Archive feature, first published 2015-10-14.
Anyone who shares a home with a cat knows the routine: the alarm clock with whiskers, the stolen chair, the expensive bed ignored in favour of a cardboard box. These 14 cartoons compare everyday life with and without a cat, and every cat owner will recognise at least half of them.
The strips were gathered from several artists, including the webcomic Cat Versus Human, Tom Fonder of Happy Jar, Anything Comic, Adventure Time showrunner Adam Muto and Rhymes with Orange cartoonist Hilary B. Price. Where a strip carries a signature we name the artist; a few circulate online without one. Under each cartoon you will find a short note on the real cat behaviour behind the joke, because most of these gags are funnier once you know they are true.
Mornings, meals and the cat alarm clock
The cartoon at the top sets the tone: a white cat reaches over a sleeping owner and gently prises one eye open. No phone alarm is needed when breakfast is at stake.
Here is the alarm-clock strip again, and it deserves a second look because it is so accurate. Cats are crepuscular, meaning they are naturally most active around dawn and dusk, so the hour before your alarm is prime time for them. Many cats also ask for food persistently, with meowing, rubbing, pacing or loud purring, and a face-paw is simply the most direct version.
The top row shows a person eating alone in calm silence. The rows below show the same meal with an orange cat climbing in, until the human is holding the plate above their head, eating at odd angles and finally giving up. Cats learn quickly that human food comes with attention attached, and some foods we eat are unsafe for them, which is why the plate-in-the-air move is common in real kitchens.
Signed by A. Muto in 2013, this six-panel strip shows a cat demanding food with a loud "mow mow mow," wolfing the bowl down, and immediately bringing it back up. The final "!" says it all: the cat is ready for a second helping. Eating too fast is a commonly cited reason for cats vomiting shortly after a meal, and puzzle feeders or smaller portions are common fixes; persistent vomiting is a reason to call the vet.
Sharing chairs, sofas and beds
In this Happy Jar comic by Tom Fonder, a man wakes up to a trail of destruction: kicked-out litter, a climbed curtain and a toppled plant. He is furious right up to the moment the cat curls up on his lap at the computer, and then all is forgiven. The strip captures the bargain most cat owners recognise, where mess and charm arrive in the same small body.
A Cat Versus Human strip: a woman reading on a red sofa remembers she has errands to run, but by the third panel three cats have settled on her back and legs. "I'll just do it later," she decides. Cats often choose warm, soft resting spots, and a reclining human ticks every box.
Three short scenes about living with cats. A friend points out that the cat is eating from your bowl, and the answer is "So?"; someone asks you to move the cat off the sofa, and you refuse because she's sleeping; and a promise to find foster kittens a forever home ends, years later, with a sofa full of purring adults. Animal rescuers jokingly call that last outcome a "foster fail."
"A Cat's Map of the Bed" is a single-panel gag by Hilary B. Price, whose strip Rhymes with Orange has been syndicated by King Features since 1995 and has won several National Cartoonists Society awards. The bed is divided into zones such as the grooming salon, the foot-attack zone, the meditation area, the napping quarters and a launch pad to the dresser. More than half of cats sleep 12 to 18 hours a day, so it is no surprise they need this much floor plan.
Another Cat Versus Human classic: the owner proudly presents three new beds, and the cats sniff them and then pile into a single one together. Many cats like to sleep in contact with companions they trust, and they often prefer an enclosed, familiar spot to whatever was bought for them.
Attention on their terms
Each pair of panels compares an everyday task alone and "with a cat": using the toilet with a cat on your lap, washing hands with a cat in the sink, cooking with a tail in the way, and browsing the internet with a cat blocking the monitor. Closed doors and running water are fascinating to many cats, which is why the bathroom is so rarely private.
From Anything Comic: the cat demands attention while its owner is on the toilet, playing a video game, reading the newspaper or in the bath. The moment the owner wants a cuddle, the cat scrambles to escape. Cats tend to prefer contact they start themselves, and many relax more when people let them come over rather than picking them up.
Sniff, lick, lick, lick, and then a bite. This strip shows what behaviour writers call petting-and-biting syndrome, where a cat that seemed to be enjoying attention suddenly bites and runs off. Watching for a twitching tail, flattened ears or a tense body, and keeping sessions short, usually helps avoid the "ow."
This Cat Versus Human panel compares the two great pet relationships. The dog bounds along under a rainbow declaring endless love and squirrels; the cat delivers a flat stream of mixed messages: go away, come back, I like you, no I don't, carry me. Cat owners will hear their own pet's voice in every word.
Night shifts and mysterious crimes
In this Cat Versus Human strip, the owner waves a feather toy and begs her cats to play during the day while they sleep in a row. At night, with the owner asleep, the same cats are bouncing off her face. Cats are natural predators whose activity peaks at dawn and dusk; a vigorous play session in the evening is often suggested to help them settle at night.
"The only possible explanation..." imagines why cats knock things off shelves: the cup must have insulted the cat, which takes swift revenge. In reality, swatting objects is often play, curiosity or a reliable way to get a human's attention. Fragile items are best kept away from favourite windowsills.
Why cat comics work so well
Almost every strip here uses the same structure: a human plan meets a cat with a different plan, and the cat wins. That works because the behaviours are real. Early wake-ups, stolen seats, sudden bites and nightly zoomies are things owners experience daily, so the cartoonist only needs to exaggerate a little.
They also show why people put up with it. Underneath the chaos, nearly every strip ends with the human choosing the cat over the errand, the chair or the tidy home. That is the real joke about living with a cat: you might think you own the house, but you share it on the cat's terms, and most people would not have it any other way.
Sources: Cartoons by the artists named above, collected via Bored Panda; Wikipedia: Rhymes with Orange; Wikipedia: Adam Muto; Wikipedia: Cat behavior.
More from the archive:
Related reading: Mikiko's Comics About Life With a Partner and a Cat.
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