Put those claws away!

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Sharkû

"219 From a letter to Allen & Unwin 14 October 1959

[A Cambridge cat breeder had asked if she could register a litter of Siamese kittens under names taken from The Lord of the Rings.]

My only comment is that of Puck upon mortals. I fear that to me Siamese cats belong to the fauna of Mordor, but you need not tell the cat breeder that."

Without necessarily wanting to spawn a "Was Tolkien a cat-racist thread, I think it is significant that he specifies that SIAMESE cats. Many cat lovers dislike Siameses for their yowling and other personality quirks. I had one friend whose then husband refused to let her have a cat and then said she could only have a cat if it was Siamese knowing she disliked them. This backfired on him when she agreed preferring having any cat to no cat! And even after the (inevitable?) divorce she always had Siamese cats....

Dogs (apart from Huan ) who was a bit of a special case don't always get a great image either if you think of Farmer Maggot's. Middle Earth is almost as short of animals as it is of females :P.