"Cat Content": Cats ride the wave and save the world

"Murr," says Hape Kerkeling to his cats and gives them a friendly wink so that they return the cross-species greeting.

“Cats, cats, catastic,” raps Moshow the cat rapper, the counterpart of all his gangsta colleagues, and balances at least one of five house cats on their head in music videos.

Kerkeling finds the feline universe “Kitty-katty-magical”, which is why he wrote “Paws off the table!” (Piper Verlag), a book about his cats, other cats and himself.

Moshow, in turn, is one of the protagonists of the documentary series "Cat People" on Netflix, in the first six episodes of which extremely furry nose fanatic protagonists fit perfectly with the soundtrack presented by the rapper in episode one: "Yeah, I love my cats' cause it's drastic".

Ursula Scheer

Editor in the features section.

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In fact, what connects people and house cats in the Internet age is quite drastic: "Cat content", pictures, memes, emoticons, and videos of cats are almost as constitutive of the World Wide Web as HTML code. The search for reasons for this has moved many a culture and media professional. There have even been relevant museum exhibitions on the subject. Why are people so much crazier about cats as soon as they go online than any other animal? Any unicorn can pack up in the face of feline superiority, and we don't even want to start with dogs or birds. Hundreds of hours of cat content are uploaded every minute and countless text messages are decorated with hearts-in-the-eyes kitties. Soloists like “Grumpy Cat” or Karl Lagerfeld's Choupette achieved cult status.The Japanese waving paw Maneki-neko is an export hit - and these are just a few examples.

Is it because cats' heads, thanks to the childlike scheme, trigger emotional defenselessness in us, even when they hit the designer sofa with their claws? On the silky fur? Or the mysterious, semi-untamed nature of the animals, which in ancient Egypt were not only idolized in a figurative sense? It is estimated that around sixteen million house cats are kept in Germany; they are the most popular pets. Dogs follow far behind with about ten million. Either way, it doesn't take an algorithm to tell Netflix that cat stuff can be at least as addicting as cooking shows, royal fiction dramas, or true crime. And Hape Kerkeling? Perhaps he thought: What Ildikó von Kürthy did a few years ago with her woof-and-away autobiography "Hilde" in the book trade,with the support of Peterle, Samson, Spock, Anne, Bolli and Kitty I have been able to do this for a long time. It's not without reason that Kerkeling is the country's most popular comedian. At least since the nation was allowed to take part in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a reading or cinema armchair and a few years later learned through his touchingly filmed memories "The boy needs some fresh air", like Kerkeling's childhood overshadowed by the death of his mother Having laid the foundations for his philanthropic humor, affection has hardly any limits. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.Bolli and Kitty have been for a long time. It's not without reason that Kerkeling is the country's most popular comedian. At least since the nation was allowed to take part in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a reading or cinema armchair and a few years later learned through his touchingly filmed memories "The boy needs some fresh air", like Kerkeling's childhood overshadowed by the death of his mother Having laid the foundations for his philanthropic humor, affection has hardly any limits. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat who was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.Bolli and Kitty have been for a long time. It's not without reason that Kerkeling is the country's most popular comedian. At least since the nation was allowed to take part in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a reading or cinema armchair and a few years later learned through his touchingly filmed memories "The boy needs some fresh air", like Kerkeling's childhood overshadowed by the death of his mother Having laid the foundations for his philanthropic humor, affection has hardly any limits. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.ever since the nation was allowed to take part in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a reading or cinema armchair and a few years later learned from his touchingly filmed memories "The boy has to get some fresh air" how Kerkeling's childhood, overshadowed by his mother's death, was the foundation for put his philanthropic humor, the affection knows hardly any boundaries. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.ever since the nation was allowed to take part in his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a reading or cinema armchair and a few years later learned from his touchingly filmed memories "The boy has to get some fresh air" how Kerkeling's childhood, overshadowed by his mother's death, was the foundation for put his philanthropic humor, the affection knows hardly any boundaries. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.Just as Kerkeling's childhood, overshadowed by the death of his mother, laid the foundation for his philanthropic humor, affection hardly knows any boundaries. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.Just as Kerkeling's childhood, overshadowed by the death of his mother, laid the foundation for his philanthropic humor, affection hardly knows any boundaries. The fact that he has recently made himself scarce only makes him look even more personable. And now we learn that a comforter in his childish grief was Peterle, a lively tomcat, which was to be followed by many other representatives of his kind.