How NOT to treat a cat

I have always suspected that cats are a kind of parasitic species on humans, surviving by controlling our minds so that we think they're wonderful and want to serve them. In fact mind control is the only explanation I can think of for the fact that in well over a year, there have been only about four posts on this blog about the bad behavior of domestic cats. It's certainly not for lack of material.

We need to be on the lookout for signs that cats are getting ready to make their move and take over. They're quietly starting to usurp human privileges, as we saw in this recent post where a cat took the ferry to spain.

The place to keep our eye on is clearly Japan. The Japanese are compounding the problem of cats' excessive self-esteem by running cat cafes, where people pay to hang out with cats and drink tea. Cats are full enough of themselves already, the last thing we need to is show them that humans are willing to pay money for brief periods of their company.

Even worse is that they're allowing cats to hold responsible jobs. One cat in Japan was already stationmaster of a railroad station. The station even hired a human assistant for the cat, called Tama, to direct the many visitors who come to see her.

After only a fairly brief tenure, Tama was given her own office and a promotion to 'super-stationmaster,' at which point it was reported, appallingly, that she was the only female of any species to hold a managerial position in the railroad company.

As if all of this (and having her own Wikipedia entry on top of vast amounts of media coverage) wasn't enough, Tama has now been promoted to operating officer:

"This is the first time in the world for a cat to become an executive of a railroad corporation, a company official said."

Well thank goodness, at least, that this is the first and only case - let's keep it that way!



Photo of Tama dressed for duty from Wikimedia Commons