Dolls and cats...

I saw the title, and I wanted to finish it with "don't mix."

I have lots of cheap, playline OT dolls. My cats were occasionally entertained by their hair, but that was about it.

Fast forward to my first BJD purchase, an Iplehouse Mari with blushed hands, and one of my cats makes a beeline for a hand. I snatched the doll away *correction* - edited to add - after he chipped the nail polish on two fingers of the right hand.

Turns out, the more expensive the doll, the more tasty it looks?

Cats are dicks, man.

 

My cats eat doll wigs and attack any doll with one on. They also eat my hair ties. Never trust a cat around your resin babies.

 

My cat has so far ignored all 5 of my dolls. I've had my eldest for..... gosh, 4 years now? and I've yet to notice her taking more than a passing interest in any of them. I don't have them put away in a cabinet, either; they're out in the open. I guess they're stuck on shelves she can't fit on, so maybe that has something to do with it? (The shelves are definitely within her jumping height, I just have so much stuff packed on there there's no room for a little cat to stand.) She always loves sitting in their boxes when I'm opening them though, haha. Here she is being a menace during my latest unboxing:

 

Aw yeah my sweet Himalayan Misha specializes in the prodigious production of hair. It gets everywhere. And I only wear black, so you can imagine...! We go through a lot of those sticky rollers in this house.

The dolls live in a cabinet! They are safe from UV and hair in there!

 

My dolls are in a room where my cat is not allowed to enter.
It's not because the cat is interested in the dolls, when I have them out this room, the cat ignores them, but in this room are many things that coud be dangerous for my cat, as paints, glues, things that could break and stab, if jumped on ect.
Just in case I always look out, when my cat is around any resin, as I fear she could chew on it...

 

I have seven cats and none have ever displayed any interest in any of my dolls (I hoard dolls of any kind, a lot more non-BJD-kind). I don't take my BJD out much anymore, but when I originally got most, I used to take them out quite often to photograph, or customize. None of my cats cared for them, in either a positive nor a negative way. I keep a lot of OT dolls displayed on my bookshelves, at higher distances where my cats can't reach, because they will try to knock anything out of shelves within their reach. I however, chose not to display my BJD since I got my first mainly because of my cats. I know they are little trouble makers, and even if they don't care for my resin dolls, I rather keep heavy stuff away from them. BJD are not as stable as non-articulated dolls of other kinds or OT figures I collect, and much heavier because most of mine are larger. I rather not expose my cats to that, and also keep my dolls from yellowing too badly in the process. It's a win-win situation for me -- I don't worry about leaving my cats in my room alone, and I don't worry about my BJD turning lemon-yellow before I go senile. (:

 

Nope.

None of my cats have been problems with any of my dolls, BJD or otherwise.

One of them used to take refuge with the dolls when she was in trouble, or rub her her head and back on their hands if they were left with an arm sticking out as if to stroke her, and one of my current cats used to hide under big doll skirts when he was a kitten - These days, he takes refuge among the cloth dolls if there are fireworks or thunder, but other than that they pretty much ignore the dolls.

Teddy

 

While my sister's cat Lego has been known to exhibit a GREAT deal of jealousy if a doll is being held in a lap, he's never done anything to damage one. He does like the resin smell-- and has been content to be photographed with dolls posed near him. He's only jealous if he sees the doll getting attention he thinks should be his.

My Momo is indifferent. If I have a doll out, he will give it a polite sniff and then proceed to ignore it. He's only a menace to stuffed animals, all of which he thinks belong to him, and he has been known to drag them around the house. Well... and doll clothes-- if a doll has a faux fur coat, hat, stole, or other such item, then it's at risk of being stolen by Momo. Wigs are safe, though!

 

I have 3 cats and 2 of them will give my doll a sniff then move on to other things. But the third sometimes decides to sit down right next to the doll almost posed like on of those Egyptian cat sculptures and will sometimes stay there for an hour or more. However, I keep the doll safely out of sight and reach (of the cats) when I'm not working on them.

Another thought..... has anyone noticed how many cats and dogs are in bjd videos? We seem to be a group of pet lovers.

 

@Youzen, my girl looks just like yours and acts the same. She’s only interested in boxes or the cabinets when they’re empty. She has knocked over ot dolls that sit out on top of a small bookcase but my bjd stay behind glass.

 

Hmmm there's a similarity between them and both of my cat disinterested-in-dolls cats too...


Teddy

 

I think it really just depends on the temperament of the animal. Most of my cats over the years haven’t been fussed about the dolls, but right now I have a couple of ragdolls who care very much about them in opposite ways.

My older boy was around when we got our first dolls and they were out on display all the time. He wants to sit with them and seems to associate them with positive attention (because he’s really cute with them so we of course coo at him about it). He jumps into the doll shelf if some of them are out and there’s enough space for him and just sits in there beaming at us.

Our younger girl seems jealous of the attention being on the dolls when they’re out. She bit one of their shoes early on, and then bit the foot of a Little Fee I had a few years ago when I turned around for a minute during a photo session, and after that we put the collection behind glass to protect them from her (and her from swallowing resin).

 

Fortunately for me, our cats are far more interested in shipping boxes than the dolls themselves. The dolls are on low open shelves, and the cats ignore them.

 

Aside from the occasional curious sniff, they leave my dolls alone. My cats are however prone to photobombing. I think it's funny and let it happen.

Stray cat hair though is a menace. So many of my crafts contain essence of cat.

 

Our lone furbaby no longer photobombs as much as she used to, and has since preferred the boxes to the dolls themselves. But I remember I couldn't get angry at her even though she liked to check out (and "adjust") carefully arranged setups.


A Sequence of Lilybombs by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

Still, it's a good thing I never had issues with her chewing at stuff. When we first brought her home, she did break my dolls' tea set (it was drying on the table) and stole one of my girl's shoes. Thankfully I managed to establish boundaries of what she can or cannot do, and aside from stray cat hairs making their way onto wigs and clothes, I've no mishaps since then.

 

She cuddles...

 

Neither of mine actually care about the dolls. One just ignores them completely, the other sees them as an opportunity to aggressively demand my attention. She doesn’t mess with them or anything deliberate, but if I’m playing with them, I’ll likely be on the floor. Then she’ll come over to purr and get right in front of me so I have to give her attention.

 

I love that this thread has turned into a cat photo sharing thread as a byproduct of the discussion... keep 'em coming :P