I saw a blog post over at the Found Animals Foundation website about cat myths, and while I thought they did a great job of debunking them, it’s always good to address these misconceptions from a cat’s point of view. So I will go over them one by one here.
Cats Are Evil
Okay, I don’t get this one at all. We are furry and cute. We are innocent and playful. We are beautiful and smart. None of that adds up to evilness. Maybe the same humans who think we cats are evil are the ones who are intimidated by intelligent, independent women who know their own minds, because such female humans have a lot in common with the best kitties.
Or maybe humans are intimidated because not only are we cute, we are fierce killing machines.
Cats Love to Drink Milk
Actually most cats are pigs who will consume anything you put in front of them, which is why there is currently an obesity problem among felines in the U.S. Milk is food and cats love food, hence cats love milk. But we love anything meat, poultry or fish related even more — and animal protein is much better for us! I think the whole milk thing got started because humans were too lazy and cheap to dish up fresh meat for us.
Declawing Is No Big Deal
Ahem, yes it is a Very Big Deal. It’s an amputation procedure, done solely on a human’s careless whim, and it can cripple a cat for life or cause complications years after it was done. It is also a myth that declawing keeps a cat from getting sent to the pound. Declawed kitties get dumped there all the time because without their claws, they start biting, or their damaged toes make using a litter box uncomfortable. If your declawed cat has no issues consider yourself lucky — you and your cat dodged a bullet. Getting back to the evil thing… I think humans who have cats declawed are evil, and that is no myth.
Cats Always Land on Their Feet
Please do not put this to the test. We usually do land on our feet, but not always. And if we are falling off a balcony of a high rise, we are just as likely to be seriously hurt or killed as any other creature. Even inside, who knows what could happen? We could make a grab for something and fall in a way that could cause injury, or maybe not have enough time to do the twisty thing that helps us land feet first and get hurt. So no tossing us around!
Cats Are Not as Friendly as Dogs
I look at it this way: would you want to be friends with someone who liked everyone indiscriminately, or would you prefer to have someone befriend you because she decided you were special and worth it? Would you want a friend who was needy and always begging for attention, or would you prefer someone who had your back, but most of the time made no big deal out of it? When a cat likes you, it is a gift not to be taken lightly. We are friendly to the people we trust, and isn’t that a better way to be?
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Nice work Sparkle, especially the section on declawing. We live in the UK where declawing has never been allowed and it’s been illegal since 2006, so we give big props to any cat who speaks out against it in places where the law doesn’t protect paws.
We love the “There’s No Such Thing As A Pro Declaw Kitty” picture! If you can find Declawingcrippled Mypaws on Facebook, I bet they’d love that as a poster for the campaign to end declawing!
Oliver & Gerry
You are right, in the UK we NEVER declaw our cats, the thought is appalling!!
Cats are wonderful creatures!
Amen Sparkle! Have a great week!
You know Sparkle,
Generally I only eat my dry food ( those little cookies ).
But but but…sometimes mammy let me try some yogurt and I LOVE it! 🙂
Have a great week sweet friend,
purrs
Luna
Excellent post!
The Florida Furkids
The thought of declawing makes mum feel sick – how would their humans feel if they had their finger and toe nails ripped out. Bet they wouldn’t be so keen then.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Well done Sparkle!!! I always tell people that cats are solitary animals and living together with humans or other cats is contrary to their nature. So when a cat wants the pleasure of your company or to sit on laps, or to snuggle at night in bed it is a very special because they have put their instincts aside to love you 🙂
we agree – though mom says that while Caramel may not be evil – she could do without him being awake at 4am and jumping on her face. MOL
Oh I ESPECIALLY like what you meowed about cats versus dogs. MomKatt would NEVER be mean to a dog, but she’s not a dog person, never has been, and feels JUST the way you stated. She doesn’t want clingy hooman friends, and doesn’t want clingy pet friends … I hope I’m not saying this in a bad way. You get, I’m sure, what I mean. She’d rather be prized by just a few of us kitties than slavishly adored by a buncha droolin’ muts! MOL
(But she DOES love Golden Retrievers, for the record.)
My brofur, Sharif, is front declawed and, thank Bast, he has no problems from it, never has. But MomKatt would NEVER remove our claws for ANY reason! They are a part of us, and she’s a horrid housekeeper so she does not really care if we claw the furniture. *giggles*
Selina
I’ve always had velcro cats – must be attached to a human at all times!
Dear Sparkle,
Yous really hit the nail on the head! Me loves that last shot of yous! Yous looks so cuddly!
Kisses
Nellie
Sparkle, We LOVED this.
You mew the truth.
We especially love your last one about dogs being indiscriminate with their sloppy affection.
; )
Katie & Glogirly
We get raw milk sometimes. And sometimes we like it. It’s one of the few treats we get because no one is sure what to make of it so we don’t over do it–like we would with other human food.
Sparkle, what a great post. I always like a cats point of view. I really like your first point because I’ve always thought that women & cats are similar, and that men want women to be more like dogs.
You are so right on all these, especially the declawing. How can people really think a cat isn’t going to have problems? You try cutting off the first quarter inch of each finger and see how you like it.
That was great Sparkle! I can vouch for that not landing on your feet stuff, I’ve hurt my butt several times!
Great post! And you’re right, we’ll eat anything. EK tries to steal weird things from mom’s plate like raddishes and boiled cabbage. Ewwwww!
The very words declawing makes us ill. How could they. Our furniture is full of claw marks but it is just a part of a loving cat home… Very interesting post… Hugs GJ xx
I am sure the Farm cats would agree with you Sparkle.
BTW – the publicist says she cannot sew either
Sparkle, once again we think you have done an outstanding job explaining things PROPERLY for humans.
Very interesting myths. Glad you explained them correctly to everbody.!!!
Oh my cat! We totally agrees with this! Declawing is EEEEEVIL!
As far as being friendly?
We kittehs are such discriminating peeps and have such sophisticated personalities and subtleties that it takes a human connoisseur to appreciate us!
Oh Miss Sparkle
YOU are so right!!!
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥
Bravo, bravo, Sparkle! You tell ’em, girl!
I love this post!
You are so wise Sparkle! We agree with everything you said! We also love that last photo of you!
Thanks for putting it so well, Sparkle!
Hear, hear, Sparkle!
We knew those were all myths, Sparkle…and we hope some humans who read this learned something today!!
Sparkle, these is eggsellent points! Also, your French, eet ees impressive–specially cause we had to use google translate for our one measley sentence, MOL. We does Spanish but no French. But we think you is right, le fly, she is only demi-dedded. She will rise again, methinks!
We hate the ones about black cats being bad luck and that cats are sneaky. We aren’t either!
Or how about the one justifying letting a cat have a litter because they need to experience motherhood?
Pawsome post! We luf it!
Well said! Very well said!!
Love this post Sparkle! Well done for sure! Bravo!
I don’t know how anyone could think cats are evil. Cats are fabulous.
Well said Sparkle. We fail to understand how any civilized country has not made de-clawing illegal.
GREAT post, Sparkle!
Oh, I get upset when I hear someone is de-clawing their kitten. Ugh! I have a friend who is all worried about her darn outdated leather sectional–like her little kitty wants to claw that up??? Heck, he’d be doing her a favor.
My co-worker insists on taking her cat to the groomer once a month–and it is short-hair cat! She thinks that you have to wash them like a dog. Ugh. Poor cat. I keep telling her you don’t have to wash your cat, but she doesn’t listen. At least she took my advice and didn’t take her all winter long–I was afraid that darn cat was gonna get sick!
Declawing is wicked and banned here in the UK. Sooty, Olly, Tabitha & Ginger (aged 21!)are amazed and shocked it happens in the USA.
Toddlers scribble on walls – but we would not chop off the ends of the fingers to prevent them from holding a crayon!
Keep up the good work!
Mommy says she saw with her own eyes that cats don’t always land on their feet. Arty was after a butterfly and she did a back flip trying to get it and well she landed on her back. Mommy says Arty must have the hardest head in the universe cause after boinking her noggin on the rocks she sprang up and went after the butterfly again. Mommy got a headache just thinking about it.
Which probably means humans shouldn’t try to think like cats. They couldn’t handle the excitement.
Howdy! I really like your site!! I will definitely return soon.
CONCATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK!
To me…this speaks VOLUMES in more ways than one………..
“We are friendly to the people we trust,”
I must be a cat………….’nuff said