‘Texts From Mittens’ Cat Blog Is Funny, Sad, And True

"The cat does not offer services," wrote William S. Burroughs in his 1986 autobiographical novella The Cat Inside. "The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing." This is hardly news to a cat owner. And this typical feline mien is exquisitely captured in Texts from Mittens, a series of blog posts in the grand tradition of Texts from Dog. Penned by Catster's Angie Bailey, it features a melodramatic kitty who loves squirrels, hates pups, and has an ambivalent relationship with his owner's possibly alcoholic sister.

You should read all of them. They're good for a Friday. People are getting far too serious. But here are a few of our favorite selections:

Of course, Burroughs's invocation of the cat was far graver than this. For him, cats were totems and talismans that allowed him, often painfully, to access memories past. "Not that the cats are puppets," he writes. "Far from it. They are living, breathing creatures, and when any other being is contact, it is sad: because you see the limitations, the pain and fear and the final death. That is what contact means. That is what I see when I touch a cat and find the tears flowing down my face." If only he'd met Mittens. (Catster)