In 2012 it is cool to be in a relationship with your cat... and I just don't get it.
I am an avid twitter-bug and I don't know if you live in a bubble or like me, have noticed tweet after tweet detailing some girl's love for their cats, their need to be a cat lady and hey, have a relationship with it? It really feels like I am living in that God awful film, Cats and Dogs in 2001, where the cats try to take over the world: this is my idea of hell.
My twitter home page seems to be clogged up with endless hash-tags including, #catlady, #catforlife or #ilovemycat. I have even noticed profiles called 'KittyKiller' and 'SingleWithCats.' Check this out: "#NationalBoyfriendDay is so unnecessary. Especially as I'm turning more & more into a lonely cat lady by the day." This is just one of many.
Did it all start when 'breading' became a trend? I am talking about that totally random and completely weird phase, about 6 months ago, where people started putting slices of bread over their cat's heads. I would say 'Poor little kitties,' but I honestly can't stand them. But, it is pretty odd.
Maybe it started before that... possibly when the infamous Phoebe made that hit, 'Smelly cat, smelly cat, why aren't they feeding you?...' I still don't get why young women are desperate to become the local, eccentric, feline-female.
I remember when I was 8 years old, on a school trip to the beach, one of the older kids told me a story about a woman who lived alone and collected stray cats. We were scared of this myth: the crazy, old, spinster, cat lady. Now its a fashion trend!?
Firstly you have those beautiful Jeffrey Campbell Lita shoes, made with tapestry style cats on, then there are designers creating couture for your kitty: would you pay £1299.99 for a Louis Vuitton cat carrier off eBay? There's more: blogs dedicated to and even 'written by' cats, a la carte for your kitty, spas... What is this lunacy?
I don't know if my friends are especially mad but their social networking sites seem to have had a make-over by Whiska; one of them took a neighbour's cat home and had a little photo-shoot with it... but then again, Kim Kardashian has been at it too, uploading countless photographs of herself with kitten, Mercy.
There are 8 million cats in the U.K, with around 19% of households owning at least one cat... I have take a wild guess and bet at least 6 million belong to 'all the single ladies.' I wonder if this is all because those furry felines are so easy to look after. A career driven woman, think Samantha from Sex and the City, sexually liberated, 'don't-need-no-man' attitude: a cat would be a safe option. They prowl around all day whilst you're at the office, you come home, open a tin of tuna and there you have it, easiest relationship I have ever heard of... and it beats a demanding man any day.
So, is this a modern phenomenon or has this been going on a whole lot longer?
Guess what? It was actually a guy who started this kitty-cat conundrum: Harry Pointer, 1870. This mad little man would take hundreds of photographs of cats dressed up in all sorts of costumes and sit them on tricycles, have them roller skating and doing loads of other humorous poses. Some of them did crack me up, particularly one of a cat demanding its dinner whilst sat in a high-chair. I felt inclined to put it on my Facebook: 15 likes in a matter of minutes.
Wait, am I becoming a crazy cat lady too?
LOVE K