The “Slo Mo Guys” have filmed Lloyd the Tubby Tabby making an acrobatic leap to get a slice of ham. As the notes indicate, “Gav bribes Lloyd the cat with some ham so she performs the famous cat double-jump in super slow motion. Shot at 2,500 frames per second. (100 times slower).” I am amazed that the cat can get enough leverage to move upward on a perfectly vertical fence–twice! Such is the allure of ham. . .
*******
According to CatChannel.com, and TheState.com, Morticia, a therapeutic tabby in Lexington County, South Carolina, may be given the boot by the county and asked to leave the Coroner’s Office where she works. Although, as the video below attests, Morticia provides effective counseling to grief-stricken people at that office, her furry presence calming folks down, the county considers the cat a danger, liable to bite, scratch, and aggravate cat allergies.
That’s dumb, because she’s a sweet animal. Rescued at six months and desperately ill, Morticia is now a fixture in the office, but her presence is threatened by AILUROPHOBES:
“I’ve asked her to find a nice home for the cat,” County Council Chairman Johnny Jeffcoat of Irmo said. “Our liability for that is huge.”
Fisher, however, isn’t backing down, divulging that Morticia is up-to-date on all of her immunizations and spayed. Additionally, she has a friendly disposition, and is kept in a back room where the public can only see and handle her upon request.
With these facts on her side, Fisher intends to appeal the feline’s eviction to the nine council members, hoping that they will make an exception to the rule that pets can’t be kept in county buildings, and allow her to keep the kitty on board. Though Fisher hopes things will go her way, she has numerous offers of a new home for Morticia should the council members hold firm to their former ruling.
What a bunch of grinches! Note, though, that the comments on the piece are uniformly in favor of Morticia being allowed to keep her job.
One of many positive comments:
*******
Finally, remember Skidmark, the orange kitten found wandering on the highway and rescued by a motorcyclist? Well, here’s an update on Skids, and she’s doing fine! She has a new toy, too, though I worry about cat toys in which the moggie chases something but is never able to catch it.
The look of concentration on Lloyd’s face at around 1:55 is great. Although, I must say, the lift-off seems to have been impaired a little by his previous encounters with ham.
No fat-shaming, please!
Eating ham? An apostate cat?
Cats don’t recognize gods in the first place, so they’re never apostate. The idea that there may be a being more important than themselves is beyond their ken. 😀
A cat that can go vertical like that — I would not be calling Lloyd, tubby. And why would you have an ordinance on cats in the building. Must be a town run by lawyers.
Skid is doing just fine.
I spent an evening in an ED barely able to keep a patent airway and avoid intubation, simply because I had been in a room where there was cat dander while I had an upper respiratory infection. For some of us life-long asthmatics animals in the workplace are the opposite of therapeutic.
So Pliny…how about postings on the outside of the building – CAT on premises.
Far as I know they still sell peanuts.
Those who are not highly allergic rarely appreciate while victim-blaming the very real danger cats and their dander in public domain places impose on those who must use these facilities.
Hypocritically and in a fair comparison, what’s a little bit of religious symbolic support say, on a court house wall, or specific prayers before a public council meeting, or making an audience at a public event listen to someone thanking their Divine Dear Leader? Unlike an allergic reaction to cat dander, it’s not like anyone subjected to the imposition of religious nonsense is going to be physically harmed by these physically benign impositions.
I do appreciate the highly allergic and do not victim-blame. I simply ask if signs warning of the danger might work. This is a corners office and the cat is providing some good.
Just how this compares to religious writings on the court house wall escapes me. This would be a constitutional issue I believe. I don’t recall anything on cats in the constitution.
It’s a public building offering public services. Posting a sign warning of cats inside demonstrates a lack of understanding and thinking the sign makes entry a simple matter of choice demonstrates a callous disregard for those of us who have no choice about which allergies I guess you think we select. That’s equivalent to blaming the victim. The hypocrisy is that access to public services without some kind of ‘religious test’ is, in principle, the same as without an ‘allergic test’.
I find you callous disregard statement just way over the top. You would think I’m commanding that all public buildings have cats in them.
I asked the man if signs on the building would make any difference. Maybe you should be searching for the safe room where you don’t hear such outrageous suggestions.
Tell me, should they remove any trace of peanut from all food verses putting the facts on the label because there are some who, highly allergic, might die. So labeling the product is just “callous disregard” and all those who do it are evil.
You are probably out there protesting against hotels and motels that would let someone bring their pet into the building as well. The callous disregard is massive.
I must also agree. I don’t see how the benefits for some or even many can be at the expense of sufferers.
I totally disagree. How much should the many be restricted for the benefit of the very few?
I agree that the interests of the few should be taken into account but that doesn’t automatically override all other considerations.
cr
Well the only statistic I could find says it’s about 10% of adults and 14% of children. Seems like a lot of people to exclude.
Is that the % of asthmatics or the % who are actually allergic to cats?
Note in this case Morticia was in a back room, not in a place where ‘customers’ had to go.
What happens when A’s guide dog encounters B’s dog allergy?
cr
The stat was reported unreferenced in a pop science article, but it seems reasonable enough to me. I’d have no problem if people could avoid the cat if they wanted to.
I’d hope that the right to use a guide dog would be well covered by law and there would be no question of the dog being excluded.
I love how the first thing Lloyd does when he gets to the top of the fence is check that the ham is still there.
The Morticia situation is a result of the extreme litigiousness (is that a word?) of the US. It’s very sad.
Skidmark is sooooo cute! 🙂
Unfortunately it’s not just the US where weaselly hypocritical cowardice prevails. It’s rife in NZ too, and probably the rest of the developed world.
Excuse me I’m about to rant –
“Our liability for that is huge.” Oh yes, Something might Happen and we could be Held Liable. (Or worse, publicly criticised).
I’ve seen it all too often used to justify official bureaucratic stupidity, usually stopping people doing something they naturally want to do with no inconvenience to anyone else. There’s a sort of perverted Puritan instinct that ‘if it’s convenient, or somebody likes doing it, there must be something wrong with it and they must be stopped’ and it finds its expression and justification in ‘risk management’.
[/rant]
cr
I like how Lloyd coils up before springing up the fence!
I got a kick out of the slow-mo on the sound. Lloyd is a giant.
I wondered if the sound of the feet hitting the wood were real or added after because how would we not hear other sounds?
The Special Powers of cat-dom are on fine display with Lloyd. I suppose a lot has to do with using the spine to get a tall leap, along with claws to do some vertical running.
Isn’t Loyd helping with … ah, her claws? I’m sure there is a story about how a female cat was named Loyd, but I won’t ask.Whatever her gender, she is a beautiful cat.
On the subject of names, Morticia is a curious choice for a place dedicated to health care and, therefore, survival.
A Coroner’s Office deals with dead bodies, not health care.
I think Lloyd MUST be using her claws. If she wasn’t, she’d bounce outwards by the time she reached the top of the fence.
Notice how she hooks her front paws over the top rail of the fence – she must be getting extra grip i.e. claw-assisted, there.
Remarkable video.
cr
Funny Skidmore is a female with that coloring-
Very lucky and cute !
Mine is also a ginger female. Even the vet assumed she was a male.
Sub
Not sure cats playing with toys they can’t catch is an issue. My cats love the laser pointer, though the red dot forever eludes them. The soft click of the button on the side of the pointer can rouse them out of a sound sleep to chase the red dot.
My cat has never caught a shadow but never tires of trying.
When Skidmark traps the ball at the end of the tunnel, it looks like there might be a sort of sense of closure there. The
ownersstaff seems to think so, when they say “Got it!”I wonder if the County Council would have the same problem with a d*g. From what I can tell they seem to be all over and get all sorts of special dispensations. Hospitals, stores, city offices, etc. I’m mildly phobic, so I always notice them.
I don’t much mind if they ignore me; I ignore them and it works. But the ones which come up to greet me make me stiffen uncomfortably. And I’m even more uncomfortable if/when the owners then feel obliged to shout and make an elaborate public show of concern, making sure their perfectly lovely and friendly adorable puppy isn’t bothering the obnoxious timid person with the obvious soul-crippling complex. Or so I imagine, when everyone turns and stares.
So I’ve some sympathy with people who have a similar reaction to cats. That’s why the part about “… and is kept in a back room where the public can only see and handle her upon request” is the clincher for me.
Whether cats are worse than dogs for the allergic — and whether any disparity here is dangerous — I don’t know.