Everything Old Cat Lovers Is New Again

Everything Old Cat Lovers Is New Again by Layla Morgan Wilde

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As we inch into 2022, there seems to be a collective comfort in the familiar, the nostalgic, the old. There are reboots of old movies and TV series. Fashion and design looks back to previous decades for inspiration. Recipes for old comfort food are cropping up. It makes sense to seek comfort when the world is in a state of flux, teetering on the unknown like never before. At least not in our memory.

With that in mind, I thought I’d look back, 100+ years to a gentler time of cat lovers to show some things don’t change. Young or old, cat lovers still crazy about cats.

I’d planned to show a series of slightly edited vintage photos at the beginning of the year but I was still ill from the Moderna booster, Mercury turned retrograde and well, c’est la vie.

What I love about Mercury Retrograde (yes, it’s not all bad) is how ideal it for editing. One thing led to another and I breathed new life into the sepia stale images. They lent themselves to quotes and contemporary messages we can all relate to. I’ve been editing old cat art since launching Cat Wisdom 101 in 2011. You can search for the hundreds of examples to see. You’d think I’d get bored but I never do. It’s one of the reasons I still blog after all these years.

There is always a new way of looking at something old.

The featured images shows a typical before and after. Did I succeed is anyone’s guess.

Tell me your favorite of these feline nine or is it 10? As I curated my selection of cute girls, I realized while working on the featured image, she might be a he. What do you think?

I call this one Glitter Girl. I think everyone know a girl like this these days.

Back To The Future Cat Lady

The Humane Society and ASPCA were in their infancy at the time of this photo but she would be an ideal poster girl, no?

There is something so modern about this girl and her cat.

A very early Kitten Lady. Cute kitten art never get old.

This classic quote by Sigmund Freud was coined about the time of this image. It rings true more than ever as does the need for interactive play with our cats.

Victorian cat ladies liked dressing up their cats and judging from Instagram and other social media nothing has changed.

Adopting one cat is a joy but can we double or triple our happiness by living with multiple cats? I think so, but its up to the cat, the humans and the environment. Hoarding is a very real problem.

There was something so odd about this photo, I had to do something different. The girl’s far away expression. The scritching? at the base of the tail. The fingers of her left hand forming a mudra. I couldn’t help but wonder was she a young yogini or witch with her familiar?

Since we are near the end of the month with the Chinese New Year of the Tiger looming, I will post relevant cat content early February. Until then, I hope you and your cats stay well.

Much love and appreciation,

Layla

P.S. I have been posting Instagram reels of Nou Nou’s recovery and Odin’s adventures in the snow at CatWisdom101