From Justsomething (click link below) we hear of a genuine Ceiling Cat in Japan.
Cats are famously sneaky; there’s a reason why particularly stealthy burglars are called cat burglars.
A group of Japanese office workers were reminded of this fact when a cat unexpectedly targeted their office.
This sneaky kitty wasn’t stealing, though. He was using his stealth for something else:
Perhaps the cat was just trying to make sure that everyone was focused on their work and doing their best.
We’re certain that we’d all have better work ethic if we knew this cute kitty was keeping a close eye on us.
Better work ethic my tuchas! I’d spend all my time looking at the cat, and trying to find out if it needed to be rescued:
But now I discover that the original Ceiling Cat may be bogus—it may be a floor cat.
The original meme:
And an analysis from reddit, suggesting that the cat is standing on a floor and looking through a hole in the wall. True? The “floor” looks to me like the cat’s fur. You be the judge.
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The Great Cat is undoubtedly the best source for cat art, arranged by artist and copiously documented. Here’s one of their artists,
Here’s a cat artist of interest (click on screenshot to see his feline-related oeuvre:
I can’t copy and paste from that site, so here are the details about Desportes:
Here are a few paintings by Desportes of cats as thieves, but go to the site to see the rest:
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From LoveMeow we have a long-haired cat whose fur was so long and matted that it had to be sheared off, yielding two pounds of fur. Clickbelow to
The text is indented. The first photo is the cat as it was brought in.
Mattie, an orange cat, was brought into York County SPCA needing a lot of help. He was so severely matted that he had to be transported in a dog crate.
The tabby was spotted outside as a stray in Hanover, Pennsylvania by a community member. “Mattie was the worst matted animal I’ve ever seen in my career. The mats were so large and heavy that it was hard to see where his actual body was,” Dr. Weekes, the York County SPCA Shelter Medical Director said.
Mattie could barely move and was understandably scared and anxious. The medical team immediately began working on him.
They were able to safely shave off his matted locks, which weighed in at about 2 1/2 pounds. Staff continued to care for Mattie post procedure and provided medical treatment and plenty of TLC to ensure a smooth recovery for the deserving boy.
“They offered affection when he showed interest, gave him space when he needed it, provided socialization and enrichment,” York County SPCA shared.
Mattie shaved!:
Mattie’s beautiful fluffy coat grew back over time and gave him a magnificent lion’s mane. His personality emerged and he started seeking affection and head scritches. He was estimated to be 10 years old and had a few health issues, including diabetes.
“After several months recovering at the York County SPCA, Mattie has transformed from a suffering stray to a handsome, kind man who’s ready for many happy years ahead.”
Here he is as a lion cat.
The story adds that Chandler Scull, a veterinary technician who’d just lost a diabetic cat, saw Mattie (who also had diabetes) and decided instantly adopt him:
A few months prior to meeting Mattie, Chandler lost her beloved diabetic cat, Tulip, and it left a void in her heart. “There was still a hole in our home. When I saw Mattie’s face in those pictures, I realized what that hole was.”
She reached out to the shelter to inquire about Mattie, and it turned out to be the perfect match. About a week later, Chandler and her boyfriend, Dan, traveled halfway across the state to bring Mattie home.
For the first few days, Mattie’s health issues made his transition into a new home a bit challenging. Chandler who is experienced in feline diabetes management, was able to stabilize him through supportive care, fluids, and syringe feeding.
“Thankfully, I have the equipment, supplies, and experience to do so from home, which helps keep his stress as low as possible. After several days and a lot of TLC, Mr. Mattie is on the upswing,” Chandler shared with Love Meow.
And now the matted cat (the obvious source of his name, is healthy and has a loving home:
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Lagniappe: “Missing cat returns home, rings doorbell”, one decent piece from Huffpost (text is indented). Click to watch below:
A missing cat proved she wasn’t missing after all thanks to a cordial return to her New York home.
Stefanie Whitley, a Long Island woman who owns 8-year-old cat Lily, said her beloved feline went missing roughly two weeks after a recent move to Mastic Beach, WPIX-TV reported.
Whitley said she was worried that Lily, who enjoys being “outdoors and exploring,” would react differently to her new home.
Her suspicions were on the nose but, despite being gone for four days, Lily later proved to her family she wasn’t going to leave them in their new residence.
Whitley said she and her family were “startled” when their Ring doorbell was activated one night.
A Ring doorbell notification appeared on their TV and it revealed Lily had returned to their doorstep.
Click video to play it:
“We all gasped. We were laughing. We were emotional. We were crying. It was a great moment,” Whitley said.
Whitley explained to People that Lily appeared to be “mimicking” her kids and meowing “mom” to the camera upon her return.
The feline has continued to use the method to signal her return home since then, her owner told the news site.
Whitley told WPIX-TV that she isn’t sure how Lily found the family’s home but she believes she understands how Ring works.
“Every time the notification goes off, she’ll look toward the door. She knows what she’s doing,” Whitley said.
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h/t: John, Ginger K., Merilee
Just leaving this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ-5eOD57Ss
Well that answers the question about what the experts know.
The origin of Philomena revealed!
The Ceiling Cat meme is, I think genuine. The so-called skirting board is actually the wall IMO. Also Know Your Meme has a discussion including another photo of the same cat and the same hole but with a wider angle.
Agree. The fur is clearly visible and the angled stretch is wall, not baseboard. BTW, isn’t it nice to see art from someone (Desportes) who knows how to paint cats, unlike all the bad examples Jerry has found over the years.
The “ceiling cat” picture has always been a feline “Necker Cube” to me – one minute I see it as “ceiling cat”, the next minute as “wall cat”.
The biggest cognitive dissonance for me is that I can’t think of any routine ceiling equipment that uses a precisely-cut rectangular orifice. Almost everything I’ve seen for ceilings has a circular (-ish) fitting designed to fit flush to the ceiling and obscure the cable(s) entry point.
Cutting square holes into vertical plasterboard OTOH is so routine an operation you can get templates and cutting tools for doing the job quickly, neatly and consistently .
Medieval artists may not have been good at cats, but those 16th century paintings by Desportes are spot on (although when a ‘stealing’ cat is involved, I would not call it a ‘still life’). Such beautiful -and accurate- paintings! That French guy, Alexandre-François Desportes was brilliant, as good as the 16th Century Dutch painters (well, he did study with Frans Snyders and Nicasius Bernaerts, Flemish (= Southern Dutch) painters) with their attention to detail, but even better with the cats, especially the last picture above, plain perfection. I’m puzzled why he is not better known or appreciated.
He was also into d*gs, though, still brilliant.
https://www.thegreatcat.org/the-cat-in-art-and-photos-2/cats-in-art-18th-century/alexandre-francois-desportes/