Have you pet a black cat today?
Friday’s here again, and much to the dismay (or perhaps delight) of my shelf critters, they 
will once again have to take a back seat to another piece of inspired inspiration that was sent to me for Season Three of Prompt the Squirrel! The response so far has been…… well, underwhelming to say the least. Only enough prompts to make it through May 19th!?!? That won’t do. Please, please, PLEASE… if you aren’t on this list of those who have done their part in making The Nest a happier place, then you need to go here right now and just type in the first thing to come to your mind in the contact form! Everyone gets a chance to play, and your prompt doesn’t need to be anything fancy or earth shattering. It’s that easy! The only one who should have to strain their brain for this exercise is me…
Aw, damn! I’m gonna have to look stuff up and plagiarize again!
This week’s prompt was part of a grab bag of suggestions sent to me by Juliette, aka The Vampire Maman. You may know her as the most recent winner of The Nest’s world famous Contest of Whatever. Given Devo’s dreaded freedom of choice, I picked this little nugget to serve as today’s PTS inspiration…
More cute black kitty photos. They are so precious.
Really, aren’t they?
Awwwwwwww….
But since I worked hard to earn my artistic license, I’m going to expand on this prompt and dedicate this post to black cats in general, and the horrible predicament they’ve found themselves in due to the old world science of superstition. Granted, that idea of ebony felines being bad luck is part of what drew me to them in the first place given my love for the similarly misunderstood number thirteen. While Ody may get more of the face time here due to him being more readily available to photograph, I would still assume most of my readers are aware of the existence of my black cat Biskit. That’s him licking what’s left of his balls in the above photo.
You make a cat not want to show his face around here…
Biskit replaced the black cat void in my life when Ody’s real brother Spilly passed away six years ago. If only Spilly had been around when The Nest was up and running, him and his unique personality would have been the undisputed star of my blog…
You go with your bad self, Spilly…
My youngest sister is as fucked up as I am, and also has a black cat of her own… the wild beast I like to call Panther. Go ahead and say hi to him here!
Please keep your fingers inside the ride at all times…
I wish I had a photo of Tinkerbell, the black cat I found near the river on a family fishing trip when I was a kid which we brought home and adopted. He was my first black cat love.
He, he, he…. why are all of the black cats I’ve known personally toms? Well, it’s largely a product of coincidence and small sample size, but apparently it’s not all luck (ha!). Solid black pigmentation in cats slightly favors males over females… so there are more black cat dudes than black cat chicks. Just the opposite of the fabled Surf City…
Which would explain the high homosexuality rate in….. no, I’m just kidding. But I think this photo is cute.
It is well known that the black cat has long been framed as an agent of witches, spreading the evil work of Satan via walking in front of poor, unsuspecting people who are about to meet a Buster-like bad end. Just like half the population of Salem in 1692, black cats were regularly rounded up throughout history and burned or sacrificed for no reason other than the color of their fur. To this day, there is enough fear among animal lovers for the safety of black cats that many pet adoption agencies will refuse to part with one around Halloween.
No need to hide, Biskit. The only thing that gets carved up on Halloween around here is the pumpkin…
It’s not as well known that some civilizations and cultures actually did consider a black cat to be good luck. Cats served a vital role on ships throughout history to help control the rat population and to eat the captain’s parrot when it’s backtalk got to be too much for the crew to stand. Sailors seemed to prefer to have a black cat aboard since they were viewed as a sign of good luck and often looked prettier when surrounded by St. Elmo’s Fire. The ancient Egyptians were also very kind to black cats, and believed that owning a black cat would rate them favorably with their cat goddess Bastet, who was often portrayed with ebony fur herself…
Meow.
In the early days of my blog, long before anybody except the search engine spiders bothered to read this virtual waste of space, I lamented how black cats were almost universally absent from pop culture outside of references to the occult or Halloween. How often do you see black cats in advertising? In movies or television shows that don’t feature witches? Seen any good memes of onyx felines without some lame mention of Basement Cat? What in the fuck is up with this? Why do black cats seem to purposefully be kept out of the spotlight like ugly children are? Who decided that the only way black cats should ever be shown is as the harbingers of evil?
Go ahead, bitch! Make my day!
The Wiki article on black cats that I’ve based much of this post on today provides a chilling and extremely ironic explanation given the prompt that started this whole rambling essay in the first place…
In 2014, the RSPCA reported that 70% of the abandoned cats in its care were black, suggesting a possible reason was that people considered black cats “un-photogenic”.
Un-photogenic!?!?!?!?
You’re making Spilly very angry!
This may be the biggest outrage of all against these beautiful critters. I’m no expert on fashion, but I do believe black goes with every other color and stands out quite well among almost any background. And what vain, elitist type of prick would consider aesthetics when determining the value of an animal!?!? Just another bunch of bullshit to pass off an excuse by those who still believe in sorcerers and Freddy Krueger. Besides, when was the last time you heard someone say a black lab wasn’t photogenic?
Dog slobber always looks good in pictures.
If, like me, you believe it’s time to show a little extra love to our dark furred feline companions… then you may want to mark August 17th on your calendar because that day has become Black Cat Appreciation Day in the US! Yeah, who knew there was an actual holiday in the month of August to celebrate and take time off work for? If you already have a black kitty of your own, give them some extra scritches, treats, or a roll of toilet paper to play around with. If you’re looking to adopt some pussy, give a black cat a break and welcome it into your home! If you’re allergic to cats, well, then gesundheit. And if you hate cats, what in the fuck are you reading a post like this all the way to the end for in the first place?
Double black cats! BI-WINNING! (Panther, right… Spilly, left)
Thanks to Juliette for letting me celebrate one of the more misunderstood animals that inhabits our earthly zoo. I’ll feature another lucky prompt from my readers that crossed my path next Friday…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I am sure I already contributed to your Prompt the Squirrel – but it must have vanished in the digital Neverlands …
That happened to someone else as well, and I’m not sure why. You can give me your prompt in the comments if it doesn’t seem to be working…
I have just tried again – though I am not sure it was THIS – now you have a one word prompt. An ambiguous one.
If this does not work, again, let me know
It didn’t. I just sent myself a test message via the contact form and it showed up instantly. Not sure why it doesn’t seem to be working for a few people (Pam tried twice without success as well). Just leave it in the comments either here or on that post…
OK, here it is – one word many meanings, to trigger your creativity: NUTS
ody & biskit….black catz rock……plane & simpull…..all wayz haz….all wayz will….grate post two day….N we thinked we missed de prompt post…can we submitt:
whooz de better band…..yur dad pickz two…then watch de fitez begin ! happee fry day guyz !! ♥♥☺
Prompt accepted! Thank you…
Black being an evil color is definitely western and very European. I don’t even know where it comes from, but it was pre-Christian and then twisted by Christianity later. In the far east, the wedding dress is BLACK and white is for funerals.
I wear black all the time, have had MANY black cats and now own two entirely black dogs. Garry says the whole thing is racist and he may actually be right, this time.
I am on your list, but if I think of something else, I’ll add it. I have been going through one of those mentally blank periods when nothing original pops up in my mind. I may be overdosing on political crap or maybe I just need a week in the mountains.
Regardless, I am very empty-headed now. Hopefully, I’ll get over it.
A week in the mountains would do a lot of people some good. You’re good on the prompt, though, so you can freely direct your thoughts elsewhere…
I see a red cat and I wanna….paint it black.
I love all cats, regardless of color.
Mick was stoned when he saw that red cat…
I think he was tripping on acid. Something that I have never, nor will I ever, do.
I wasn’t here for the first two PTS but it’s a fun idea. I sent in a prompt! 🙂
Thank you! Everyone is invited to play along…
Awwwwww they’re all so cute. Give them hugs and kisses from me. One of the finest cats I have ever known was my black cat Bart (Aloysius Bartholomew Cat, with the monogram ABC, which can also stand for A Black Cat). I found him as a 3 week old stray. He went everywhere with me. Bart could convert the most ardent cat hater into a cat lover. He was THAT GOOD. Bart has been gone for 20 years but he still is one of the great loves of my life. I’m also proud that my nephew adopted two black cats. The folks at the shelter said it is difficult to find homes for black cats so there are always free black cat adoption days. I don’t think I have ever met a black cat I didn’t like. Thanks for the post. Black cats ROCK!
I had a chance at adopting two black cats when I picked Ody and Spilly out, but didn’t like the idea of having two cats who looked the same since I am so terrible at recognition. Spilly’s black sister did get picked up by someone else later on, though…
Thank you for the reblog, and thank you for the great idea!
Reblogged this on West Coast Review and commented:
Black cats! You gotta love em.
Awww times ten. They’re so cute – and thanks for the puppy!
While the puppy isn’t mine, we did have a black lab when I was a kid and I think he was my favorite dog. You can’t beat black fur for shiny sleekness…
Black cats certainly get a bad rep, the cute little furballs that they are. I love seeing two little bright eyes peering out from a mass of jet-black fur.
Bright yellow glowing eyes peeking out from a black mass…… yes, and better hope it;s actually a cat!!!
Black Cats are beautiful… and you wrote the funniest tribute of all, that’s for sure :o)
Love black cats……very panther-ish and sleek….shiny…..but they do have a bad rep which is desperately sad. The shelter here has a number of black cats who have languished there for a long while like they do in most shelters. Anyway, HERE’S TO BLACK because it truly is beautiful. As for the contact form from **** (!) I’m glad it wasn’t only picking on me! My prompt was and still is “weird sleeping positions” so consider yourself CONTACTED!!
Pam
Don’t worry, I have yours down and will not forget it! In fact, I’ll even sleep on it….
In some strange position no doubt…….
Black cats look so mysterious, black dogs look like goofs. I like both, but appreciate your emphasis on the mysterious here. Another great prompt here.
I think a lot of dogs look like goofs, because dogs seem so laid back and fun loving while cats always seem so serious about everything. I am a dog person stuck in a cat world…
I’m a cat person stuck in a dogs world! AAAAaaaChoo! as long as they are hypoallergenic like my old guy! This was a funny post Bill! I sent my idea in! 🙂 Oh, orange cats are predominantly Tom’s also! 😉
I love black cats. They’re so beautiful. I didn’t know that they were most often male. We had a pure black female cat but the evil brothers Trouble and Scooby chased her away and she moved in with a little girl that lived down the street.
Apparently male cats are more likely to pick up the genes for black pigmentation, though the gender ratio for black cats isn’t that stark… I’m thinking what I read said it was like 55/45 male to female. Ody and Spilly had a black sister in their litter that did not make my cut thanks to Spilly “choosing me”…
I’d originally wanted to get a black cat when I ended up getting my moggy, but I couldn’t take her in time so ended up with a white and tabby creature instead. If I get a chance to have a cat again, I’m definitely going for a black one.
Pingback: Black Cats Matter — Evil Squirrel’s Nest – General Store/Two Old Guys http://www.Store-2-old-guys.com
Great post and scary for black cats! They do still cause me to pause when I see them. I wrote about the antics of my little tabby here: https://playinwiththeplayers.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/little-saw-tooth-🐾/
In case you would like to read. She was quite the cat!