Working Cats: A Classic Photodocumentary of Cat Careers

Photographer Terry Deroy Gruber’s 1979 release of Working Cats is a cat self-help classic, a book-length photo-documentary of the modern economic lives of cats. Everything from fruit-selling cats to porno film company office cats are brought to light in this bold study of felines in their work-a-day environments.  There are cat careers I would never imagine documented here!  Here are a few examples:

 

Outdoor jobs: Race track cat, stadium cat, taxicab cat, shoe-shine cat.

 

High profile career tracks: boutique kitty, public tv kitty, talent agent kitty.

 

Nontraditional careers: fish-shop kitty, butcher kitty, taxidermy kitty.

 

Artsy cat jobs: Opera wig shop cat, theater cat.

 

Special-case cat jobs: Penitentiary cat, disco kitty.

 

Gruber’s photographs are timeless, full of personality, and each evokes the cat’s engagement with the workplace.  In an Internet bio, Gruber is credited for changing the way cat pictures are seen by the world.  We at Self Help for Cats appreciate that! 

Blitzcat: The Cat Who Fought Hitler

 

“A black cat. A nation in danger. A world at war.”

That’s the back cover copy on my copy of Blitzcat, a book about one of the bravest and most loyal warrior cats in all of literature.  This cat didn’t just do her normal cat work of keeping people’s spirits propped up in war-ravaged England. No, little Lord Gort had to cross England looking for her person, changing lives and become a fighter-pilot cat on her way, among her many anti-fascist exploits. 

Although it seems unlikely that a war story based on a cat will end up well, Blitzcat pulls you in faster than a pawful of claws, and soon you will be fully behind the story’s main character, the black cat Lord Gort, who proves that a cat authentically-drawn can carry the central role in a novel narrative.  Bravo to author Robert Westall for giving the world a truly-great feline literary figure for the ages, and for all ages.  Don’t let the Young Adult sticker fool you, Blitzcat is plenty appreciated by young and old alike.

Got a favorite cat in literature?  Drop a comment below so all us cat-loving readers can check it out. 

Got Cat Blog? Catabloguing the Blogatosphere

They’re all over the Infobahn, if you’ve managed not to notice: Cats blogging their hearts out, and the people who type for them.  There’s even a whole uber blog all about the cat blogosphere called Cat Blogosphere, with the tag line: ”We cats are taking over the innernets.” Here you can check-in on the latest haps from cats blogging day and night around the planet, abridged and indexed in adorable kitty tawk.

Yes, clearly in the virtual world as in life, cats have made their beds and are doing their best to sleep uninterrupted in them.  I find it “personally” useful that someone is at least partially cataloguing the cat blogs, not to mention the other important stuff often reported on the site, like Bad Kitty’s Festival of Chaos, etc. 

Of course, nothing beats word of mouth, so naturally I want to know about any great cat blogs you know of, kitty tawk and awl. If you have one to share, you can leave it in comments, below, or send it to selfhelpforcats (at) gmail (dot) com. I’ll add any site to the blogroll if it’s, you know, something the discriminating Self Help for Cats reader might like. 

Bullet Train Borrows Cats’ Ears & More

A futuristic train in Japan will feature air brakes shaped like cat ears that retract like cat nails!  Of course, the retractable-claw cat-ear air brakes are superior to all the brakes people have made without involving cats’ design ideas, proving that cats should be consulted more often in the design-phase process.

What does it mean that a train of the future borrows so heavily from feline technologies?   Is this early evidence that cats are on the cusp of improving our lives Big Time?  

A minor point: Cats take no responsibility to the disco-tights quality of the train’s exterior. For that, I think you can thank manga.

Learn about the cat’s forthcoming bullet train here.

Real Cats Go to Lego Church

 

Precious enjoys a quiet moment in the Lego church.

Here’s a unique example of a cat-human spiritual collaboration involving the creation of a church made entirely of Legos.  Naturally, Lego artist Amy Hughs’ cats couldn’t wait to get their paws all over the Legos church under construction, contributing their value-added X-factor to the Lilliputian house of God. 

Please go see the pictures of Precious and Anya terrorizing the organ player and lounging in the various vestibules.  It’s a rare glimpse into a world where cats are 13 feet tall.  Their devotion to spending time on this project highlights the cat’s attraction to special and even spiritual places.  If only there were more little nubby churches for them to attend.

In a poignant note, Precious (seen in the picture above) did not live to see the church completed.  That very sad fact seems to make the cat’s connection to the Legos church that much more mysterious and beautiful.

Self Help for Cats is eternally interested in hearing about all cat-human collaborations, in the spiritual realm and beyond.  So if your cat is your spiritual advisor or just is always “helping” you with your projects, we would love to hear about it. 

My thanks to the Ironic Catholic where I learned of this fantasic project. 

Cats Provide Crucial Tax Season Aid

My cats love tax season.  Their human is around the house more, albeit attempting to focus on something, and there are always so many piles of receipts and paperwork to roll around in and chew on when the usual distraction techniques fail.  

But despite my cats’ apparent contract with chaos, don’t think they aren’t helping me do my taxes.  Their pressing demands for attention add a whole new urgency to the effort, if the April 15 deadline wasn’t enough.  

I just rest better knowing that even while I’m asleep, my cats are hard at work on all that crucial paperwork.  Sure enough, when I awoke on Sunday morning I discovered that Brody had been so thoughtful as to actually start “pre-schreding” some of my more delicate documents. 

Yes, I better get those taxes done in a hurry, lest there be little left of 2006 than some chewed up paper wads and small puddle of hairball.  You can’t buy that kind of motivation, people!

Greed & Cats: Can Felines Adapt to Global Capitalism?

Among cats’ not-so-admirable qualities, it is generally agreed upon that greed is missing in action. Cats don’t typically fight over food, like dogs might. They may tussle over who gets the best sleep spot, true, but many are just as happy to share it.

Yet despite this apparent deficiency, I’m here to assure you that it’s never too late to turn things around and instill a little old-fashioned greed into your cat, and give them half a chance in the Real World.

What is Your Cat “Good” At?

In the interest of starting positive and staying positive, I want you to ask yourself: What is my cat “good” at?

Maybe he’s a climber, or a shredder, or watcher. Start a list of the innate talents you find in your feline friend. Then add one more talent to the list: “You.” That’s right, chances are your cat is very good at “you.” Your cat probably knows “you” pretty well, right? They know what “you” like and how to get what they like out of “you.”

Some folks would even go so far to say that “you” are your cat’s job. All of the energy they would otherwise put into terrorizing the local rat population now gets siphoned into figuring out how to get their jollies out of “you.” This is an interesting theory, but I’m not terribly interested in hiring my cats in this capacity.

The point is, your cat has got to be good at something, no matter how small or insignificant. Fortunately, the Self Help for Cats program has all the tricks you’ll ever need for discovering and exploiting your cat’s dormant talent.