Caturday felids: Cat dwellings, the world’s most beautiful cat, and a cat with a VERY deep meow

November 25, 2017 • 9:00 am

From the site Colossal we have a series of artistic dwellings for homeless cats:

Architects for Animals celebrated its 10th edition last month, inviting local architects and designers to build functional cat dwellings in response to the city’s homeless cat population. The homes were auctioned off to benefit LA-based non-profit FixNation, a charity organization that provides free spay/neuter services to stray, abandoned, and feral cats. Designs ranged from a modern kitty disco to a roller-coaster like structure, each placing a creative twist on feline shelters with a variety of different cat-safe materials.

More designs from previous Architects for Animals can be found on their website. (via Design Milk)

The problem is that not many of these seem “functional”; that is, they don’t seem properly designed to house cats and shelter them from the elements. (I suppose people buy them to house their own cats.) To wit:

This is the only one that looks like it would work. Don’t any architects own cats?

 

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I’ve posted pictures of the Bengal cat Thor before, but you can’t see too many. To my mind he’s the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen, and look at that fur! Here are four pictures from Adorable Animals:

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This cat has a very deep meow, and the YouTube notes explain it:

Jack has a very rare form of laryngeal paralysis and his voice changed after his first surgery.

He sounds like he’s saying “Whoa!”

 

h/t: Duncan, Gregory

12 thoughts on “Caturday felids: Cat dwellings, the world’s most beautiful cat, and a cat with a VERY deep meow”

  4. After recently reading A Place of My Own, by Michael Pollan, which gave a history of architecture alongside the building of the author’s “writing house”, I understand why my son hated the UIC architectural program and left it, and why these architects failed to build anything functional for the cats: modernism, postmodernism, and deconstructivism. Since they can’t accept the reality of gravity and water, view buildings as “signs” and “symbols” rather than a stable structure to keep away the rain, wind, heat or cold, or to remain upright and functional for human inhabitants, why on earth would we expect them to design something like that for cats? As far as I can tell, the same viruses that have infected the arts and humanities departments in our universities have reached epidemic proportions in architecture as well. The lesson I learned from reading that book was this: If you want a “symbol”, hire any architect, if you want a home, hire a good carpenter.

  5. The reason that the first one doesn’t seem designed for cats is that it is actually a light shade!

  6. First Kenneth Hagin, now Jack. I’ve become a laughing fool. I’m sorry that Jack’s meow is due to a medical condition, but it’s sure the best meow I’ve ever heard.

  9. The string ball dwelling is an easy one to make. You need a beachball, a natural-fibre string like jute, and PVA glue. Begin wrapping the ball with the string, then paint what you have done with the glue. Continue wrapping with string, apply more glue and so on until you are satisfied you will have a rigid/robust structure when the glue has dried. Finally, deflate the beachball and extract it through the opening you left for the cat. It’s a good project for the ankle-biters.
    Your cat will be absolutely fascinated for a day or two, after which you can use the ball for a lamp shade. On a smaller scale, using semi-inflated balloons, you can make artificial nests for aviary birds.

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