At first I thought it was the cat talking, but maybe the open mouth is just another sign of canine-like behavior?
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Cats do like to chase things, but not to canine levels of liking to chase things.
Yep. Open mouth, tongue hanging out, tail wagging. That cat is acting more like a dog than my dogs do.
On a family vacation to the Gulf coast of Florida, we met a man who had a big black cat that liked to swim in the ocean. It was truly amazing, and I’ve never seen anything else like it, neither before nor since then. Sadly, we couldn’t get a picture of it, since this was decades before the advent of waterproof cameras (or mobile phones).
Is the thing in his hand one solid object, vaguely boomerang-shaped, which he is going to fling as a whole? Or like a tennis ball resting in a large cooking spoon?
Dana,
That’s a ball thrower. Keeps your hands from getting covered in spit and allows you to throw much further.
Have you seen any of the postings and videos of Chloe the Serval? Facebook lists her as a “public figure”.
(There is a whole fandom / breeder culture about pedigree lines for serval/domestic-cat crosses, and designations for what generation of mix a given individual represents.)
Thanks, Karl. Sounds like a dog-owner product then. But appropriate enough for this guy and his cat!
@ Dana & Karl – The ones that I have seen here have a cup with tabs that are purposely dimensioned to be just right for a standard tennis ball. If you threw a (small) “dog” ball with one of those things, you could really injure somebody.
Yes, I was going to say this almost looks like a Savannah.
Tangential –
Have you seen any of the postings and videos of Chloe the Serval?
No, but I have been following the life of Leon the Lobster.
I’m still not sure what the ‘joke’ is supposed to be. A cat acting like a dog? Is that it?
@Stan: Yes, apparently that’s it. Or also the mixed reaction of the human about going along with it.
Hilarious. I can see why it was a CIDU. Well, if that’s all it takes for syndicated cartoonists these days, I can’t wait for the continuing series…a gerbil that acts like a dog…a parrot that acts like a dog…a goldfish that acts like a dog…a lobster that acts like a dog…this stuff is pure comedy gold!
One brand of ball thrower is “Chuckit.”
I can understand Stan’s objection that this panel is not a major laugh, but Bliss usually tends to go for milder sorts of humor. However, there is more to it than a simple juztaposition of two different species. The reason that this panel works (to the extent that it does) is specifically because of the traditional conflicts between dogs and cats. It would not work nearly as well with a different kind of animal as the primary subject. In addition, Bliss has done an excellent job of making that cat appear like a dog (wagging tail, tongue hanging out of its mouth), even drawing eyes that reveal an eagerness to play.
The drawing is inaccurate. When a cat wags its tail, the wagging is not confined to the tail, but continues all the way up to the cat’s hips. If that’s all the motion you’re getting from your cat, that’s not “wagging” that’s “twitching”, and it means your cat is annoyed with you.
A cat with an actual wagging tail is hunting something, and the pounce is imminent.
Purring can also occur in a number of different circumstances; indicating sometimes active contentment as we generally think of it, but also other kinds of arousal state, even including fear.
“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”
“I suppose so,” said Alice
“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”
“I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice.
“Call it what you like,” said the Cat.”
Curiouser and curiouser.
In other “famous cat” news, the mountain lion P.22 was apprehended in Los Angeles after developing a habit of eating Chihuahua dogs. Leashed ones.
German news reported today that P.22 was malnourished and injured (probably hit by a car), and that its caretakers are still deciding whether they should try to save it.
I was going to make some sort of joke about malnutrition and not much meat on Chihuahuas, but decided to refrain for reasons of sensitivity.
@ Brian (& with apologies to Andréa) – Perhaps it might be more diplomatic to point out that only a starving wildcat would be so desperate to force itself to eat something so unpalatable as a chihuahua.
Chihuhuas fall into the category of “little yappy dogs”… i.e., they spend much of their lives begging to be eaten by a larger animal.
“only a starving wildcat would be so desperate to force itself to eat something so unpalatable as a chihuahua”
Oh, I dunno, I think of them as tasting like tacos. . .
Comics I Don't Understand 
Cats do like to chase things, but not to canine levels of liking to chase things.
Yep. Open mouth, tongue hanging out, tail wagging. That cat is acting more like a dog than my dogs do.
On a family vacation to the Gulf coast of Florida, we met a man who had a big black cat that liked to swim in the ocean. It was truly amazing, and I’ve never seen anything else like it, neither before nor since then. Sadly, we couldn’t get a picture of it, since this was decades before the advent of waterproof cameras (or mobile phones).
Is the thing in his hand one solid object, vaguely boomerang-shaped, which he is going to fling as a whole? Or like a tennis ball resting in a large cooking spoon?
Dana,
That’s a ball thrower. Keeps your hands from getting covered in spit and allows you to throw much further.
Have you seen any of the postings and videos of Chloe the Serval? Facebook lists her as a “public figure”.
(There is a whole fandom / breeder culture about pedigree lines for serval/domestic-cat crosses, and designations for what generation of mix a given individual represents.)
Thanks, Karl. Sounds like a dog-owner product then. But appropriate enough for this guy and his cat!
@ Dana & Karl – The ones that I have seen here have a cup with tabs that are purposely dimensioned to be just right for a standard tennis ball. If you threw a (small) “dog” ball with one of those things, you could really injure somebody.
Yes, I was going to say this almost looks like a Savannah.
Tangential –
Have you seen any of the postings and videos of Chloe the Serval?
No, but I have been following the life of Leon the Lobster.
I’m still not sure what the ‘joke’ is supposed to be. A cat acting like a dog? Is that it?
@Stan: Yes, apparently that’s it. Or also the mixed reaction of the human about going along with it.
Hilarious. I can see why it was a CIDU. Well, if that’s all it takes for syndicated cartoonists these days, I can’t wait for the continuing series…a gerbil that acts like a dog…a parrot that acts like a dog…a goldfish that acts like a dog…a lobster that acts like a dog…this stuff is pure comedy gold!
One brand of ball thrower is “Chuckit.”
I can understand Stan’s objection that this panel is not a major laugh, but Bliss usually tends to go for milder sorts of humor. However, there is more to it than a simple juztaposition of two different species. The reason that this panel works (to the extent that it does) is specifically because of the traditional conflicts between dogs and cats. It would not work nearly as well with a different kind of animal as the primary subject. In addition, Bliss has done an excellent job of making that cat appear like a dog (wagging tail, tongue hanging out of its mouth), even drawing eyes that reveal an eagerness to play.
The drawing is inaccurate. When a cat wags its tail, the wagging is not confined to the tail, but continues all the way up to the cat’s hips. If that’s all the motion you’re getting from your cat, that’s not “wagging” that’s “twitching”, and it means your cat is annoyed with you.
A cat with an actual wagging tail is hunting something, and the pounce is imminent.
Purring can also occur in a number of different circumstances; indicating sometimes active contentment as we generally think of it, but also other kinds of arousal state, even including fear.
“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”
“I suppose so,” said Alice
“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”
“I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice.
“Call it what you like,” said the Cat.”
Curiouser and curiouser.
In other “famous cat” news, the mountain lion P.22 was apprehended in Los Angeles after developing a habit of eating Chihuahua dogs. Leashed ones.
German news reported today that P.22 was malnourished and injured (probably hit by a car), and that its caretakers are still deciding whether they should try to save it.
I was going to make some sort of joke about malnutrition and not much meat on Chihuahuas, but decided to refrain for reasons of sensitivity.
@ Brian (& with apologies to Andréa) – Perhaps it might be more diplomatic to point out that only a starving wildcat would be so desperate to force itself to eat something so unpalatable as a chihuahua.
Chihuhuas fall into the category of “little yappy dogs”… i.e., they spend much of their lives begging to be eaten by a larger animal.
“only a starving wildcat would be so desperate to force itself to eat something so unpalatable as a chihuahua”
Oh, I dunno, I think of them as tasting like tacos. . .