Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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  • 10xor01

    Now when I was a little kitten, 
    At the age of one, 
    I was always curious,
    and havin’ lots of fun.

    But now I’m a cat, 
    Made it to two, 
    Hold my own against the dogs,
    Don’t make me scratch you. 

    I’m a cat, 
    I spell c-a-t…cat.

  • Simon Champion

    Indulge me for a moment please . . .

    I am under the impression that filming creatures intimidates them and therefore you get unnatural behaviour from them. Cats in particular.

    Think about it for a moment. What does a camera lens most resemble? A giant unblinking eye. In the animal (including human) kingdom, an unblinking stare is threatening behaviour, used to dictate territorial dominance and/or hostility. Maybe your cat is comfortable with your local heirarchy but I often fear for those filming large cats in the wild. 

    Or maybe I’m just an idiot. What do you think?

    • http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt

      I think cats more or less immediately perceive that a camera is wholly unworthy of their attention and thus proceed to ignore it. If it were making some sort of noise, then they might be interested.

    • http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
    • rattypilgrim

       You’re not an idiot and your point is well taken. I’ve never aimed a camera at a lion but I have at the cats and dogs in my life and some on the street who are strangers to me.

      You have to recognize them as individuals and not generalize their behavior. Some are hams and love the camera while others  find that lens aimed at them uncomfortable at best and threatening at worst.

      The cat in this video seemed not in the least intimidated or threatened by the camera aimed at it or anything else in its world. It even ruled over a Doberman and a German Shepherd.

      As for those filming in the wild, professional photographers would not make their presence known. Tourists are another story.

    • niktemadur

       Or maybe I’m just an idiot. What do you think?

      No you’re not.  Next question?
      That said, one drunky night many years ago my Bebita made a patient model until I got a satisfactory (accidental) Rembrandt shot.

    • chaopoiesis

      Large dogs and videographers.

  • http://www.batshite.com/royalflush Scott Bartlett

    Pancake sure is a cat. In fact, I’m prepared to conclude that Pancake IS cat.

  • timquinn

    Personally, my camera has a tiny unblinking eye. Not moving. Cat does not care. Cats are very good at being cats and are not faint copies of humans. Cats can assess a situation. They do begin cautiously. They also recognize me and some of them trust me so my camera phone is nothing, literally, to them. They definitely do not get tools. They do get possession, but they prefer soft things that are of the approximate size of a mouse or grasshopper. Squished up paper towels are particularly interesting to cats, so I do not think it has to do with status. It looks like self soothing behavior, playing. The iPad game for cats that has a moving dot is the closest thing to art for a cat. My cats will just watch it for a long time. and I am certain that they can fabulate. They will have fights and chases with completely imaginary creatures and seem to understand that is what they are doing because they can turn their attention to something else in a heart beat.

  • http://www.facebook.com/hillary.rettig Hillary Rettig

    patient Doberman is patient

  • http://www.facebook.com/dave.maclachlan.3 Dave MacLachlan

    I’ll never, ever understand people who don’t like cats or dogs. They’re missing something vital in their nature.

    • rattypilgrim

       I agree. It’s a gift to those who are open to it to have a little piece of the wild/nature willing to share their lives and insights with us humans. Cats and dogs (and all our domesticated animals) only ask for direction,love, and protection to make them happy and in return teach us patience, other ways to think about how to communicate to them so they know  what it is we are asking of them, and lots of cats and dogs have a real sense of humor which endears and enriches the short time we have to share with them.

  • Boundegar

    Ceci n’est-pas un chat.

  • benher

    A reference to Natsume Soseki’s literary classic?

  • pjcamp

    I Am Cat (Yellow)?

  • tubacat

    err, umm…I am kitten?

  • Sarah Smith

    I am Cat. Hear me … meow.

  • http://ok-cleek.com/blogs cleek

    These are the things that the cat likes to do:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rPipD2UyLE