CCP Goes to the Movies

We reviewed the film Cat Rescuers a while ago on the blog. But what other cat movies are out there? We’ve put together this roundup of cat documentaries to watch with your furry companions.

Paw Project

If you haven’t yet seen the Paw Project documentary from 2013, we definitely recommend it. We interviewed Dr. Jennifer Conrad on the podcast in 2020 to talk about the work she’s doing to end declawing. The documentary is a great place to start if you don’t know much about declawing. It is emotional and at times can be hard to watch, but the topic is so important, as we see the horrifying effects of declawing on cats big and small, and hear about vets who still recommend and carry out the procedure.

You can rent the movie on Amazon.

Wonderful World of Cats: Cat Wars from History Channel

This was an amusing little documentary. It follows several groups of people in Britain, some of whom are annoyed by community cats and even their neighbors’ cats that roam freely, and some of whom are fierce advocates for their cats and the community cats. No one does disgruntled quite as well as Brits mad about cats pooping in their gardens! Luckily solutions like non-lethal cat deterrents for gardens and TNR help everyone live in harmony. I always love seeing the differences in opinion regarding cats in different countries. For instance, the British seem more likely to let their cats wander outside, something that is discouraged in many places in the US.

You can watch the movie on YouTube.

The Lion in Your Living Room

The Lion in Your Living Room (which is not related, as far as I can tell, to the book The Lion in the Living Room) is a documentary that explores cat history, behavior, and evolution. They speak to different experts who explain how cats always land on their feet, how they can fit into tight spaces, how they domesticated themselves alongside us, the physics of the cat’s tongue, the latest genetic research, and more.

You can watch the movie on Amazon Prime.

Kedi

This is a charming, beautifully shot little documentary. The movie looks at the street cats of Istanbul, structured as little vignettes about the daily lives of people alongside cats. I mentioned above that I like to see how attitudes about cats differ around the world; in Istanbul it seems that cats aren’t viewed as pets necessarily, or as something that people own. They are more seen as just another inhabitant of Istanbul. The people don’t seem to believe in trying to keep cats indoors or trying to contain their wildness. I loved the sense of community between the humans and the cats as they coexisted together peacefully. The people loved and cared for the cats, and knew that the problems facing the people in the city are the same ones facing the cats. For advocates of TNR, which I know many of our readers are, the documentary might be a little stressful, however, in that spay and neuter doesn’t seem to be a priority.

You can rent this movie on Amazon.

#Cats_the_Mew-vie

#Cats_the_Mew-vie is a fascinating look at how cats took over the internet, more or less from the time of its inception. There are many familiar faces in the documentary, from Instagram cat influencers and celebrity cats to cat rescuers. I thought it was interesting to see how each of these pet parents chose to use their cat’s internet fame differently, for instance to promote cat rescue, like Hannah Shaw (The Kitten Lady) does, or to support the rescue of disabled cats, like Lil Bub’s human does. Though the documentary is pretty recent (2020), it doesn’t touch on TikTok, which I think will be the next avenue of cat internet domination.

You can watch this movie on Netflix.

Kitty Love: An Homage to Cats

I didn’t really feel like this documentary knew what it wanted to be. Half of it is about Abatutu, the most famous cat in the Netherlands and how he became an actor, appearing in commercials, photo shoots, movies, TV shows, and even stage productions. The other half of the movie is basically a collection of funny cat videos. I did really enjoy learning about Abatutu and his rise to fame in the Netherlands, but with YouTube, I can watch funny cat videos whenever I want, so I didn’t necessarily need those to be in the documentary as well.

You can watch this movie on Netflix.

Cat Heaven Island

Cat Heaven Island is a documentary about Tashirojima, an island in Japan where between 50 and 60 elderly people live with hundreds of cats. It was a sweet story—a little sad, but also hopeful—about the way of life in this little fishing village slipping away. After a bad earthquake and tsunami, the island is working on rebuilding and trying to become a place young people want to move to and tourists want to visit. The documentary wasn’t so much about the cats as about the whole community together. Just like Kedi, this documentary might stress out TNR advocates. There’s no vet on the island, but one visits occasionally to vaccinate and do checkups on the cats.

You can watch this movie on Amazon Prime.

Are there other cat documentaries you’ve enjoyed? Let us know about them on our Facebook page!