Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for July 19, 2017

You know what the really pathetic thing is? There are people out there, like this lady, who really still believe that.

You tell her, boys!

LOL!! I never understood that crazy superstition. A friend of my mother’s used to say that’s why she was afraid of cats and I thought that was most illogical, senseless thing I’d ever heard.

How do you steal someone’s breath?

It would be interesting to learn just where that cockamamie theory started, but I doubt we’ll ever know for sure.

I love the deadpan look on the Woman’s face!

This superstition and its origins were discussed in some detail in the comments forum of the July 6, 2017 “Breaking Cat News.” I offered my take and several other folks had informative posts.

the old crone probably doesn’t like cats anyway, these boys sure don’t like her! they’re smarter than she is.

Oh my Cat! Lupin in the last panel is PERFECTION!!! And the Woman’s expression in the first speaks volumes!

When I was a kid (60s/70s) people used to warn about the risk of cats getting into prams and smothering the child inside; you used to be able to buy ‘cat nets’ to prevent this happening.

Yeah, yeah, cats don’t steal baby’s breath. There are many more interesting flowers out there! (Not going down the origin and persistence of this myth or saying. Nope, not going there.)

Great. The advertisements all load finely. Everything else on the page loads except for the comic strip. It’s getting very trying, trying to view Comics on the Go…

I just love the way Georgia can put so much expression on a cat’s face with just a quirked eyebrow.

I knew it.Old biddy.

Priceless expressions, especially Lupin in the last panel! You tell her, kitties!

Observation correct—cats can kill very young babies. Interpretation wrong—cats steal breath. What actually happens is the cat lays on the chest of the baby for the warmth and eventually the respiratory muscles fatigue and enough air can’t be moved and the baby dies. Now be careful—what you want to believe and what actually is, can be two different things.

Puck and Lupin have such expressive faces in this strip.

Who is this lady? The annoying old spinster who will never be invited over for coffee anymore?

I love angry Elvis looking over the couch to get the story.

Here’s Snopes’ summary of the “stealing the breath” story. It goes back to the 1600s at least and that was when cats were seen as evil companions of witches. Also, in the only recent case where it was thought a baby was smothered by a cat lying on it, examination proved the baby died of SIDS. Cat innocent. http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/catsuck.asp

Indignant Elvis. <3

Just to state it simply… There is NO documented case of a domestic cat killing a human baby. The so called “smothering” by a cat sleeping on a baby’s face has never been documented. One suspected case was determined to actually have been a case of SIDS death. Now, pillows, poorly made cribs, pull cords from curtains, small objects that might be inhaled… all of these are dangerous, and all have been proven to be involved in child deaths. But domestic cats? No. Just no. Snopes.com has a terrific article on this, and many, many child care sites and medical advice sites do too. All agree. NO.

I somehow survived my babyhood in the 1950s in a small apartment with two cats. Mom told me later that she had gotten the same warnings about the cats stealing my breath, but I guess their nefarious plot failed.

Actually, one of those cats avoided me for most of my childhood, apparently because I pulled his tail before I knew better. Children are dangerous to pets, too. But I learned how to treat cats, and the cats we got later trusted me.

When my parents brought me home from the hospital (in medieval 1950!) it was to a house with two residents cats. Amazingly, my totally-unschooled immigrant grandmother never made any objection to the cats snuggling up to me in my crib.

My mother told me the story of Tiger and when I was a baby. Tiger would be in my crib with me and would swish her tail in front of me. I would try to grab her tail. When I did succeed, she would gently pull it out and we would start over. This would continue until I would fall asleep and she would curl up next to me. My mother didn’t fear for me. And when I tell people I’ve grown up with cats all my life, I’m not kidding.

Yeah, Crazy Lady, I’d feel safer leaving a Baby with a Rabid Lion than you.

Bravo, Georgia, You NAILED the look on the woman’s face!

One of my nephews literally grew up with a cat. She slept in his crib when he was a baby and she a kitten. When he learned to walk and waddled all over the house getting into mischief, she followed him every step of the way. She was part of his life for 17 years and now he and his wife foster rescue cats.

Cats and babies have things in common.

I always feel a need to bring this story up any time the “cats steal babies’ breath” myth is mentioned.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/15/hero-cat-saves-baby-from-freezing-to-death/

OMG! My mother believed this. Keep in mind that she was born in 1913. It was an old wives tale but she believed it. I think it probably came about because a large cat climbed into a bassinet and laid on the baby causing it to suffocate.

I just love all the stories from you readers about growing up with cats sleeping next to you in the crib! Thank you for sharing!

Look at Lupin’s tail twitching – one insulted pussy!

It’s a wonder my first child survived considering how much I ignored “advice” from well meaning (I think they meant well) friends, relatives and in-laws. My son and I spent many nights co-sleeping….with the cat in the bed, too. The cats favorite place to sleep was on my shoulder, with at least one paw resting on the nursing or just snoozing baby’s head. I never worried about “rolling over on the baby” because, if I had, the cat would have put up quite a protest.

It is not the cats that you can’t trust, it is the people who don’t like/hate/fear cats that you can’t trust.

Georgia just posted a very nice story about her childhood cat on her blog.

http://www.georgiadunnstudio.com/2017/07/roscoe-lover-of-bacon-fearless-protector.html

I’ve heard (and it makes some sense) that cats are attracted to the milk on the baby’s lips or mouth. That’s why they’re around the head, sniffing.

An uncle of mine used to say, “Don’t let the cat anywhere near the baby. The baby will suck the air right out of it!”

The faces in this one are perfect.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA@AAAAAA@aAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?