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Winged Cats?!

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  spacemonkey 
#1 ·
Have you all heard about these? I was just doing a search for a wooden cat angel I saw at a local shop, and I found this crazy article! Apparently, these kitties are real...check it out, it's pretty strange.

Article and Photos:
http://www.messybeast.com/winged-cats.htm
 
#5 ·
My comment refers to the website. Sorry if Bobbie thought I was disparaging her housekeeping!! :lol:

This is the reason:
lolakitty23 said:
Apparently, these kitties are real
This is a deceptive website, mixing fact and fiction. And the fiction is not clearly delineated. It has popped up before as the source of various bogus cat myths, such as the cabbit - half rabbit, half cat. You have to get into the article and read the fine print to realize that they're actually attempting to explain the source of the myth. For example the cabbit is just some malformed back legs on a cat. I see they've made their disclaimers more prominent. They must have had complaints. But it's still easy to get taken in. When a website mixes fact and fiction the way this one does, how can one give credibility to the factual articles if you're left wondering by the fictional?
 
#8 ·
Actually if you read the entire article posted it said that most of the cases of winged cats are actually REALLY big knotted fur clumps.
The rest (very few) are possible extra appendages. I remember a cow being born not so long ago with 2 extra legs. They were short off of the shoulderblades. It they were covered in long fur, they too might look like wings.

Jennifer
 
#9 ·
jennifer2 said:
Actually if you read the entire article
This is exactly what I mean about the website. It's like the National Enquirer: big headline Winged Cats, with some blurry B&W photos, which makes the reader think of flying cats. But then when you risk serious eye strain reading the article, you find it's something totally mundane like fur mats, skin conditions, or deformed limbs. :roll:
 
#10 ·
timskitties said:
jennifer2 said:
Actually if you read the entire article
This is exactly what I mean about the website. It's like the National Enquirer: big headline Winged Cats, with some blurry B&W photos, which makes the reader think of flying cats. But then when you risk serious eye strain reading the article, you find it's something totally mundane like fur mats, skin conditions, or deformed limbs. :roll:
I didn't think it was a strain at all. In fact, when I saw the headline, I first looked at the photos (which were great!) and then, as I'm one who relies on empiricism, went straight to the part about "what causes the wings."

I certainly hope I'm educated and jaded enough to know that the cats wouldn't have actual "wings." However, because of the documented cases and similar circumstances in other animals, as jennifer2 has attested to, it's clear that there are such abnormalities in some individuals.

This interested me because of the truth behind the myth. I'm always interested to know how myths or cliches got started. I'd not heard of the "winged cat" before this, but (as emma_pen) pointed out, other people have. And as cat lovers, now we have an explaination for those who question or are interested in the myth. :D

I think this story was much more straighforward that, as Tim suggested, one from the drug store rags. It doesn't suggest that these cats are some supernatural phenomenon or anything of the sort. It reports documented cases of the cats, tells a little about the myth behind them, but then comes right out and says that it's a "disorder" and gives you a load of info on it.

How interesting! The extra leg thing kind of freaks me out, but at least I'll be understanding of a winged cat if I ever happen upon one, rather than think it's a freak from a nuclear dump site. 8O
 
#11 ·
I got this book called "Rilpley's Believe It Or Not" and there was something in the book about "winged cats". I do believe it 50% yes and 50% no. I mean, scientists could have brought things like that to Earth. I don't know but it could have happend.

EDIT: Also, the owner who submitted those photos to the website and book could have bought a pri of plastic wings. :roll:
 
#12 ·
timskitties said:
jennifer2 said:
Actually if you read the entire article
This is exactly what I mean about the website. It's like the National Enquirer: big headline Winged Cats, with some blurry B&W photos, which makes the reader think of flying cats. But then when you risk serious eye strain reading the article, you find it's something totally mundane like fur mats, skin conditions, or deformed limbs. :roll:
It's called grabbing someone's attention, and nearly every news medium is "guilty" of it, National Enquirer notwithstanding.

How else would you get someone to read an article about cats with matted fur and skin conditions? :lol: I've seen no evidence of mixing fact and fiction, even the "cabbit" (cat/rabbit) gets discounted :roll:
 
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