Buzz
The idea of turning a cat into something else might sound strange, given that cats are cherished pets and not random inanimate objects to be exploited. But for some, this perspective doesn't hold—many view cats as mere tools to further their objectives, ethics aside.
While Americans are known for treating our furry companions as family, in other parts of the world, these animals are seen more as a source of sustenance. Cats have been repurposed for the creation of some truly unconventional and mind-boggling items, including telephones, drones, pianos, and even spy equipment.
10. A Telephone
In 1929, Professor Ernest Glen Wever and Charles William Bray, two scientists from Princeton University, created a telephone using a cat.
To begin their experiment, Wever and Bray sedated the cat and carefully opened its skull to access the auditory nerve. They connected one end of a telephone wire to the nerve and the other end to a telephone receiver located 15 meters (50 ft) away. Bray then spoke into the cat’s ears while Wever listened through the receiver.
While their main interest was in studying the auditory nerve, not in crafting a functional cat telephone, the experiment revealed surprising results. Before the test, scientists believed that sound frequencies increased when they reached the auditory nerve. However, the experiment showed that voices maintained the same frequency when they interacted with the nerve.
Wever and Bray also found that the cat telephone only worked when the wire was connected to the auditory nerve. It failed to function when they attached the wire to other tissues and nerves. Furthermore, the device malfunctioned when blood flow to the cat's head was halted, even though the wire remained connected to the nerve. This crucial experiment played a significant role in the development of cochlear implants for deaf people.
9. A Piano
The katzenklavier (“cat organ”) is a piano unlike any other. It is constructed from actual cats. Athanasius Kircher described how to build one in his 1650 music treatise, Musurgia Universalis.
According to Kircher, the piano required several cats, each producing meows at different pitches. The cats were confined in small cages at one end of the piano. Their tails were linked to a mechanism that delivered a spike into the cat’s tail whenever the player pressed the corresponding key.
The pain from the spike caused the cats to meow. The player could compose music by pressing different keys, causing various cats to meow. Kircher also mentioned that the meows grew louder with each press as the cats became more frantic to escape the piano.
Although there’s no evidence that anyone ever constructed a cat organ based on Kircher’s specifications, there are claims that such an organ was played when King Phillip II entered Brussels in the 16th century—well before Kircher’s piano was conceived. Historian Juan Calvete de Estrella wrote that a bear played the piano while riding in a chariot.
8. A Drone
Drones have increasingly become a fixture in our skies. Perhaps this explains why Bart Jansen chose to transform his cat into one after it was struck by a car in 2012. Overcome with grief from the loss of his cat, Orville, Jansen sought a way to preserve his pet’s memory.
Jansen decided to convert Orville into a drone, inspired by the fact that his cat shared a name with Orville Wright, one of the two inventors of the first successful airplane. He teamed up with engineer Arjen Beltman, who handled the electrical and mechanical components of the project.
The result was a remote-controlled quadcopter drone, which Jansen dubbed the Orvillecopter. It resembled a standard quadcopter, with Orville’s skin stretched across its frame.
Jansen and Arjen went on to create quadcopter drones from a rat and an ostrich. They also attached a jet engine to a dead shark and constructed a submarine from a badger. The duo is now working on a quadcopter large enough to carry a person, which would be built from a cow.
7. A Purse
In 2016, New Zealand taxidermist Claire Third made headlines when she put up for auction a purse she had created from a dead cat. The purse included the feline’s head and skin, just in case you were wondering.
Third discovered the cat by the roadside, where it had been killed by a passing vehicle. She took it home and transformed it into a purse, which she auctioned for NZ$1,400. The auction sparked mixed reactions—some appreciated the unusual item, while others accused her of profiting from a deceased animal.
Some people advised her to leave the cat alone. One person asked if she would feel comfortable if someone shot and mounted her. Others made jokes, with one person asking, 'Who let the cat out the bag, or is it inside out?' Eventually, Third lowered her asking price to NZ$1 but sold the purse for NZ$545.
6. Food
While Americans might recoil at the idea of eating cat meat, in Vietnam, these animals are viewed as just another meat source. Cat meat enthusiasts in Vietnam refer to them as 'little tigers.' These cats are often served at restaurants, where they are paired with beer.
The preparation of 'little tigers' is sometimes done under cruel conditions. Restaurants submerge the cats in water before shaving their skin and burning them to remove the remaining fur. Afterward, the cats are chopped into pieces and fried.
Despite a government ban aimed at preventing restaurants from killing and selling cats, fearing an unchecked rat population, the Vietnamese continue to consume cats. The demand for 'little tigers' has become so high that there’s a shortage of cats for the dish. Thieves now roam the streets, stealing cats to sell to restaurants, and vendors even smuggle them from neighboring Thailand and Laos.
Interestingly, the Vietnamese don't have a longstanding tradition of eating cats. The practice of consuming cats, rats, and dogs only began after a series of wars and famines in the 20th century. Though the nation is more stable today, the habit of eating cats has persisted, and even a government ban seems unlikely to end it.
5. A Spy Gadget
Operation Acoustic Kitty was the CIA’s ambitious attempt to turn a cat into a spy gadget. The plan involved outfitting cats with audio surveillance devices and allowing them to wander around foreign agents, hoping the cats would eavesdrop on their secrets.
The project began with a single cat named Acoustic Kitty. It was surgically altered to have a microphone implanted in its ear, a radio transmitter placed at the base of its skull, and an antenna hidden beneath its fur.
Agents brought the cat to a park for a test run with two men sitting on a bench. However, the cat ignored the men, walking straight into the street where it was tragically hit by a taxi. Following this incident, the CIA released a memo noting that cats were unsuitable for spy work.
4. Defensive Weapons
While cats aren't particularly effective as physical shields due to their small size and tendency to wander off, they have been used as psychological weapons. A prime example is the Persians’ use of cats against Egypt in the 525 BC Battle of Pelusium, exploiting the Egyptians’ religious reverence for cats.
The conflict between Egypt and the Persian Achaemenid Empire erupted after Pharaoh Amasis II sent a substitute woman for his daughter to marry the Persian emperor Cambyses II. Amasis was unwilling to give up his daughter, fearing she would be reduced to a mere concubine rather than a wife.
By the time the Persian forces arrived at the Egyptian border, Pharaoh Amasis had passed away, and his son Psametik III (also known as Psammenitus) was now in power. The Persians, aware of the Egyptians’ deep reverence for cats, brought many with them. The Egyptians were so unwilling to harm the animals that they refrained from using their arrows against the Persian army.
Some sources suggest that the Persians didn’t bring live cats but instead used images of the cat-headed goddess Bastet on their shields. Regardless of the approach, all accounts agree that the Egyptians were decisively defeated. So many soldiers perished that when the ancient Greek historian Herodotus visited the battlefield 75 years later, he still found remnants of the fallen.
3. Drug Mules
In both Russia and Brazil, incarcerated individuals have been using cats as unwilling accomplices for smuggling operations. In 2015, a cat was caught attempting to smuggle contraband outside the Presidio Regional Romero Nobrega prison in Patos, Brazil.
The smugglers had strapped mobile phones, chargers, and SIM cards to the cat’s body using gauze, plaster, and masking tape, then covered it with fake fur. The scheme was uncovered when prison officials noticed plaster on the cat’s body. Following the discovery, authorities decided to inspect every cat entering or leaving the prison from that point forward.
In a separate case, a cat was caught attempting to smuggle hashish and amphetamines into a Russian prison in 2018. The cat had been living in the prison until one of the inmates, after his release, took it home. The suspects were arrested as they attempted to bring the cat back near the prison.
2. Black Diamonds
Losing a pet can be an incredibly heartbreaking experience. Some people, however, have found a way to keep their beloved animals close by turning them into diamonds. Since both humans and animals contain significant amounts of carbon, their remains can be transformed into diamonds, which are composed of the same element.
While pets and humans are often turned into white diamonds, one company managed to create a rare black diamond from a cat named Sooty.
In 2008, BBC reported that Sue Rogers had successfully turned her deceased cat into a one-third carat black diamond. At that time, it was the only black diamond made from ashes. LifeGem, the company that crafted the gem, used two grams of carbon from the cat’s cremated remains.
To make the diamond, they first followed the standard process, exposing the ashes to extreme temperature and pressure for two weeks. Initially, the diamond was white but turned black after being exposed to electrons for a full day.
1. Offensive Weapons
In 1584, a manuscript titled Feuer Buech was published in Germany, describing the creation of various siege weapons. Among them was a weapon using burning pigeons and cats as incendiaries.
The anonymous author suggested that armies would capture local cats from around castles or city walls they intended to attack. During the assault, the army would strap explosive-filled bags to the cats' backs, set them on fire, and release them. The cats would instinctively run home, spreading flames to everything in their path.
While there is no proof that the German military ever used such a weapon, historical accounts claim that burning cats were employed as weapons as early as the third century BC. Additionally, there are rumors that the notorious Mongol leader, Genghis Khan, deployed them during his ruthless campaigns.
