# Dead cats **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118 "2003-09-02T13:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aubries](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aubries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aubries)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/1 "2003-09-02T13:12:47Z")
I have heard that those cutsie posters with a kitten hanging from a tree branch over a caption that says “hang in there” or “I hate Mondays” or something equally inane were actually created using a dead cat nailed to the branch. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Urban legend? Ghastly truth? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/2 "2003-09-02T13:19:42Z")
The cat was not exactly _dead_, mind you. That is, it was not a little kitty corpse. Taxidermy is the answer. An untreated dead cat would get rarther ripe very quickly under studio lights, and it would have been impossible to keep its fur looking all cute and fluffy. And it wasn’t _nailed_ exactly. Double-sticky tape works better. And it was only part of a tree, which may have been painted styrofoam. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/3 "2003-09-02T13:30:50Z")
Well, the stuffed cat hanging from a tree branch was NOTHING compared to the embalmed baby with spaghetti on its head. Fortunately, the advances in corpse under hot lights technology were finally perfected with the “monkey in the ice hole” photo. Not only was the monkey really dead, and stuffed, it was actually a dead, stuffed human dwarf in a carefully crafted fur costume. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/4 "2003-09-02T13:33:35Z")
**DrFidelius** , could I ask you for a citation on that one; not that what you are saying is impossible or even inconcievable, I just want to know whether it really is a fact. Seems to me that you might get one or two such photos per dozen rolls of film if you just keep repositioning the same live kitten and shooting with a fast motor advance. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/5 "2003-09-02T13:37:38Z")
Or am I being whooshed here? ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/6 "2003-09-02T15:05:09Z")
This is funny. I applaud whoever came up with the idea. But if you can’t tell the difference between a live cat and a dead cat, I’m worried. Taxidermy isn’t that good, and these posters predate the widespread use of PhotoShop. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/7 "2003-09-02T16:24:27Z")
Simple test - search on Google Images for “stuffed pussy”. Ah, on second thoughts… Hey, you can hardly tell the [difference](http://www.kathyskreations.com/stuffed%20animals%20exhibits/stuffed%20animals%20domestic/stuffed%20animals%20cats/stuffed%20animals%20cats%20-%20gray%20cat%20-%20yellow%20eyes%202.JPG). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/8 "2003-09-02T17:02:38Z")
Contrary to what H. Ross Perot may think, that great wooshing sound we hear is NOT the sound of jobs being sucked down to Mexico… 😉 Barry ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/9 "2003-09-02T17:26:47Z")
Pfffffft. Just go out and get a kitten. Keep it around the house, feed it, play with it, and keep a camera handy. I guarantee you any number of amazing photographic moments as that kitten goes around hunting for trouble to get into. Particularly if you have more than one kitten. There is no need for dead stuffed poseable ones. Believe me, the live ones are more than capable of all kinds of silliness by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/10 "2003-09-02T19:33:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > [BThere is no need for dead stuffed poseable ones. Believe me, the live ones are more than capable of all kinds of silliness by themselves. \*\* It’s like the occasional stories of ethnic restaurants using cats or dogs instead of chicken in their cooking - _Right!_ which is easier, chasing angry moggies or mutts in the dead of night, skinning, gutting and butchering said pets - or paying a small amount to have someone deliver the real thing to your door :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/11 "2003-09-02T19:36:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by godzillatemple \* > \*\*Contrary to what H. Ross Perot may think, that great wooshing sound we hear is NOT the sound of jobs being sucked down to Mexico… > > 😉 > > Barry \*\* No, that’s more of a _gurgle_ _gurgle_ sound. It is my considered opinion that the cat in the poster is very much alive. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/12 "2003-09-02T19:59:00Z")
Consider also the hook-like nature of young kitten’s claws - I’ve seen young cats get themselves hung up in positions like that and stay there not because they were frightened of falling, but because they simply couldn’t release themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cats/199118/13 "2003-09-03T00:55:58Z")
Heh heh heh. As a rule, when faced with a question like this, I ask which is the less expensive alternative. In this case, although I have not been pricing stuffed kittens lately (we have gone for a more seafood restaurant decor lately and a deceased tabbie would clash with the plastic fishies) I must assume that borrowing a kitten and having it hang from a branch in your studio while you shoot a roll or two of film must be more cost efficient than having someone preserve a cat. That being said, the particular kitten I have seen in the posters (the marmalade one) is probably dead by now, or is rapidly approaching its mid-thirties.