UPDATED: The Cute Little Self-Interested Pets of Neatorama

I've just really discovered Neatorama (which somehow had never really managed to hold my attention before...)

There, they have an ongoing theme about the adorable self-interestedness of pets, both cats and dogs. Indeed, this may be why I'm now so taken with them, since this past year we acquired our own self-interested cat (pictured at left). Very sweet, excellent-dispositioned, but we foster no illusions: she loves us because we know how to open the pantry.

About once a day (after breakfast even!) she goes on a long meowing jag... at which point, I ask her, "What's wrong, Isabella? What are you trying to tell me?? Did Timmy fall down the well?!" (I don't think she appreciates the sarcasm.)

But Neatorama knows what I'm talking about! Firstly, in "The Lassie Experiment: Will Fido save you in an emergency or just let you die," even Lassie's legendary reputation of poor, unfortunate (or is that just plain klutzy?) Timmy's well-saving is called to task!

"'Timmy fell down a well' is perhaps the most quoted line from the Lassie TV show. So much so that Jon Provost the actor who played Timmy titled his autobiography Timmy’s in the Well. However, although Timmy endured many calamities during the show - including falling into a lake, getting caught in quicksand, and being struck by a hit-and-run driver - he never once fell down a well."

Such disillusionment! But what if he had?? According to Neatorama's "Go Fetch Paw!"

Surely, that's unfair, you may say! What about those valiant beasts who are frequently recognized for having saved their masters' lives, like Winnie the Cat?

"A 14-year-old domestic shorthair named Winnie [pictured at right] saved the Keesling family of New Castle, Ind., in March from carbon monoxide poisoning by jumping on a bed and meowing wildly as poisonous carbon monoxide fumes filled the family’s home from a faulty gasoline-powered water pump in the basement. Winnie woke up Cathy Keesling by nuzzling her ear and caterwauling."

God forbid this should ever happen in my household, but if so, a CO-leak might just be completely coincidental, as this fantastically funny Neatorama animation so accurately demonstrates...

Then again, maybe the wonderful, all-wise and all-knowing Nicole Hollander (who, if you don't already know, is the world's singlemost knowledgeable expert on cats, along with pretty much everything else!) has it so right here and here... that the curse of these poor, misunderstood felines is to have their heroic and altruistic actions constantly horribly misinterpreted by us humans of little faith!

Either way, I'm sure our cat will take pretty good care of us... (at least until she learns how to open that pantry!)