Opening Remarks
Although human cruelty towards cats has a long and terrible history - I discussed two methods for terminating their lives, cat throwing and cat burning, in a post published in April 2019 (click here) - so too can the human love of cats be traced back thousands of years.
Indeed, some cats so captured human affection that they secured a place in the cultural imagination and achieved a degree of fame bordering on celebrity. Here are just three examples from the modern period that particularly interest or amuse ...
Félicette the Space Cat (Official Designation: C 341)
Everyone knows the name of Laika, the little Russian dog born on the streets of Moscow who was the first animal to orbit the Earth, in 1957, aboard the spacecraft Sputnik 2.
But, outside of France, very few have heard of the small black-and-white stray cat called Félicette, who, sixty years ago, became the first (and so far only) pussy to be launched into space after two months intensive training, and who, I'm pleased to say, returned safe and sound (unlike Laika) after a brief (13 minute) flight.
Sadly, I'm less pleased to report that Félicette was killed shortly afterwards by scientists keen to examine her brain - apparently the nine electrodes surgically implanted in her skull to record neurological activity during the flight didn't provide them with sufficient data. They later admitted, however, that they had learnt nothing of any significance from the autopsy.
Félicette has since been commemorated on postage stamps and there's a 5 ft tall bronze statue of her sitting atop a globe gazing up to the skies, displayed at the International Space University (Strasbourg). Designed by the British artist Gill Parker, it was erected in 2019 after a crowdfunding campaign raised £40,000.
Casper the Commuting Cat
Although he didn't make it into space, a cat called Casper attracted worldwide media attention when he began navigating his way round his hometown of Plymouth by bus ...
According to his human, Susan Finden, who adopted Casper from a rescue centre in 2002, he loved to roam and go on adventures, showing little fear of either people or traffic. Not only did he nonchantly wander into shops, offices, and the local GP's surgery in order to find a comfortable spot to sleep, he would also wait patiently at the stop opposite his house in order to catch a bus into the town centre and back.
Curling up on a seat with the driver's permission, he would enjoy the eleven mile roundtrip, before then hopping off. As one might imagine, his behaviour delighted his fellow passengers and he soon became a well-known and much-loved character.
Unfortunately, his own bold - some might say slightly reckless - desire to lead an independent life and live dangerously, would have tragic consequences and, in January 2010, he was killed by a speeding car while attempting to cross the road outside his home.
To help her cope with his death, Miss Finden wrote a book in memory of Casper which was published later that year and translated into several languages [1]. Proceeds from sales of the book were donated to animal rescue charities, which not only makes her a good egg, but counters any possible charge that she was cashing in on his fame.
Oscar the Therapy Cat
Oscar was taken on as a therapy cat in 2005 by the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island - a 41-bed facility that treats people with end-stage Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other terminal illnesses.
He came to public attention two years later when he was featured in an article by geriatrician David Dosa in the New England Journal of Medicine [2].
According to Dosa, Oscar seemed to possess an uncanny ability to predict the impending death of terminally ill patients by choosing to nap next to them a few hours before they died. It was suggested that Oscar perhaps noticed the lack of movement in such patients or that he could smell biochemicals released by dying cells.
Although Oscar was generally an aloof cat - certainly not one who liked to be overly friendly with people (he would sometimes even hiss when he wanted to be left alone) - staff noticed that he often chose to nap next to patients who would die in his presence. Whether this makes him a feline angel of death, or, in fact, demonstrates his desire to comfort and provide company to the dying, is debatable [3].
After Oscar accurately predicted a number of deaths, staff began calling friends and family members of residents as soon as they discovered him sleeping next to a patient in order to afford an opportunity to visit and say
goodbye. By 2015, it was believed that Oscar had made 100 such predictions.
Whether he was able to foretell his own death, I don't know, but one would imagine so. At any rate, he died, aged 17, in February 2022, after a brief illness.
Notes
[1] Casper the Commuting Cat, by Susan Finden (in collaboration with Linda Watson-Brown), was first published in the United Kingdom by Simon & Schuster in August 2010.
[2] See David M. Dosa, 'A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat', The New England Journal of Medicine, Issue 357 (July 2007), pp. 328-329. Oscar's abilities were also the subject also of a book by Dr Dosa; Making
Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat, (Hyperion, 2010).
[3] Based on my own experience, I'm pretty certain that cats are kinder and more patient around elderly people whom they know to be frail and not long for this life. The small black cat who wandered one day into the house from out of the garden and decided to stay, would spend many hours lying next to my mother when she was confined to her bedroom and in the final stages of her life, watching over her and providing a feline peacefulness to the room.
For a follow up post to this one on three more cool cats - CC, Room 8, and Henri, le Chat Noir - click here.
