Every now and then, I have mentioned my cat, Oreo, whilst blogging. From the comments on those posts, I have become aware of a very interesting phenomenon.
People hate cats.
They aren’t just “not cat people” like I’m “not a dog person” (and really I’m not that much of a cat person either but that’s off topic), but they really DESPISE them.
Sure, there are some “cat people” out there, of course, but talking about everyone else.
This has puzzled and amused me, because although I have no desire AT ALL to own a dog, I don’t hate them, and I am pretty sure that the majority of Non-Dog-People would agree. Other people’s dogs are cute and endearing, but that doesn’t mean that I EVER want one of my own.
But Non-Cat-People are not the same. They despise cats with all of their being.
And, as I was having one of my deep-thoughts-ponder-the-meaning-of-the-Universe moments the other day, I figured out why.
(I know you’re dying to find out the source of your feline animosity, right?)
DISNEY.
We all know that Disney is rumored to have secret motives.
(As a kid, how many times did you stare at the box of The Little Mermaid or rewind that scene in Aladdin to hear the tiny voice and see the writing in the clouds?)
I would like to expose a new Disney Secret Motive:Cat Loathing.
They apparently have a company policy to perpetuate a propaganda that all dogs and angelic, adorable, loving animals and cats are evil, hateful, malicious villains that can’t be trusted.
Need proof?
I present to you Exhibit A: Lucifer.
They weren’t very subtle in in the 50’s with their anti-cat message. Step One: name a cat after SATAN HIMSELF.
Step Two: Have a loving, kind, gentle dog that defends Cinderella against the gleefully evil cat,
Step Three: further the dog’s feel of humanness by turning him into a lovable footman for Cinderella’s magical carriage:
Not enough proof? Don’t worry – Disney has left no feline-bashing-opportunity on the drawing board.
There’s the greasy, Chipmunk-eating, politically-incorrectly named villain in Chip ‘n Dale, “Fat Cat”,
The LSD Junkie and can’t be trusted Cheshire Cat à la Alice in Wonderland,
The extremely vicious and hateful Si and Am from Lady and the Tramp,
(Juxtaposed, of course, with the heroic and romantic dogs that are so talented they can not only eat spaghetti, but slurp a whole noodle without breaking it in order to kiss while doing so):
And Disney didn’t just stop with animated cats. Cosmic Creepers’ name said it all in Bedknobs and Broomsticks:
And then there are the dogs.
The heroes.
The best friends.
The lovable, cute, cuddly, perfect, never chew up the furniture or go outside, roll in poop, then come in and roll it on the Persian rug perfect animals.
Who couldn’t love Slinky from Toy Story?
Bolt got a whole movie where he was a super-hero twice over:
The Fox and the Hound showed how Dogs, unlike cats, can look past racial differences and become friends with supposed-to-be enemies, and be adorably cute while doing so: 
Pluto showed how loyal a best friend can be, even to a mouse:
Disney was SO successful with their portrayal of canine perfection in 101 Dalmatians that there was a craze of people that went out and bought Dalmatians, only to find out that they were actually unpredictable and not-good-with-children pets:
And, in their apex of Dog Holiness, Nana in Peter Pan showed how Dogs can be just as good as a Mother, doling out medicine and tucking children in at night.
Hopefully no one bought into THAT piece of Disney wisdom.
So there you have it. I’m not sure if Walt Disney was attacked by an angry band of violent cats and then nursed back to health by a loving, matronly dog when he was a child or what, but there’s no question that he had it out for cats.
And the rest of the world? Obviously effected by his message.
Gotta go now – Oreo’s scratching the furniture again. CATS.
I am not a "cat person" (I am a confirmed "dog person"), however, I do not hate cats. I do hate Disney, so I guess that supports your hypothesis. Good post!
Disney also hates mothers. If you notice, the mothers are either just not there or get hunted and killed.
what about the Aristocats!?!?
I have a cat and she is the only cool cat I have ever known. I am not a cat person. But I think they are super adorable. They are just better when they have awesome personalities like my Scallop has!
But, no, I am totally not a cat person.
THAT was my thought too!! Conveniently, no Aristocats. OR Aladdin, I would point out that Rajah, the tiger in Aladdin, was Jasmine’s BFF and confidant. AND there was a helpful cat (Mr. Tibbs, I think?) in 101 Dalmatians.
finding the needle in the haystack … plucking the only example in a string of disney films where the cat is not vilified .. Disney must have been off holidaying when that one was made.
we grew up fearing these harmless animals because of the stereotype not just in Disney but in so many cartoons.
hatred of cats led indirectly to the black plague which wiped out a large percentage of humanity … the rat plague that should not have been fanned by the fanatics and zealots of the day who almost exterminated cats in europe because they were so sure they were ‘evil’
when is the last time a childs life was taken by a cat …
I am a cat person who also loves and has dogs …. that people have been brainwashed into having an innate distaste for cats is just sad
I think you're so right. My sister watched every Disney movie known to man a hundred times a day as a child so I wsa absolutely brain washed…
Dogs rule. Although Oliver from "Oliver & Company" was waaaay cute. But the simple fact is, we ALL know that "All Dogs Go To Heaven." So, I guess that means that the majority of cats go to…uh…
I think that you have unearthed a super secret conspiracy! Kudos, but you better watch your back. Disney monitors the internet. They're always watching.
Once again, I am impressed with your insight and investigative skills! I think you have something here! I can now attribute my cat hatred straight to the source…Disney! Or it might have come from my best friends cat…I remember that cat really was Satan himself and we would have to run for our lives or be scratched to death when he was in the house…seriously…he was evil. But I'm thinking that you are totally right about the brainwashing! Good job Inspector Rachel. :)
Never thought about that but so true!
The only one I can come up with is the Cat from Outer Space, but otherwise you are totally right.
I also have to say I was a "cat person" until I got a dog. & really, I love them both, not one more than the other.
I really do love your humor. I am a total cat person and it never occurred to me that I should be offended at Disney's "cat-trashing" ways! Thank you for bringing that to my attention!
I like cats, they taste like chicken…okay, somebody had to say it.
I really do despise felines. It's because they act like they own the world. I know it's mean, but I enjoy knocking them off their pedestal and seeing the confused looks on their faces. It's like they are thinking "Just who does she think she is???"
Of course, Disney is not my favorite thing either.
I really am a nice person! I just don't like cats. :D
The only nice cat movie by Disney I can think of is Aristocats. My five year old loves that movie. And all the cats are super smart and cute in that one :)
I'm a cat person. But I'm also a Stepmom, twice over. So, there you go, I must be evil. ;)
I most definitely fit into the "despise cats" group, but am not really a dog person either, I can tolerate them, but am glad that at present we don't actually have one.
Maybe Walt himself was a cat-hater and made it his dying wish that Disney would always have cats as villains and dog as heroes/heroines.
Hmmm, what about Aristocats?
(Although I thought your post hilarious as usual!)
Stephanie, Kat, and Jeni B – I think y'all are right. Aristocats is the exception. Which means that it MUST have been a ploy to keep Disney from being exposed. They couldn't be too obvious. :)
Wow. I guess I never noticed this about Disney.
I wish I were a cat person. I had a kitty for a few months, but then found out I'm a bit allergic :(
Hi Rachel! Found your blog bia BirminghamMommy – lurve it.
PS – Disney understands how much cats suck. The End.
LOL! You are so right. People are never lukewarm about cats.
I prefer dogs, but if a cat has the right personality I don't mind them. I have one and he literally forces people to love him. Most cats are not that way. I am definitely more of a dog person. I have 4 of them.
I noticed that NOONE mentioned Puss-n-Boots from Shrek. He was awesome. What about Lion King? They are in the family.
I have so much to say about this post I don't think it would all fit! Here's the short: Don't like cats. At all. You're hilarious. The end.
Quite simply: ROFLMAO!
I am not an amimal person but I do love kittens and puppies. The problem is they grow up and get an attitude.
If you are naming your cat Lucifer I think that means it's time to find him a new home.
I LOVE cats, all animals really but if I could only have one kind of animal it would be a cat. I am TOTALLY offended by Disney's clear hatred of felines and I think I'll write them an essay. I have a strong opinion towards people that have no GOOD reason to hate any particular kind of mammal.
As said before, you forgot the aristocats, which is full of nice cats, and you also forgot Sergeant Tibbs, Cruella’s cat, who is also a nice cat during the movie, helping the dalmatians. And while a big cat, we also have Bagheera in the jungle book.
Disney has quite some nice cats in their movies (yes, also in movies before Walt’s death, as all of the afromentioned are).
LOVE Bagheera!
Oh and I forgot the Lion King. Lions are big cats as well :3
Several people mentioned the Aristocats.
Aristocats released: 1970
Walt Disney died: December 1966
The Cheshire cat isn’t evil. If anything, he’s a neutral character. And don’t forget that Alice herself had a kitten in the opening scene of the movie.
That’s a crazy coincidence! I just remarked something about Disney’s antipathy to cats to a friend a couple of days ago, citing Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp as examples, and two days later she posts this link. They say that cats sense who does not like them and will go to that person. I wouldn’t know. I have had cats around me since I was a baby, and I adore them. In my experience, they know it too, as rarely will a cat not want to be in my lap. I did notice your post brought all the creepy cat-haters out of the woodwork, bragging on how they hate cats. There are a few notable exceptions in the Disney movie world, beside the Aristocats. There was Sassy, in the Incredible Journey (but maybe that is not Disney?) She is not only just as loyal as the 2 dogs, she is SMART! She is plucky. And she is cool: “cats rule, dogs drool”. And, as I told my friend, nobody mentioned the smart and adorably winsome Thomasina, the hero of the non-animated “Three Lives of Thomasina”.
Furthermore, I maintain that Disney had to use animated dogs to make them appear all THAT smart and clever. It would be hard to find a real dog that smart. And dogs can be trained in exchange for food! Not so with cats. And, in spite of that, they found a real cat amazing enough to play the unforgettable Thomasina.
Ol’ Walt was a xenophobic creature of his times but firmly wired into the archetypes and memes of his environment. Full disclosure: I rescue and care for abandoned/feral cats but support all animals’ right to life and their own pursuits. I have found that most (not all) people who say they do not like cats specifically are those who need to project their own worldview and sense of order onto others around them. They tend to try and dominate in social situations and, ergo, clash with felines at the most existential level. Cats operate on a completely different rhythm; they have their own internal clock which is in a totally alien time zone than our own. There is no such thing as imposing a schedule of any kind on cats (other than breakfast & dinner times). They’ll get to it in their own damn sweet time. And the cats’ worldview is so different from our own common sense of reality that we may as well be on two completely different planets. The thing to keep in mind (and, in my opinion, what makes a cat so special) is that cats are the one and only domesticated animal that CHOSE to come to some accommodation with homo sapiens. This is why they have two feet in our world but two in “the wild”. They are a step or two away from their wild, primitive selves. Dogs, on the other hand (and which I also love dearly, by the way), were intentionally domesticated by humans (and manipulated both genetically and socially). Granted, the first may have been the odd wolf here and there who bumped into a relatively non-hostile human tribe and learned to come closer and closer to scavenge some good eats, but dogs are pack creatures and eager to please the alpha dude in his or her pack. They’ll debase themselves to no end for our approval and a Vienna sausage. Cats, however, just look at you with a bemused smirk. William Faulkner penned it most poetically in his last novel “The Reivers” in which he related a myth about how cats were once the dominant species and had domesticated others, including humans. They had developed to the point where they reached the classic Dostoyevsky-Sartre-Camus existential impasse: that life is ultimately meaningless and all our toil and struggle is for naught. They decided it would be better to just eat & sleep & enjoy life, but to do this they would need to be cared for. But which domesticated species was both smart enough to take care of the cats but stupid enough to think that they themselves were in charge — of their own destinies as well as the cats — and that their own lives were important. Naturally, humans were at the top of the list of candidates. And that is why, to this day, cats look at you the way they do when you try to get them to do something.
Amen! I own a farm, so naturally, I have nothing against any animal. Out of all the animals I care for, cats are by FAR my favorite! Wanna know why?!? No? Too bad, Imma tell ya anyways. They are completely self sufficient! They don’t follow me around begging for attention or food and I can leave them alone for an entire weekend and know that they will be fine. They are the ultimate, low-maintenance companion. Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs too, but boy do they get annoying when they are “under foot” all the time.
Right on kgarry with your theory on those who despise cats! May be exactly why I detest people who don’t like cats!
Even if you’re allergic, had a bad experience, or just prejudiced against them, can you truly say that cats are not beautiful, graceful, and elegant creatures? Like any pet, if brought up the right way they can be a loving lifelong companion and I don’t understand blind hate towards any living creature.
Recommended reading: The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat by Carl Van Vechten (but skip the Occult chapter, it is too sad a chapter in the lives of cats and I’m too ashamed to be human when I read it)
I am a cat person. I don’t hate dogs at all,but I have 1. I have 2 cats. The cats despise him because of his terrible behavior. He is only a puppy,but his behavior is normal for a dog. Our cats are very loving and kind,and playful. I haven’t met a single cat that wasn’t mean,other then strays. Strays develop hostility due to being stuck in the wild. My cats are very cuddly and loving. I don’t care for dogs that much. I don’t care for disney,and there extreme hatred for cats. I despise disney…..