“Were you not the tiniest bit embarrassed? It looks a bit better than the average cat carrier, but OMG”
“I was thoroughly embarrassed! But at least my shoulders don’t hurt from lifting.” (these are quotes from the photographer’s Flickr page)
So, what do you think? I’ll tell you what I think for what it is worth. I’m crazy about cat strollers….. 😉 Well, not quite, but…they do fix some cat problems if you can get over the embarrassment. One day, I might get up the courage and try one out in London.
What is probably certain is that you are sure to meet people! LOL. Imagine going to the local shops pushing your cat in front of you in a cat stroller. At first, other pedestrians would think you were pushing a rather odd looking pram. They’d look for the baby and see a cat 😉 Then they’d look at you and probably smile and begin a conversation.
It depends how much of an exhibitionist you are and whether you can take the attention – update: no one notices my cat in his stroller. They see a baby instead. On the practical side the advantages are there if your cat is a full-time indoor cat:
- Your cat gets to see, hear and smell new and stimulating things (we hope!).
- Your cat is safe while exploring new places.
- The device overcomes the need to provide fresh stimulation for your cat in safety. That can be quite hard to achieve.
Is the cat stroller slightly anthropomorphic? It looks like it! It treats the domestic cat as a baby. But I think that is just coincidental. The device was not born out of a desire to treat a cat as a baby. It was created as a practical solution to the age old problem; to mentally stimulate a cat in safety. It also allows a cat owner to be with their cat more rather than being at home alone.
Some cat strollers look like prams which is why 90% of people you pass in the street don’t see a cat but expect to see and therefore see a baby instead.
Update: I did it and went and bought a cat stroller. Here it is (below) by the Thames river near Teddigton, England. The woman is my SO. The boat is a pleasure cruiser going from Richmond to Kingston Upon Thames. It was a very fine day for a walk by the river. This was Gabby’s (my cat) first outing in the stroller.
Update: June 2002-the years have rolled by and there is quite a strong movement towards keeping cats indoors full-time nowadays. This alters the dynamic between owners and their cats. It puts greater emphasis on good cat caregiving. The owner has to do more to stimulate and entertain their cat. To create an environment inside the home which is, from the cat’s perspective, interesting. And you can enrich their life through a cat stroller as it enables the owner to take their cat outside and he bombarded with all the stimulation that your cat can take while being kept safe in their stroller.
And it is a good way to meet people so if you can pluck up the courage, I would recommend them. I have tried mine many times and they put a smile on your face an on the face of people you meet with whom you start up a conversation. You should try and make the stroller an attractive place for your cat to be so they, ideally, jump into it and ask to be taken outside.
Phew…..Don’t apologise for speaking your mind. I like it.
At the moment, everyone hates cat strollers.
Ah poor thing,if that person is moaning about lifting a domestic cat in a basket then pity help them carrying their shopping home lol Sorry Micheal but I also think those strollers are ridiculous and unkind,as bad as show cats stuck in cages to win prizes for the glory of their owners. Being shut in confined spaces is NOT a cat’s life.
Whatever next? Do the poor cats have to have their toe ends axed off incase they get sick to the back teeth of idiots admiring them in their prison and lash out through their prison bars?
Put baby and cat together?????????????????????????Don’t give them any ideas for God’s sake Micheal,the cat would defo be declawed then to be a soft toy trapped in there with a baby to molest it.
Sheesh.
Hear hear!
Cat strollers are to me mini prison cells on wheels, the cat imprisoned for committing no crime other than being a cat in a world where cats are treated any old way the person ‘owning’ them wants to treat them.
As Barbara said, they are trapped like an exhibit.
They can be gawped at, poked at, laughed at, while having no means of escape to the privacy cats love.
If a person can afford one of those stupid objectional things on wheels then they could afford the materials to make an outdoor run of sorts where the cat could enjoy a bit of fresh air and sunshine without an audience oooing and aahing or gawping or poking.
Cats are NOT babies, they are wild at heart creatures. If I saw anyone pushing a cat in one of these things in our country I’d go right up to them and tell them to move to the USA where they would be more at home keeping cats from their natural environment instead of making a bit of an effort to provide them with it as best they can.
It’s OK being blunt on PoC. I like it.
Sorry to be blunt but I think cat “strollers” are objectionable, stupid and ridiculous. Yes cats can be, and mostly are, exhibitionists in their own homes, but that is on their own terms, in the safety of their homes, they’re not zoo animals to be exhibited, they’re not babies to be taken out in “strollers”. They are animals with legs, they have energy,they need exercise not pushing around in a basket for people to exclaim over and smile at, poor things, what if they become surrounded by a hoard of screaming kids or a dog takes a fancy to bark at the exhibit imprisoned in a basket on wheels? What’s wrong with a traditional cat carrier and a taxi or car journey to wherever you need to take the cat? Cats aren’t sociable like dogs, they don’t want or need to leave their homes and meet other people. These horrible strollers originated in America where cats are mostly denied the freedom of outdoors, please God they never become the norm in England.