Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Will cats get jealous and harm babies, and are violin strings made from cat guts?

Dear Mr. Alice:

Are "cat gut" violin strings made from actual cats? Does this explain why a poorly played violin sounds like a puss in pain?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Lisa, Hillcrest

Dear Matthew Alice:

I'm about to have my first baby. Unless you count our cat, who has been the only baby for three years. My friends are telling me scare stories about jealous housecats smothering infants, jumping into their cribs, etc. Do we have a reason to worry about our cat hurting the baby?

-- Mom-to-Be, La Jolla

You definitely have less to fear from your cat than you do from those helpful friends, who are so far out of touch with reality it's hard to believe they are living with the rest of us right here in the waning days of the 20th Century. Were they serious? Are you serious? Pulling Matthew Alice's journalistic leg, maybe? This moldy tale probably dates from the Middle Ages, when the once-revered feline became inextricably bound up with tales of witches and its reputation took a severe beating. As did the cats themselves. Because cats were believed to be the "familiars" of witches, doing the work of the devil, the Middle Ages were a time of enormous cruelty to the animals. A common belief of the day was that a cat, if given access to a baby, would suck out its breath or smother it. No truth, of course, though it's never a good idea to leave a baby and an animal together unattended. Your cat may be jealous of the lost attention once the baby comes, but Puss will not turn into a murderer because of it.

And what of the oddly named "cat gut"? Well, Lisa, you'll have to shelve that bad violin-playing theory, clever though it is. Cat gut actually comes from sheep. "Cat" is the Anglicized version of the Arabic name of an ancient stringed instrument that used sheep-gut strings.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Temperature inversions bring smoggy weather, "ankle biters" still biting

Near-new moon will lead to a dark Halloween
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class

Dear Mr. Alice:

Are "cat gut" violin strings made from actual cats? Does this explain why a poorly played violin sounds like a puss in pain?

Sponsored
Sponsored

-- Lisa, Hillcrest

Dear Matthew Alice:

I'm about to have my first baby. Unless you count our cat, who has been the only baby for three years. My friends are telling me scare stories about jealous housecats smothering infants, jumping into their cribs, etc. Do we have a reason to worry about our cat hurting the baby?

-- Mom-to-Be, La Jolla

You definitely have less to fear from your cat than you do from those helpful friends, who are so far out of touch with reality it's hard to believe they are living with the rest of us right here in the waning days of the 20th Century. Were they serious? Are you serious? Pulling Matthew Alice's journalistic leg, maybe? This moldy tale probably dates from the Middle Ages, when the once-revered feline became inextricably bound up with tales of witches and its reputation took a severe beating. As did the cats themselves. Because cats were believed to be the "familiars" of witches, doing the work of the devil, the Middle Ages were a time of enormous cruelty to the animals. A common belief of the day was that a cat, if given access to a baby, would suck out its breath or smother it. No truth, of course, though it's never a good idea to leave a baby and an animal together unattended. Your cat may be jealous of the lost attention once the baby comes, but Puss will not turn into a murderer because of it.

And what of the oddly named "cat gut"? Well, Lisa, you'll have to shelve that bad violin-playing theory, clever though it is. Cat gut actually comes from sheep. "Cat" is the Anglicized version of the Arabic name of an ancient stringed instrument that used sheep-gut strings.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Todd Gloria gets cash from McDonald's franchise owners

Phil's BBQ owner for Larry Turner
Next Article

Tijuana sewage infects air in South Bay

By September, Imperial Beach’s beach closure broke 1000 consecutive days
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader