Mary Allen
Nature provided cats with a perfectly fitting, all-purpose clothing item called fur. But that doesn’t stop people from attracting additional unnecessary frills to their velvet paws. A self-experiment.
Of course, we are not talking about medical neck braces or bandages for physical ailments. What leaves you frowning are the hundreds of sites on the internet selling cat clothes: frog suits, miniskirts, tutus, bomber jackets, sweatshirts, booties, caps, and—schizophrenic height: dog suits for cats, woof. Incidentally, there is also nail polish for the distinguished four-legged friend. That’s no joke. This is a bitter reality.
As is well known, demand determines supply. The desire of cat owners to convert their velvet paws into catwalk models seems great. Some may shake their heads at such ambitions at the expense of the animals – or is it perhaps not so bad for the four-legged friends, do they even enjoy it?
In order not to simply join in with the general shaking of heads, I took the trouble to subject my cat to a dressing session: T-shirt, boots, hat, scarf, jacket. He had to try everything on. Overwhelmed by the unexpected attack, he stayed still for a moment. As soon as the T-shirt was on, he crept under the kitchen combination, meowing miserably. I took him out again without mercy to put his jacket, hat, scarf, and boots on him. He humbly lay on his side to keep me from tackling him any further. He didn’t want to or couldn’t run away, he lay motionless and bewildered. I suspect the boots prevented him from moving.
The Dressing Session Did Not End Well
My next approach was intended in his interest, I wanted to free him from the straitjacket, boots, hat, and t-shirt. But now it went through with the hangover. Thinking I was going to put more clothes on him, he grabbed my hand and slashed his claws through the air. With some effort, I finally freed him from his clothes – and he was not seen for a long time. Am I just saying that, or do the many disguised cats on the Internet seem just as disturbed as my “test subject”?
My further research revealed: In Switzerland, cat clothes – in contrast to clothing – are hard to find. Angela Barbato from Dogstore.ch explains: “Cat clothes are not exactly popular in this country.” She recently added a few cat outerwear items to her range. “These products are hardly in demand. Cat owners are interested in Gstältli or collars with Glöggli on it.» The cat sweaters she has sold so far can be counted on one hand. “The customers didn’t buy them for fun, but for medical reasons.” That is to say, one cat had problems with hair growth in a certain area and the owner wanted to protect her from the cold with the overcoat. The other customers also stated that they wanted to protect their cat from wind and weather because of bald patches in its fur. In the meantime, Barbato has stopped the cat clothes experiment due to a lack of interest.
Clothing Can Protect, But it Can Also Become a Hazard
The interest in cat clothes in Asia, especially in China, is different. Like dolls, Chinese girls proudly present their disguised pets on various platforms on the Internet. Interestingly, the cat clothes that can be ordered on the Internet come almost exclusively from Chinese manufacturers.
For the veterinarian Ana Rostaher from the animal hospital in Zurich, there are only two reasons to put clothes on a cat: “With hairless cats, it makes sense to protect them from the sun with clothing. And if the medication doesn’t control an itch, cover the area to prevent the cat from getting to it and scratching itself.”
Rostaher’s colleague Ursula Käppeli is just as critical of cat clothing. “The only reason I can think of for cat clothes is to put the cat in a bodysuit after abdominal surgery or if it’s bald due to a metabolic disease and actually freezes in winter.” However, it is questionable whether the benefits outweigh the risks. “I would have the greatest concerns that the cat would get caught somewhere with the clothes and then not be able to free itself – or in the worst case even strangle itself.”