I received an email today where the photos are of cats that someone painted - as in, took a real cat and airbrushed it. I researched a bit and found that the photos are from a book, Why Paint Cats: The Ethics of Feline Aesthetics. The sites I found said that the cats in the photographs were painted with a non-toxic, vegetable dye but I am suspicious. Why aren’t the whiskers dyed, too? How would an artist isolate the whiskers? In art school, we used a clear plastic called “frisket” (possibly misspelled - sorry. Years of art fumes have rotted my brain) but that isn’t something one could/would apply to a living animal. I can’t even get my cat to sit still for a regular picture much less to air brush her!

Here is a link to some photos and arguments for/against spray painting your cat:
http://www.whypaintcats.com/

One day when the cats unite and enslave humanity this website will be used as evidence in the trials to come.

Let it be known that I, for one, welcome our new feline Overlords.

That cat with the butterfly face is sweet.

But I wouldn’t really want a cat painted if it could harm them.

One of the e-mailed comments on the site made me laugh so much!

I will be happy if we can help sell your book. We tell people about it when we must. Painting Cats is makes more sense than trying to get them to paint. We tried that too.

A friend just emailed me that the cats probably were sedated to be painted. I know mine would. She already tries to kill me in my sleep and that’s just for not getting to her litter box soon enough!!

It all makes so much more sense now.

Please spray or neuter your pets.

Snopes have put up an article on this.

They do seem like photoshop jobbies to me

I once stuck my poor cat Otto in a vat of beet juice to see if it would dye his fur. He didn’t mind, he was weird like that, any of my other cats would have ripped me several new ones for just thinking about it. He was a lovely shade of pink for about a week or two, at least his white bits were.

I know there are places where you can pay a pretty penny to have your dog dyed any colour you can conceive of. There was this guy in Greenwich Village who had a large poodle that was a different shade everytime I saw him. My hairdresser friend used to put various colours of manic panic on the white tip of her beagles tail too. I’d think twice before using manic panic on a cat though. Dogs are different because they don’t groom the way cats do. Even though dyes like manic panic are non-toxic, it still can’t be good for a cat to ingest large quantities of artificial colour.

MadCarlotta - 13 February 2007 11:08 PM

My hairdresser friend used to put various colours of manic panic on the white tip of her beagles tail too. I’d think twice before using manic panic on a cat though. Dogs are different because they don’t groom the way cats do. Even though dyes like manic panic are non-toxic, it still can’t be good for a cat to ingest large quantities of artificial colour.

Well, if dogs did groom themselves like cats it would probably make it easier to clean up the yard after they’ve done their business.

MadCarlotta - 13 February 2007 11:08 PM

I once stuck my poor cat Otto in a vat of beet juice to see if it would dye his fur.

You are a very strange person.

Remember:  Bastet is keeping track of everything you do to your cats, and will hold you accountable in the afterlife. . .

Boo - 13 February 2007 09:38 PM

Snopes have put up an article on this.

I thought I’d seen the Koi Cat before…

Accipiter - 14 February 2007 06:06 AM

MadCarlotta - 13 February 2007 11:08 PM

I once stuck my poor cat Otto in a vat of beet juice to see if it would dye his fur.

You are a very strange person.

Remember:  Bastet is keeping track of everything you do to your cats, and will hold you accountable in the afterlife. . .

Oh, I’m on very good terms with Bastet, don’t worry   My husband on the other hand…..