"Do you know that cats can't wear corsets? They can't stand! Not at all! They just fall over. I know because I tried!"—Words of wisdom from famed fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. (via Mister Jalopy)
Quote of the day, from Jean Paul Gaultier
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They can't wear leashes for the same reason. Ghandi got his ideas from cats. Cats know passive resistance nirvana.
Untrue. They can stand, but they generally prefer to fall over and wait for death. I know this because of the feline "walking jacket" I used to drag one of my cats around in. It was the feline fashion equivalent of passive resistance.
i'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that some powdered propellants may have been involved in the "let's put a corset on a cat!" session. just throwing that out there.
earlier this week my wife came home with a monkey w/ velcro hands that we've been attaching to the cats back. she falls over every time. it still cracks us up.
GRRRRRRRRRR.
I know how tight you tie a corset and the answer is "tight enough that my wife's old injury to her ribs puts her in permanent pain in under 45 seconds."
If he put a real corset on a cat, instead of just putting something loose over the cat's abdomen, I'm inclined to think animal cruelty. I'm hoping I'm wrong. But I don't think I am since I'm pretty sure a designer means a corset when he uses the word "corset."
-abs is not inclined to give fashionistas a pass on abusing pets any more than anyone else gets, and as a cat owner he gets particularly peeved if felines are the abused animal in question
Blah, probably shouldn't have said permanent. She's only in pain for the time she wears the corset and for a few days afterwards until her ribs get over the abuse.
-abs hates it when he chooses words poorly and can't edit the post to correct it, but that's just what it is, he's human, it happens
Actually if you tie a sock or other soft cloth around a cat's middle it's back legs stop working and it falls over sideways. Not sure why it works, but I do know that but as I child this brought us kids great amusement. It doesn't need to be particularly tight either so it isn't really abusive and doesn't seem to hurt the cat in any way.
I'm so glad we've established that it isn't really abusive because my inclination is to say... "Pics or it didn't happen".
It's a good thing that PETA already had "fashion designers" on the list of people to picket. Otherwise, they'd be adding it now.
"I am a face of fashion in Soho Square
My tie is Paul Smith or Gaultier"
It seems to come down to the cat.
We used to live by a busy street, so we let the cats out on leashes - you need to use a harness, as they can just wiggle out of collars. One cat was fine with it, and would happily go for walks with us. The other cat would immediately decide she couldn't walk, and would drag herself around on her belly. I'm sure she was actually physically capable of walking (we put the harness on really loose on her), she just didn't think she could.
Incidentally, cutting burrs out of a cat's belly fur is not fun.
some time ago someone put a "corset" (just a lace-up leather/pleather wrist cuff for humans) on a cat on stuffonmycat.com -- can't find it now, though i'd saved the pic at the time i saw it. it wasn't on tight at all, and was no more "cruel" than any other silly clothing item would be (and had the same result -- pouty cat laying on the floor).
I think the first three posts said everything that really needed to be said... but I'll add my own unnecessary coda.
We've only had one cat willing to walk on a leash. This was long ago when my spouse was living in an apartment complex and the cat was just a teacup-sized fluffball. So, this tiny kitten's on the leash, and this big ol' pit bull comes tearing across the parking lot, and tries to gobble up the kitten (while the owner shouts "no, bad dog" ineffectually). Not only does my pacifist then-fiance deliver an absolute powerhouse of a side-kick to the dog's head, causing it to run away yelping, but the kitten goes into physics-defying mode and buzzes around on the end of the leash like a helicopter for a while. I saw the whole thing, it was amazing. The kitten was literally overhead and bouncing off tree branches and such like a rubber ball.
Forever after that cat would go totally limp if you could manage to get a harness on her. She'd fight like hell until you got her leashed, then turn to pudding.
@ dragonfrog:
Somewhat, but the results are pretty consistent. Most cats have trouble walking when they have a sock tied around their waists even loosely, particularly when directly in front of the back legs like a harness. This is due to the musculature of their legs and back.
If you've ever wondered how cats could jump so high, it's because they have a unique physiology that allows them greater mobility in the legs, which also helps them squeeze into small spaces. Tying anything around a cat's waist may not constitute animal cruelty, but I wouldn't be surprised if your cat was actually incapable of walking. There's a good chance that using a harness applies too much pressure on the stomach, kidneys, or testes. Likewise, any unnatural constriction of bloodflow could result in heart problems. Just common sense.
Rule of thumb: if the animal doesn't enjoy it, don't assume that you're doing nothing wrong.
I sincerely doubt he laced it tightly at all. It sounds more like a joke, and closer to dressing up your cat for Halloween (not that I think that's any less forgivable ....)
Also, many women do wear corsets comfortably, even very tightly laced -- it's all dependent on how well-fitted the corset is, and of course, their comfort level. Not every woman laces it at the same tightness.
Unless the corset is for medical/therapeutic reasons (and is supposed to be briefly uncomfortable), perhaps your wife should give them up. Or don't tie them so tightly if possible.
Also...DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT put a vest on your cat, ever.
I really can't stress enough the importance of never putting a vest on your cat. I have this dancing James Brown doll (i can't decide if it's racist or not but it makes me uncomfortable. it was a gift) and he has a removable vest that he wears. well, one day it struck me as really funny to put the vest on my cat, sukie (named after the belle and sebastian song not the true blood character). the vest was perfectly sized, it could have even conceivably been crafted as cat-wear. so after some coaxing and wrangling i finally managed to get the vest on her. it is hard for me to explain what happened next, but you know when daffy duck goes all cuckoo and starts bouncing off the walls? that's kind of what happened. she freaked, bad. it elicited in me perfect combo of humor and horror. once she calmed down a little, i managed to get it off of her. i'm pretty sure she resents me to this day for it.
I really can't stress enough the importance of never putting a vest on your cat.
Iz in ur meem disproovin ur theery
the harness my cat uses (and the model i see most often in pet stores) doesn't actually go around his waist at all -- it wraps around the chest and ribcage area sort of like a letter "H", and is not tight, just fitted.
still, with safety in mind, one shouldn't attempt to "walk" a cat on a leash until the cat is used to the harness, and has then gotten used to the leash indoors, in order to avoid injury (both to the cat and to you). i could totally imagine a cat flipping out and ending up with a broken rib or something. the best thing i think is to start when the cat is a kitten so when s/he grows up, "wearing" things isn't a big deal at all.
Cat-toure is creating stylish tanks for cats...Jean Paul watch out! www.cat-toure.com
That harness was loooose. What you suggest was the first thing we thought of - maybe it really is tight, restricting her movement or cutting off circulation. We put it on her loose enough we could easily put a couple of fingers inside the strap and feel no pressure at all.
I just want to go on record and point out that my 10:23 comment was in fact the first comment when I made it, and that Anonymous #1 @ 09:58 was not present when I posted, and that, f u r t h e r m o r e, Anonymous #1 is quite clearly a BoingBoing mod who is attempting to make me look derivative and rob me of my originality and precious bodily fluids.
I remember first learning about this weird effect of cats not being able to stand with something around their midsection from the second video of Maru in the 2008 boingboing post that first introduced Maru to all us boingboingers:
http://boingboing.net/2008/11/08/magu-the-cat.html
"pinch" discusses it in comment #7 of that post...
I'm hoping that's the case as well, that he was just playing dress up and didn't tighten it. That's an offense against a cat's dignity, but certainly isn't abuse. (and lord knows our cats abuse their own dignity fairly often, *sound of a cat slamming into a wall chasing a ball* *cat stops and starts grooming* quoth the cat "I meant to do that, really . . .. " we won't even go into the rather unladylike positions some of our girls like to sleep in . . . .. )
As for my wife. She won't wear corsets at all due to the old rib injury. Every now and then one of our costumer friends tries to get her into one, which usually fails. And every ten years or so she'll try one herself, just to see if her ribs have healed enough to wear one. So far, no luck.
-abs doesn't think badly of corsets per se, just had some idea how tight a lot of his costumer friends tie them and thought that doing that to a cat would be cruelty