Cats and Ladders!

August 27, 2011 11:01 AM

Metafilter has previously seen Cat Ladders, a picture gallery and tribute to cat ladders around the world - approximately 967 of them, in 22 countries including Turkey, the Netherlands, Brazil, and various United States. But have we watched them? (via.)

Want to make your own cat ladder? (In Swedish, but there are handy pictures!)

The blogger was interviewed by the LA Weekly, and reminds us that there is more to life than cat ladders with his hipstamatic photoblog of life around Stockholm.

And, in case your farm animals are feeling left out, you can build them a goat tower.

posted by ChuraChura (15 comments total)

Alas, not a cat on a ladder, but too good not to share.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:04 AM on August 27, 2011 [3 favorites]

Seeing stuff like this really frightens me. What if the cat got hit by a car, or someone catnapped him? Or what if he got lost, and couldn't find his way home? I can just imagine my bearbear sitting under a bush, two apartment buildings over, piteously chirping and trilling at the passing strangers as if to say "Have you seen my Cat Ladder? I'm trying to find my way home. I don't know how to catch birds and mice, all I have known for the past three years is the same three rooms." Snow begins to fall, landing on his matted coat, and he lays down again, his head between his paws. Today he was thirsty. He has been hungry so long, he doesn't even think of that any more. He is so cold, he doesn't even notice me when I walk past, lost cat poster in hand.
posted by rebent at 11:18 AM on August 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

How do the birds feel about this proliferation of cat ladders?
posted by found missing at 11:18 AM on August 27, 2011

We need to make songbirds accessible to everycat [nsfsqueamish].
posted by benzenedream at 11:21 AM on August 27, 2011

I just want to hug all the cats, but I know I can't. It makes me sad.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:27 AM on August 27, 2011 [9 favorites]

Fluffy cat butts! Going down ladders!
posted by dibblda at 11:55 AM on August 27, 2011

Some of the links to the actual videos are messed up; perhaps a mod can fix.

These are really cool though, other than that :).
posted by Juffo-Wup at 12:35 PM on August 27, 2011

I can just imagine my bearbear sitting under a bush, two apartment buildings over, piteously chirping and trilling at the passing strangers as if to say "Have you seen my Cat Ladder? I'm trying to find my way home. I don't know how to catch birds and mice, all I have known for the past three years is the same three rooms."

You should trade in your cat for a competent one.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:46 PM on August 27, 2011 [5 favorites]

My cat will have no part of this climbing nonsense. He insists that I install an elevator.
posted by orme at 1:07 PM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm trying to find my way home. I don't know how to catch birds and mice

Victoria and Disraeli, my elderly cats (they're going on thirteen), saw a mouse for the first time last night.

I can assure you that they figured out what to do real fast.

However, I predict that their response to these ladders would be something along the lines of "We are not amused."
posted by thomas j wise at 1:47 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

(Also, the "we" link appears to have been incorrectly formatted.)
posted by thomas j wise at 1:50 PM on August 27, 2011

Thanks to this post I know there is a German word for this: Katzenleiter

Say, wasn't "Rudi auf der Katzenleiter" an old waltz?
posted by krinklyfig at 4:11 PM on August 27, 2011

Drat, sorry about the video formatting issues.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:52 PM on August 27, 2011

Heavy traffic in the No Passing Zone.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:37 PM on August 27, 2011

I don't want to hate on the idea of cat ladders, and it's fun to see cats using them, but I'm strictly an indoor cat person after learning that lesson the hard way.
posted by i feel possessed at 6:17 AM on August 30, 2011