Yaaaay! Cats ‘n Stuff is three years old today. And it’s also the day on which I met Moef for the first time. And she is about three and a half years old. Yes, a bit of a stretch, but there’s the connection for you.
And like Moef, Cats ‘n Stuff has her dark moments…
….a habit of ignoring annoying people…
…and a tendency to not back down from an intense staring contest.
But only I have, and will continue to make the greatest art form in the world: the animated GIF.
Aaahh, it’s that time of year again, 5 December, Sinterklaas. When people lie to their children and say that there is a man with a white beard that brings them gifts. That this Sinterklaas lives in Spain, and comes to The Netherlands with his black-faced helpers to spread gifts, chocolate letters and pepernoten. Now, don’t forget to leave carrots the old man’s horse, which he rides across rooftops. I know, it’s a little confusing and hard to explain, but that in a nutshell is Sinterklaas.
Since I don’t celebrate Sinterklaas at all, but don’t want to miss out on the holiday cheer, I decided to start my 5 December own tradition: Annoyed Kitty Day. Feel free to share your annoyed cat pics with me, ’tis the season! Astute readers may say: “But catsnstuff, for you, every day is Annoyed Kitty Day!”. Very, very true indeed. My answer to you is that AKD will be celebrated throughout the year, but that on December 5 each year one truly peeved cat will feature prominently here. Now shut it and let me get to these great inaugural Annoyed Kitty Day pictures.
This photo series started with me stalking a cat in the streets, a.k.a. business as usual:
This was followed by my standing in front of the cat in order to get a good shot. This was no mean feat:
I know, these pictures are not up to scratch to the level required to celebrate Annoyed Kitty Day, but they serve as an instruction as to how to get the cat to the stage where the annoyance reaches a true great level. Follow me…
Here in this little corner of the interwebs, we love cats that ignore people. Why, we even created a special tag for it. And creating a tag totally means it’s law!
One of my most beloved neighbourhood cats is the true king of ignoring. Mad props to him.
Great posture, passive-aggressive while still remaining the relaxed ‘paw-tuck’ move. Very impressive! Also, notice the ears, they are pointed backward, which always gains one double points.
Excellent! Paws still firmly tucked, but the eyes have changed into the more direct closing mode, really bringing the ignoring to a new height. Also notice the ‘bish plz’ attitude of the mouth.
And now…the move that won him the Oscar:
The last of the Wales posts (part 1 and part 2), with a bunch of cats. Some of the cats were too hard to capture on camera, so I will not be posting all kitty sightings. Unless you like black dots in a green field of course, let me know.
We stumbled upon this cat when we took a wrong turn (see part 1). He was not pleased to see us. I know the pictures are not the best quality, but I think his anger is still very much visible.
“You make me sick.”
This cat may look angry:
But she was a delight, and after some close inspection:
“Let me do a background check.”
“I guess you’re ok.”
She just kept purring and asking for attention:
“See ya!”
So after the jump, I will reveal my face for the first time on Cats ‘n stuff. I always wanted to exclude myself on this blog, because it really is about cats mostly, but since I’ll be travelling for two months from the end of May, and I’ll be posting my travel stories and photo’s here, I have abandoned that idea. So beware!
Whew, finally a good ‘ol post that I started Cats ‘n stuff for in the first place. Sure, invisible stuff ‘n cats are cute and all, but what is about to follow is equally nice, and…how to say this delicately, not ripped off from the lovely Cheezburger people.
The classic ignoring principles will be discussed at length today, for the purpose of educating kitties around the world. I should point out that since I love cats ignoring people (read: me) so much, and have posted pictures of this happening so often I have gone back and tagged every post I made about this subject. Cats ‘n stuff proudly presents, the Cats ignoring people category. And now, classic examples of how it’s done:
Yes, ten points for the annoyed look, stiffness of the body and the backward pointing ears. Well done! Keep up the good work.
Excellent, I must say. The ears have come forward, but that sign of “ignorance” has been replaced with a haughty, almost Stalinesque staring into the distance.
Just saying:
Cats are annoyed a lot of the time. Dealing with stupidity all around you must me taxing, so I understand. Showing that annoyance takes time and skill if you want to do it right. One of the moves cats make when trying to ignore you when they are annoyed is moving their ears backwards. They do so quite unintentionally once they have mastered the skill. How cool would it be when people could no longer hide their annoyance with their nagging boss or spouse and could not help but twisting their ears backward. Job loss and divorce on a grand scale I guess, but cats get away with it.
Here are the various stages of the “ears backward” move:
1. Almost indetectable, in this first stage only one ear is cocked. Ignoring has already commenced, but the annoyance is still mild
* Thanks Bregtje, for this Parisian cat!
2. Yes, it’s getting there. The one cocked ear is complemented with a very craggy face. The cat is already looking downward, further cementing the ignoring process.
3. The double ear cocking has set in, and the cat is looking even further away from you. He can still see you though. Beware, the cat is about to run away or attack at will.
4. The cat has stood up (notice, in stage 1-3 the cat can’t be bothered to move). He gives you one last damaging look and is off! Wait, come back!
Note: the “ears backward” move is also used when the cat has his back to you, but wants to hear what you’re doing. Some cat breeders have made life easier for the cats, and have created cats that do the move permanently. Now, I’m not a great fan of couture breeding, but these kitties sure kick the ear game up a notch.
It complements shock:
Picture found here
And utter and total disdain perfectly:
My goodness, this one is an ignoring and haughty specimen if I ever saw one. Check out Popular Pets for more cats, frogs, and turtles among others.
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