Be Happy for a Few Seconds

August 28, 2015 2:57 PM

Watch a Baby Lose Its Mind Because It Loves a Cat Too Much (here is a direct link to the video if you'd prefer)
posted by davidjmcgee (49 comments total)

Cat ambivalent about baby.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:59 PM on August 28, 2015 [42 favorites]

News At 11
posted by davidjmcgee at 3:00 PM on August 28, 2015

Awww, that's so -- wait, is that a pillowcase with a zipper in it? Is that a thing, for babies?
posted by Countess Elena at 3:00 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]

> is that a pillowcase with a zipper in it? Is that a thing, for babies?

No, it's just that the baby was trying to put a duvet in the duvet cover, and ended up evolving into a starfish, just like the rest of us do.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:01 PM on August 28, 2015 [129 favorites]

I liked the part where the cat did not give 1/10000th of a shit about the child.
posted by Aizkolari at 3:05 PM on August 28, 2015 [20 favorites]

Awww, that's so -- wait, is that a pillowcase with a zipper in it? Is that a thing, for babies?

Sleep sacks. In lieu of blankets. Safer in terms of SIDS. For younger babies, their hands and arms are also contained in them, for a swaddling-like effect. (My 9 month old has her arms free so she's like a little pillowcase mermaid)
posted by olinerd at 3:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [18 favorites]

Watching that brought back the memory of the time as a kid I went to put my cat down on my mom who was lying on the couch and the cat swiped, hard, at her and drew blood. The first time I remember really hurting someone without meaning to. So anyway I'm glad this baby isn't bleeding.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:11 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

That is a "sleep sack" and they are great for beings who a. need to stay warm b. have no ability to keep a blanket on or might smother themselves in one and c. wear diapers that need changing.

It's basically a baby Snuggie.

Overall, though I would recommend not putting a cat next to a baby, because cats do freak out and claw things sometimes. Though that cat was chill, unlike every cat I've ever owned.
posted by emjaybee at 3:12 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also my kid FREAKS OUT when the dog chases toys we throw for her. Even better if we fake the dog out and she makes abrupt exaggerated movements in wrong directions. Uproarious baby giggles. Babies just think animals are amazing. We're pretty sure she's going to be saying the dog's name before she gets around to mama and dada.

The dog, meanwhile, is generally ambivalent about the baby, unless it is baby mealtime, in which case she sits loyally at the foot of the high chair awaiting the many treats from on high, or until the baby's newly discovered locomotion menaces the dog's nap, in which case the baby is a puppy who does not know her place. My dog is kind of a bitch.
posted by olinerd at 3:16 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]

Look, in fairness, I'm a grown-ass man, and I react much the same to cats.
posted by SansPoint at 3:18 PM on August 28, 2015 [81 favorites]

Apparently I just used to suck on the end of our cat's tail. A lot. Like the end of the tail was perpetually pointy and wet.

The cat was fine with this. Weird cat.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:18 PM on August 28, 2015 [16 favorites]

This video is me irl
posted by en forme de poire at 3:18 PM on August 28, 2015 [15 favorites]

I act that way around cats in public.

Me, last night

"Running late because there is an orange and white kitty on the sidewalk and we are buddies now."
posted by louche mustachio at 3:21 PM on August 28, 2015 [40 favorites]

So that's what "You're a Kitty!" in Babyese sounds like.
posted by longdaysjourney at 3:30 PM on August 28, 2015 [9 favorites]

The viral cycle will only be complete once we have videoed cats' reactions to eating a lemon for the first time.
posted by not_on_display at 3:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [16 favorites]

My daughter's first word was "Meow!"

Not because she is a cat, mind you.
posted by cooker girl at 3:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [7 favorites]

Babies just think animals are amazing.

Animals are amazing, we're just jaded because we see them so often. The baby's reaction is more pure and accurate.
posted by Kevin Street at 3:34 PM on August 28, 2015 [27 favorites]

My sister's cat likes nothing more than when her 1yo vigorously pets it. The cat will seek out the kiddo whenever she's crawling around on the floor and will lie down in front of the child in the hopes of getting manhandled. Kiddo emits squeals of joy and peels of laughter and I've never heard a cat purr louder.

It's repulsively cute.
posted by dazed_one at 4:00 PM on August 28, 2015 [60 favorites]

My sister's cat likes nothing more than when her 1yo vigorously pets it.

This is what they call a meowsochist in the FDM-V (Feline Diagnostic Manual).
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [14 favorites]

Look, in fairness, I'm a grown-ass man, and I react much the same to cats.

I remember Randall Munroe's old joke about moving the hyphen one word to the right....

I can explain the baby's reaction. Imagine. You're a new life, you've seen all these things so far and you've acclimated yourself to them. Most particularly you've seen all these people. In fact all the other living things you've seen so far, they've been human beings like yourself. This world seems to be full of them.

But now, here's something else. Oh and BTW, it's totes adorbs.
posted by JHarris at 4:12 PM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

Sleep sack, terrible idea. Putting an animal in a crib with a baby whose hands are restrained, the stuff of horror films. Kids need their hands free for exploration after waking and before sleep. Seeing their hands is not a bonus, it is a necessity. Whoever designed the sleep sack did so on the fears of SIDS, but forgot all about motor development. Glad the kid likes the cat.>
posted by Oyéah at 4:20 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Putting an animal in a crib with a baby whose hands are restrained, the stuff of horror films.

Sure, if it's like a python or ardvaark or something. To a cat an armless child just looks like a miniature squealing duvet. And cats love duvets!
posted by oneirodynia at 4:29 PM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

Oh, and for once, the YT comments. E.g., "Why are they showing a cat to a flying squirrel?", and "I'm looking forward to the bany's first base-jumping video."
posted by NorthernLite at 4:32 PM on August 28, 2015 [11 favorites]

The viral cycle will only be complete once we have videoed cats' reactions to eating a lemon for the first time.

It's complete and we're coming around for another pass.
posted by longdaysjourney at 4:48 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

it me.
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:06 PM on August 28, 2015 [34 favorites]

JHarris I remember Randall Munroe's old joke about moving the hyphen one word to the right....

I remember that one too. You don't think there's a reason I used that construction? ;)

Though, I'm more amused by the fact that I got a favorite by you're a kitty!, which might be the most eponystrical favorite ever.
posted by SansPoint at 5:09 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Baby: OMFG WHAT FURRY AHAHA WHAT IS HAPPENING FURRY ITS LIKE I'M WIRED FOR CUTE AHAHAHA OH GOD SO HAPPY I JUST PEED MYSELF OH GOD MORE PLEASE MORE

Cat: Oh shit, not this again. Please don't. This is so humiliating. Look, hu-mons, I understand I'm not your baby any more and I'm totally happy and fine with that because frankly I'm getting older and it also means less baths and more naps but this whole dangling me in front of the sticky, stinky small one is starting to really... wait, what the fuck? Are you seriously fucking filming this? Is consent some kind of vague concept you've never heard of? Yeah, no. Now I'm totally going to go maul a gopher and leave it on the kitchen floor tonight. Gut city, man. Then I'm going to eat your succulents and puke them up on the couch, and I'm rubbing my butt all over your living room.
posted by loquacious at 5:20 PM on August 28, 2015 [16 favorites]

Man, Bat Boy sure likes that cat.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:47 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Shame. When you said that the baby loses its mind, I was really hoping for a more Scanners-style ending to this video.
posted by markkraft at 5:49 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

I experienced a weird wave of revulsion at seeing that baby's arms and hands restrained like that -- it's a mild version of the kind of thing experimenters used to do to kittens who subsequently failed to learn to coordinate their eyes and their paws properly.
posted by jamjam at 5:50 PM on August 28, 2015

My Mom calls those garments "Sweepee Gowns" after the baby in the Popeye cartoons, and she makes them for every baby in the family.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:57 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

i like the part where the baby is contained in a sack. more babies should be contained within sacks.
posted by poffin boffin at 6:04 PM on August 28, 2015 [28 favorites]

Sleep sacks are good, really. Ours is 6 weeks old, and sometimes rolls over in his sleep. He does not yet have the muscle development to roll back (plus he's Downs). Sleep sack vs. my child asphyxiating at night because he rolled over on his stomach and moms weren't awake? Nope. Now. Ain't no way Prince Zuko the cat gets in Evan's crib. Cats are massive motherfuckers.
posted by triage_lazarus at 6:32 PM on August 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

"more babies should be contained within sacks."

And when the sack gets dirty, just throw it into the wash!
posted by markkraft at 6:35 PM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Prince Zuko the cat gets in Evan's crib.

But, if Evan gets cold, Prince Zuko can warm him with a tiny bit of firebending.
posted by spinifex23 at 6:36 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

You'd think. Prince Zuko is stuck in season 1.
posted by triage_lazarus at 6:38 PM on August 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

well, you've heard of bag ladies, haven't you? It stands to reason there would be bag babies, too.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:54 PM on August 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

i mean it looks super happy in the sack and more importantly it cannot grab at my face with its filthy sticky hands

if i must be in the presence of a baby this is almost the ideal situation

(the ideal situation is a baby-sized soundproofed but still humanely breathable hamster ball)
posted by poffin boffin at 8:02 PM on August 28, 2015 [10 favorites]

My Mom calls those garments "Sweepee Gowns"

Well, to be pedantic, it's "Sweet Pea", but I like your take better because it also works if you attach the fleece-wrapped cherub to the end of a broom handle and push it around the kitchen floor.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:02 PM on August 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

"Swee'Pea (alternatively spelled Swee'pea and Sweapea on some titles and once called Sweep Pea)"
posted by cadge at 10:27 PM on August 28, 2015

All of you people clutching your pearls about how this sack is somehow bad for babies will really flip when I tell you about how babies still get swaddled.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:55 PM on August 28, 2015 [11 favorites]

Sometimes a wrapped baby is a rapt baby.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:56 AM on August 29, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'd actually never seen a sleep sack without arm holes before this. My kid is in a sleep sack RIGHT NOW. Thankfully for everyone involved the cat is not in the crib with him (I think she'swritten off as insane since we brought the tiny screaming grabbing creature home last year).
posted by trunk muffins at 6:41 AM on August 29, 2015

Darn it, now I'm spending my Saturday morning coffee time just sitting around and watching YouTube videos of babies with cats. I love how some of them act like mama cats with the hooman baby as their kitten*, and others (usually kittens or younger cats) treat the young primate as a littermate competing for the same toy.

*that white cat is doing some highfalutin kitten herding on the complaining tot in the first cut.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:47 AM on August 29, 2015 [3 favorites]

Published on Aug 16, 2015

Jukin Media Verified (Original)
*For licensing / permission to use please contact licensing(at)jukinmediadotcom

MONETIZED!
posted by cosmic.osmo at 9:23 AM on August 29, 2015

vote babies/sacks '16
posted by poffin boffin at 5:01 PM on August 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

A chicken in every pot, and a baby in every sack!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:39 PM on August 29, 2015

This baby in the related videos is blowing my mind rn
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:52 PM on August 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

My first reaction was "where do I get one a them bat outfits?" and I am happy that Mefites have already spelled it out for me. *sigh* I probably didn't really want an adult sized one.
posted by janey47 at 8:46 PM on August 30, 2015