If you’ve ever LOL’d at the Cheezeburger fiending felines on the interwebs, and
suspect there’s something more to be said about our furry friends,
tune into the CBC main network at 9 PM this Thursday night to catch
this brand new doc. At this time of year, well-meaning pet owners are discovering they aren’t as up to kitty parenting as they thought when they gave that adorable, fluffy ball of love as a Christmas present. The result? The already disturbing feral cat population booms. Tune in to learn more about the problem and explore our society’s fascination with the meows.

Why make a documentary on cats?
Maureen: Good question to ask a dog person! A couple years ago while
making (2008 CBC doc) “How to Divorce and Not Wreck the Kids” someone
called us, liked the film, and suggested we investigate cat population.
I’d never really thought about it. After that I started seeing cats everywhere. In the streets,
under cars, in the woods, behind Sikh temples! So I realized that we
do have a cat problem.

What exactly is the cat crisis, and how do well meaning humans contribute to it?
Maureen: The cat overpopulation crisis is that we have 50 million to
100 million stray abandoned feral cats living outside in North
America. This problem exists for a variety of reasons – for one, no
one wants to euthanize cats in shelters at the end of the day. Who
would? That’s brutal! From 11 PM to 7 or 8 AM, tons of well meaning cat
owners let their cats out for the night. They are having a lot more
babies; the average cat can have 3 litters per year if not fixed. Some
people at the Humane society have told me that if 2 cats are not
spayed or neutered, they could have 420 000 kittens in one year. That’s
why we’ve got a cat problem. So a lot of people have become feral
colony cat care givers. When I was in Las Vegas filming on the strip
around all theses high rise hotels, the women hotel employees would
look after the feral cats around the hotels. Also, in the past 10 – 20
years, probably due to global warming, we have very few songbirds.
They have dropped in population, and we may gave endangered them. When
they nest beside feral cat colonies, you have war. Some people are
getting quite nasty and taking the problem in their own hands – using
sling shots, or more serious things like shot guns and poison. The
bottom line is, we’ve got way too many irresponsible pet owners. People
don’t think very much of abandoning, or killing, a cat.

Is this a doc for cat lovers?
Maureen: I think it is a doc for cat lovers, because it’s a
celebration of all things cat, and the goal of the doc is to help
create a world where all cats are loved and none are abandoned. We
have to make them more valued; we have to get into a world where
people recognize we don’t have song birds anymore. We have to neuter
our cats and keep them inside, and keep them happy inside. It’s not
great that cats can’t get out and have fun anymore but the reality is
they need to be able to be inside and be entertained. We do tremendous
things to entertain our dogs, but none of this happens for our cats.
The average indoor cat lives 13 – 15 years, the average outdoor cat
lives 3 – 5.

Why do you think our society is so fascinated with cats?
Maureen: I have a couple different reasons on why I think people are
obsessed. For women, cats are like babies. You can hold and cuddle
them like babies; they have cute little faces, like dolls. If you are
a person who wants a pet who doesn’t require a lot of work, you can
have a low maintenance pet in a cat. You can leave the house for a
while, since they are not as much work as dogs. There’s also this idea
that they are ancient primal hunters we need to pay homage to. There’s
something aloof about the cat unlike a dog who will jump all over you
giving you love. You know your classy elegant friend you try to
impress? The cat is like that. We work hard to make them like us. You
know when you feel an inferiority complex? Our obsession with cats is
for a variety of reasons, and they are endless fun to watch. When I
last counted there were over a hundred million cat related videos on
Youtube. It’s a lot to do with demographic, we have an aging
population. When the kids leave home, we have the largest population
in history of people living single lives. Single
people own pets.

Check out the trailer for Cat Crazed at bountifulfilms.ca.

~ Kait Fowlie