Word: cats
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...10th century, cats were established as mousers. The Welsh defined the legal worth of cats: a seasoned mouser, astonishingly enough, brought four pennies, about the worth of a lamb. By the 17th century, however, the devil, unwelcome and omnipresent, had been doing his worst through the feline. In 1699, for instance, at the Swedish town of Mora, 300 children were accused of employing demon cats to steal butter, cheese and bacon. Fifteen of the children were killed, and every Sunday for a year, 36 were whipped before the church doors. By the mid-18th century, the cat was back...
Nowadays Americans lavish little art but elaborate care on their cats. It may have been a technological breakthrough that made cat tending less onerous and fueled all this attention. Explains one close observer of the animal universe, Boston Veterinarian Jean Holzworth: "When you talk about convenience, the advent of cat litter is comparable to the invention of the electric light bulb." Litter boxes are now big-selling staples in pet stores. They cost from $2.50 to $34.95. Some of them are kick-proof and odor-proof. The latest behavior-modification device is Kitty Whiz, a potty trainer that purportedly teaches...
...feeding of finicky felines, an age-old agony for owners, has its own sophisticated new hardware. A gravity feeder-available with cute cat graphics-supplies fresh vittles for a feline left alone for a weekend. There is a timed feeder that mechanically portions out the chow. An enclosed bowl called Step 'n Dine encourages precocious felines to step on a pedal to get at the kibble. For cats who accompany their owners, there are carrying cases that cost as much as $420 for Louis Vuitton versions, and for $33.98, a caring cat owner may invest in a tiny, burglar...
...cats bask in such luxury. Every city, village and farm county has its share of strays and their drifting human equivalent: the cat woman or cat man. On the streets of San Francisco or Chicago or New Orleans or Podunk, loners in torn raincoats carry shopping bags full of cat food to provide for an estimated 15 million "public" cats, on the possibly erroneous assumption that these adaptive animals cannot fend for themselves. Occasionally, however, some bummed-out cats find safe havens...
...helper is Conrad Milster, 45, chief engineer of Pratt Institute, a school of arts, engineering and science in Brooklyn. Milster and his wife Phyllis care for, they believe, 40 orphan cats. The number keeps changing, but always the house seethes with prowling felines. They have taken over couches, chairs, beds, sinks and tubs. They perch on the stairway, roost on the bookcase, snooze in the laundry basket. They also occupy the dining room table, and the childless Milsters no longer eat there. Litter pans crowd the walls, the halls and the corners. Food and water bowls...