Forget Footballs And SnowFall Totals: Let’s Focus On KITTENS!

Ok, I’m really tired of hearing about footballs, there’s a major blizzard bearing down on my corner of the world, and spring is still waaay to far off. We need to forget all this misery and focus… focus on something good. something that will have us smiling – kittens. Always cute, always cuddly and about to be featured as an essential part of one of the most watched competition of the year.

I’m talking (of course) about the Kitten Bowl.

Even if you aren’t a “cat person” you can probably understand why we all go crazy over kittens. They’re soft, helpless fully inflated balls of fluff that aren’t all that coordinated. What’s more, their mother’s teach them all they need to know to take care of themselves, no human intervention needed. They may come with a bit of attitude, but really all they ask is what any pet is due, food, shelter and love that doesn’t change after a move or new baby.

Turns out, the internet loves kittens too, though this came as a surprise to the man (no, not Al Gore) Sir Tim Berners-Lee who first proposed the idea of an information highway 25 years ago. Back then, he didn’t think kittens, cute and compelling as they are, would end up being one of the uses of his amazing invention. Yet kittens are now internet superstars and cat people everywhere are thrilled.

An entertaining cat centered ad campaign I’ve just come across (though the ads started running in June 2014) comes as close to anything I’ve seen to showing how an older cat might interact with a new kitten in the house. My own cat has more of an aristocratic British accent and is a bit snarkier in terms of keeping the kitten in its place, but the idea is there. The advertiser of the cat food has discovered internet gold… cat videos on the internet, especially featuring the antics of the kitten, are a real thing in our digital age.

Here’s my favorite of the Dear Kitten ads, one you might see during that other big game:

Another great option when looking for a dose of cuteness is Animal Planet’s Too Cute! series. Each episode focuses on a few litters, telling their story, giving the little ones names… I always end up stopping whatever I’m doing to watch these shows when I come across them during those (rare) moments of clicker control. The only downside to watching is that I usually (okay always) end up wanting to adopt one member of every litter. Even the puppies.

Which is why I’m never allowed to “look” at kittens – in my case looking = owning.