Friday Cat Blogging

Oh no! But, yes. This is Sara's cat, Jelly. Jelly doesn't like me very much, to be frank, preferring to flee to another room or hide under some furniture when I show up. Nor am I all that enthusiastic about the weird whining noise she likes to make early in the morning. That said, unlike seemingly everyone you meet (including lots of cat owners), I'm not at all allergic to cats, so I think they should like me. The picture comes, incidentally, from the iPhone, which has an okay camera for a phone but here at last is the feature where the lack of physical buttons really does bother me.

Comments

Nah, man, don't you know? They love the ones who ARE allergic.

Posted by Doog | July 20, 2007 4:25 PM

Yep, and they're also drawn to people who DON'T LIKE CATS. So if you want them to like you you've got to act all nervous and sniffly. Also carry a box with you. Shoeboxes are good.

Posted by Ryan | July 20, 2007 4:33 PM

Looks like, unless it's a problem with the digital camera built into the iPhone, a tortoiseshell cat (or a calico cat, I am not a ailurophile). Aren't those rare? How much did she pay to get her hands on one?

Posted by Brahama | July 20, 2007 4:42 PM

Brahama -- they might be less common than some other colorings, but they're not rare in the expensive sense. We've had a couple of tortoiseshell cats who were just mutt-kitties from the humane society. (Calico is with the bigger patches of colors.)

Posted by Chris | July 20, 2007 4:49 PM

Definitely not cuddly. Looks to f'ing mean to me.

Cat Taco?

Posted by JimPortlandOR | July 20, 2007 4:50 PM

Here at last is the feature where the lack of physical buttons really does bother me

Why? The only time it's a problem is when you're taking a picture of yourself, and so there's the difficulty of not being able to see the button. (Incidentally, commenting from my iPhone.)

Posted by Sangfroid826 | July 20, 2007 4:55 PM

Brahama -- they might be less common than some other colorings, but they're not rare in the expensive sense.

Talking rare Tortoiseshells, we have a male tortoiseshell, Gareth, whose a bit of a genetic anomaly as Torties require two X chromosomes.

We're thinking Gary is XXY, which means he was likely born infertile, which certainly didn't stop our vet from charging us to neuter him before divulging this information.

Posted by Dave White | July 20, 2007 5:00 PM

One word: Food. Unless of course you don't like cats, in which case you may not feel the need to try to make friends with her.

Dogs need to fit in a social group. They're relatively easy to make friends with. After all, they've been hanging with us humans for 40k+ years. Cats on the other hand, have only hung out with us for around 9k years, so they need some more convincing.

If you'd like Jelly to be your pal, spend a few months leaving tasty treats for her. Yes, I said months. She may never cuddle on your lap, but she'll be a lot more nicely disposed if she notices that when you look at her, there's usually some tuna or bonito flakes nearby. I call it the "Denny Hastert Approach".

Posted by Brian Link | July 20, 2007 7:03 PM

Yes, cats like people who hate cats. Cats interpret staring as agression and avoid the starers. People who don't like cats don't look at them, which cats interpret as politeness.

Posted by M. Peachbush | July 20, 2007 7:04 PM

Sorry, dude, but that is one bad news lookin cat.

Posted by The Next to Last Pope | July 20, 2007 7:04 PM

Cats is cool; cats disdain cat lovers and milk them for all they is worf. Me and cats is homeys cuz I could give a shit about dem and then they's come on up trying to make nice and rubbing their hairs off on me knickers and I'm like- shit man, get the fuck off! You're gonna ruin me boots! And the mo fo looks at me all shocked like we was tight-- well I never! I respect you, but I's only be needin one type a pussy in me life! Respeck.

Posted by Ali Gregorio | July 20, 2007 7:31 PM

wow, look at that cat's body posture and expression. What is this is...? ... like, anti-friday cat blogging?

Did you kick this poor cat, before taking your $600 iPhone photo without the physical buttons? I don't know, maybe you could have spent some of that money on a cat treat?

Obviously, you've been a total dick to Sara's cat.

If Marc Maron can win the love of a handful insane crazy wild cats, you can win this cat's love. Or maybe you just don't CARE.

Buckle up and fly right, buddy.

Posted by Ty Lookwell | July 20, 2007 9:37 PM

Bloggers are only allowed one annoying tic. You have basketball. Please no cats, please.

Posted by Jeb | July 21, 2007 9:32 AM

Cats fall into three broad categories. There are the lovable, self-confident types who rule households benevolently. There are the fraidy-cats who dive behind furniture whenever anyone but their owner approaches within 30 feet. And then there exists a small coven of demon-cats; these are evil, soulless monsters hellbent upon the destruction of the human race.

Jelly, you aren't fooling anyone but Sara. The camera doesn't lie. You are evil. EVIL. The jig is up. Abandon your diabolical schemes now, and the consequences will be less severe.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | July 21, 2007 10:44 AM

Well, you just aimed an iphone at the damn thing.

How is she supposed to know whether you're using the camera or the taser function?

Posted by B | July 21, 2007 3:09 PM

Cats fall into three broad categories. There are the lovable, self-confident types who rule households benevolently. There are the fraidy-cats who dive behind furniture whenever anyone but their owner approaches within 30 feet. And then there exists a small coven of demon-cats; these are evil, soulless monsters hellbent upon the destruction of the human race.

We had one of the evil ones, but her plan for world domination apparently started with getting everyone in the world to like her. Despite living for 17 years, she never advanced to the next stage of her plotting, so all of our friends just assumed she was inordinately friendly.

One of our cats now is, literally, brain damaged; the left side of his head is beat up from either a car or a baseball bat. He is the only cat I've ever met who truly doesn't have a bad thought about anyone; Eddie is very much a "Can't we all just get along" kind of guy. Even the weird, slightly paranoid cat in the house has concluded that Eddie constitutes no threat at all. She doesn't even rotate her ears back when he's behind her.

I've also found that neutered males are much more easy going than any other cats. If you want a cat without the stupid power games, that's the way to go.

Posted by J. Michael Neal | July 21, 2007 9:30 PM