For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 26, 2015

Even Jon Arbuckle in some early strips gave Garfield a bath.

but was the cat still on the fridge, hiding under couch/bed whenever it saw kids, or go to look for a family without small children (with or without the help of adults, and I’m hoping for the last option in a “only giving up cat when the new family has been chosen” form)

Those kids are lucky they didn’t get deep scratches from the cat while escaping.

We had an 18-lb. Silver Classic Tabby named Mitch. One time a friend came over with a young son (about 3 or 4). He was sitting next to Mitch, nicely patting him. He looked a little bored, so I said, “Watch this…” and I proceeded to “wrestle” with Mitch. The two of them had a fabulous rest of the afternoon.

I taught my daughter, and then my grandson, from an early age that if they teased the family cat or dog, they deserved to be nipped or scratched and they would be punished, not the animal. My great-granddaughter, at 16 months, already knows to approach our temperamental Siamese with “gentle” hands and to back off if she hisses. The cat has learned that when she comes to the house, she needs to retreat to a high spot if she doesn’t want attention.

I don’t blame the poor cat.

I love the expression on the cat when it sees the water.—Really little kids shouldn’t have small animals, because, no matter what you tell them, kids are still kids.

Lynn skipped the part where Baby Richard and/or Lizzie gets all the bites and scratches bandaged up! Poor cat!

…AND, ANOTHER KID IN HER ARMS?MAYBE THE CAT WILL RUN AWAY.

Those kids are lucky the cat didn’t slice them up with his claws.

The cats I’ve known would have protested starting with the bonnet. The kids should not have been able to get the cat in that crib / box.

My cat growing up actually loved being dressed up and getting attention like this. But she would NOT have liked the bath and I would have known better than to try that, even at four years old!

Thank you, Lynn, didn’t see this first time around. Good way to start a Sunday.

Very smart cat!

The crew over at Breaking Cat News need to do a remote about this.

Very young children struggle to understand that a cat might hate something (like pictured in the strip) that the children themselves would love! I know that it took me a while. Since this makes it hard for kids to know they are not playing nicely, but actually tormenting the poor animals, In the meanwhile, it’s good that cats can defend themselves and hide!

I got news for Lynn & Lizzie — that cat (orange-black-white) is not a HE!As a feline geneticist, I guess she’s a pretty fair cartoonist.

Lynn Johnston is the only one cartoonist, (maybe Dan Piraro is the other one), whose cartoons show characters’ motions and emotions in every panel. I really like watching her characters and their antics. Her drawing shows that she studied movement closely..This one, in particular, is absolutely brilliant, what with all the cat’s patience, in the beginning, and then progressing to it’s being scared and horrified to the last one, angry.

Forthcoming poster from the Nichols family:MISSING CAT.Last seen near the Enjos.

Comic strip or not, it encourages animal abuse. I don’t like it. However I do love Lynn and have followed her for many years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlrmiz_tew