

01:07these cats is because they are just, you know, it's accidental. Real, authentic,

01:14they're just living their lives and they don't really care about becoming famous.

01:17You can't fake the, you know, the cuteness or kind of the heartfelt, you

01:22know, awe moments. The first time we picked him up, we knew there was

01:26something different, you know, his eyes never fully developed. They said that

01:29he's completely blind. Oscar was adopted in July of 2011 just by complete

01:36accident. I responded to a Craigslist ad for a vintage auto harp. He happened to

01:42mention to us that he has a kitten, if you want to take it, you want to take a

01:46kitten home with you. He was outside living on a farm, you know, there was a

01:50lot of danger from predators. It wasn't a very good environment for him.

01:55Bethany, my wife, picked him up and kind of turned him upside down and kind of

01:58cradled him. I think we both knew, you know, just as a gut feeling that he had

02:02to come home with us no matter what. After we had him for about four months,

02:06he started this kind of crazy behavior where my wife Bethany would blow-dry her

02:11hair. He started reaching up and kind of, you know, batting at it a little bit and

02:15started going crazy after a while. It is amazing that he can just do these

02:18amazingly cute things and kind of doesn't give a care that he is blind.

02:22It's just like, dude, I can rock this. He stood up on his hind legs and, you know,

02:26he stood up for, you know, 30 seconds or whatever. We threw it on YouTube just to

02:30share with friends and family, shared it on our own Facebook page and, you know,

02:33through the magic of the internet, you know, one person shares it with another

02:36and a few people share it here. By the time we knew it, we started getting a lot

02:39of hits, you know, 3,000 hits after a week had, you know, 50,000 and all of a

02:43sudden 100,000. We just kind of realized what power, you know, that social media has.

02:49I think the internet likes authenticity, so they're gonna like something that's

02:53really natural and just kind of surprising versus something that seems

02:55more well thought out. A lot of people had questions about, Oscar, is he really

03:01blind, you know, like what's the story there? So I edited very quickly the clips

03:05of his first experience in that synthetic indoor environment the day we

03:08brought him home. That footage all of a sudden started to resonate with people

03:12as well. I think that's a very human thing to want, you know, a nice good, like,

03:18background story for something you love. It just has to be this strange spark.

03:24It turned into something really good. Friskies put together this cool take on

03:28the Oscars, but it's all cab videos. The grand prize winner of the Friskies is...

03:35Oscars First Toys. Oscars First Toys! Mick! Mick!

03:41Absolutely the best experience ever. We won. I mean, I couldn't be happier about that.

03:45The best part of it is quarter million cans of Friskies were donated to shelters in need.

03:49You gotta feel good about that. We use Facebook as the homepage. It's the

03:54most interactive means of sharing content and having a user base that's

03:59engaged. In addition to Facebook, of course, YouTube is a perfect vehicle for

04:02sharing. We have a web store that we launched in August of last year, which

04:07is OscarAndKlaus.com. We really wanted to set up our system in a way where

04:13proceeds from all of our sales can help and benefit other cats that are in a

04:18situation similar to what Klaus and Oscar were in. You know, it's such a

04:22positive, happy story that people cannot help but root for that

04:26underdog, for the little farm cat that now lives in Overlook, Seattle.

04:30A good story behind a viral animal only makes it more viral. This experience

04:35that we're showing on Facebook and YouTube is really what it's like to be a

04:40pet owner, an animal lover, and a person that cares.

04:43You being naughty?

04:44I think instinctually you just like, you like to feel good. I think that's a good

04:49rule of thumb.

04:50The most powerful message that we send, you know, through Oscar is that being

04:57born with some sort of disability certainly isn't a, you know, a death

05:00certificate. Absolutely every animal that you adopt, that you invest the love and

05:04the care and, you know, give them the attention that they require, you know,

05:07you're going to get it back tenfold. You know, maybe not a YouTube superstar, but

05:11you'll have, you know, an animal that will absolutely change your life for the better.

Oskar the Blind Kitty - Memed

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