The craziest cat lady that ever did cat

Above is a clip from Animal Planet's Cats 101 that I caught this weekend. The segment was on Persians, but in this case the humans stole the show. The woman above shaves Persians and then spins their hair into yarn (!) with which she then makes handbags (!!!). This is awesome enough as a concept and as a way to ensure the passage into eccentric old-ladyhood, but the shit that's said in this scene is priceless. It's on par with King of Kong as far as the Christopher Guest-esque seriousness in the face of absurd circumstance goes. It's like a reflexive mockumentary. If I didn't see it with my own eyes and burn it with my own hands, I'd swear this was a joke. Just a few of my favorite lines from a jam-packed two-and-a-half minutes:

"When a Persian comes in the door, that's when my heart skips a beat."

"It seems like there's something you should be able to make out of [cat hair]!"

"She had no words to express how she felt about it. She was in tears over it." (on a Persian owner being presented with a bag made from her cat's hair -- I can't help if those tears were from laughter?)

"This bag means the world to me because once the time comes to have Charlie put to sleep, I will always have a little piece of him left behind."

I love that the last woman is just certain that she's going to get her cat put to sleep. She's almost excited about it. I think she's probably gunning for a hat to match her bag.

Comments

[Karen]

It's cool.

[Parker]

I just happened to see this too with family and that's exactly what I thought when I heard the shop owner claim her customer had no words but tears when she saw the cat fur product.

[Sarah]

I'm with maria. Those bags are all kinds of ugly. I would maybe understand it if they were cute, but they just look horrible.

[anne]

Seriously Rich next summer when you do the ritual Winston shave you should send the clippings to this woman and make a scarf, and like auction it off for charity. I am dead serious, you could make serious coin on that.

[meme]

the guy at 1:55 kind of looks like you... when i squint

[Mardi]

Okay, first of all I agree that if those bags were even remotely cute, that I might consider getting one - but they are soooo ugly. I consider myself a crazy cat lady, after all, but not THAT crazy.

Second, I wonder if clothing made of Persian fur would be warm and comfy - as many have assumed - of if it would just be scratchy and uncomfortable? A "hair shirt" is a tortuously uncomfortable garment that was woven from hair and I believe was worn as a form of punishment... but Persians have fur, not hair, so I just wonder.

[Karen]

My sister knits and she'll take your dog's hair, spin it into yarn and knit it into a little stuffed animal that looks just like your dog.

[Genevieve]

Oh oh, I'm one of those awe people. I love it! I get 3 of my cats shaved every year during the summer cause of their long hair. I want a bag! I love this, I can't help it, I'm totally a crazy cat lady.

[Katie]

I watched this with my friend and I just kept thinking, "I hope Rich sees this"

[Emily]

Hehehe...I was listening to music as I started that video clip, and the opening of "Don't Lose Your Head" (specifically the Leadstation Solid Gold remix) by INXS came on. It added a delightfully absurd tone--even more so than just the clip itself--and I highly recommend its use in any future Winston videos. Just sayin'.

[Erin]

I visited a sled dog camp once and one of the workers there makes yarn out of the fur when they shave them in the summer and knits hats and scarves. The dog fur hat I got there is the warmest thing I own! I think it's a pretty neat thing to do as long as the fur is well cleaned

[Cote]

How did I miss this? I have no life and surely couldn't have been watching anything more entertaining then this on Sat night!

I don't think it's odd at all, but I agree the bags are hideous. I'm still trying to figure out why the lady who said, "This bag means the world to me because once the time comes to have Charlie put to sleep, I will always have a little piece of him left behind", only got that tiny little bag out of that huge fuzz ball on her lap.

[Esther]

Considering Winston's huge popularity, I don't see why you shouldn't pick up the idea, as he's shaved regularly anyway.
Lots of people would treasure some Winston merchandise, like

Winston socks
Winston scarf
Winston mittens

Too bad Rudy can't get in on this. The disadvantage of being a shorthair tsk tsk

[Carly]

I saw this when it was on Cats101 and I IMMEDIATELY thought of you. I'm glad to see you caught it!

[Dandy Darkly]

King of Kong ROCKS you hard like a cat-hair handbag!!!!!

[kat]

Is it weird that I started collecting fur from my roommate's Ragdoll to spin into yarn? His hair got in everything I knit, wore, or ate anyway. I never did collect enough to do anything with it though. Shaving him would have been faster.

[Miss Lisa]

During these tough economic times our pets SHOULD be put to work. I once dreamt my cat had a job at Walgreens, but he just stared at the customers when they asked for his help. Had I known he could have provided the world with handbags, I would have hastened that career move.

[anne]

When they said "Then we give the cat a blow-dry...", I was sure they were going to say "Then we give the cat a blow job..."

[Kelly]

I can't believe that nowhere during the video, the blog, or the comments no one made a hairball joke! that's all I could think..."what if it gets wet, then wouldn't be like a big ole nasty hairball?"
Maybe someone else can market something made out of those. Ya know, like that elephant poo paper? Look it up, I'm serious. I think they make reindeer poo paper too.

[Haystacks]

There are no words.

[Dena]

The horrified look on the cat's face at about 1:08 says it all.

[Sarah F.]

Yes!!! The cat being blow-dried was hilarious! Plus, I love that apparatus she has to do the job: it's not so much a blow-dryer as it is a wind tunnel. Their eyes must be so dried out when they emerge from there! I wonder how long it takes to dry a cat (especially one as fluffy as a persian).

I also loved the look on the face of the cat who was being shaved. That cat looked so humiliated; somehow it's tiny face conveyed a hatred toward the woman for doing the shaving, and anger toward the photographer for recording the event.

I think since you made "Team Rudy" and "Team Winston" tee shirts, the least you could do is market some matching wristbands. Keep that in mind as you shave Winston at the start of summer.

[DeDe]

I've been trying to come up with a proper pun involving catbags. But I just can't. So let me just say CATBAG CATBAG CATBAG CATBAG CATBAG!!

That is all.

[vagabondblogger]

Wow! I don't know how I feel about bags made of cat hair. It's just too weird. Thanks for focusing on this show. I plan to watch the segment on Egyptian Maus - I'm back in the States for the holidays & missing the ferals I feed.

[Jess]

These crazy cat ladies make us regular cat ladies look crazy as well. I HATE YOU, ANIMAL PLANET.