Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network

Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Rebecca van Laer
Episode: “Cat” (Bloomsbury, 2025), Object Lessons Series
Date: November 3, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Dr. Miranda Melcher speaks with Dr. Rebecca van Laer about her book Cat, part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series. The conversation explores how domestic cats mediate human relationships, their ambiguous role in the home, the ethics of pet ownership, and the ways in which cats both fulfill and confound human expectations. Rebecca shares personal anecdotes, theoretical insights, and reflections on writing the book, ultimately offering a thoughtful meditation on what it means to live with—and learn from—cats.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Book and the Hybrid Form

• Rebecca’s writing process began with fiction and eventually shifted to nonfiction to more honestly grapple with her lived experience of cats as mediators in her household and relationship with her partner, Dr. Steven Swarbrick.
  • “Our cats are very much at the heart of our relationship and are a way that we express our feelings towards each other, not just toward the cats.” (02:46, Rebecca)
• The Object Lessons series enabled a hybrid, deeply personal yet academic exploration.

2. Cats & Identity: “Cat People” vs. “Dog People”

• The binary of cat vs. dog people is likened to a form of “affiliative astrology,” with social meaning attached to each identity.
  • “It's almost like a more affiliative version of astrology. People want to have ways to make themselves known to others. And being a cat person or a dog person can convey, on the one hand, that you're a cat person... you value independence and autonomy...” (04:10, Rebecca)
• The guest critiques and contextualizes this cultural dichotomy.

3. Moving House with Cats

• Rebecca recounts the stresses and chaos of moving cross-country with multiple cats, highlighting their aversion to unfamiliar situations like travel.
  • “I've made two large cross-country moves as well as one smaller move... At the time... we had three cats of whom could not tolerate being in a carrier. That's a two day drive. So there was a lot of vomiting, there was a lot of excrement, there was a lot of panting...” (05:24, Rebecca)
• Raises questions about why we subject pets (and ourselves) to such upheaval and what it means to try to “start anew.”

4. Why Do Humans Keep Cats?

• Domestic cats lack a “use value” compared to other animals:
  • “Cats are different from other domestic creatures insofar as they don't have a clear use value... Many studies show that cats aren't actually good at controlling a rodent population in particular...” (07:13, Rebecca)
• The emotional response to cats is compared to that of infants—humans are hardwired to respond to cuteness—but also, cats “teach us how to love without discipline, without expectation.” (08:23, Rebecca)

5. Cats & Labor: Do Cats ‘Work’ for Us?

• Emotional labor: Cats know how to perform to get what they want (demonstrated by Milton’s cuteness).
• Not all cats “work” equally, and those that don’t aren't less deserving of care.
  • “Cats can opt to work as a way to enhance their experience within the domestic settings... or not.” (09:56, Rebecca)
• Cats as symbols of anti-work and resistance to productivity culture:
  • “For me, [Milton's] still an anti work figure. The cat writ large... their role in human culture writ large is certainly not to perform any task and also because they don't do what you want them to typically.” (10:40, Rebecca)

6. Choosing and Adopting Cats

• Two main approaches: Waiting for the “right” intuitive match at shelters, or welcoming the cat that “the universe gives you” (e.g., stray cats).
  • “A combination of intuition and research, I think, is a wonderful way, if you have a selection, to pick out one particular cat. But... taking the cat that the universe gives you is also a lovely and wonderful way…” (13:18, Rebecca)
• Touches on broader cultural issues of stray cat populations.

7. On “Cat Parents” and the Ethics of Pet Ownership

• Rebecca rejects “pet parent” terminology, referencing Donna Haraway’s critique:
  • “To equate pets with children [is] fundamentally destructive to both pets and children... As for me, I think that cats, you know, even less than dogs, are beings who we can expect to exist within a family unit in predictable ways.” (15:43 / 16:40, Rebecca)
• Prefers terms like companion, custodian, or friend.

8. Pets as Practice for Parenting?

• Rebecca challenges the idea that caring for pets is preparatory for having children:
  • “A plant, a cat and a person, I don't see them on a progressive scale of care... The kind of relationship that you have with a pet, I don't think it's predictive of your ability to care for another person. ...all forms of care are beautiful, but each one is also unique, not some sort of progressive pathway.” (17:57 / 19:38, Rebecca)
• Shares an anecdote from a fellow author about shifting emotional bonds post-childbirth.

9. Speculative Thought: If Cats Ruled the World

• Entertains the fantasy, but concludes it might not be much better than human rule:
  • “Cats are obligate carnivores. They're predators. And they don't just hunt what they need, they also hunt for pleasure... If they were fully in charge... I don't think that we could expect better models of community care...” (21:02, Rebecca)
• Suggests environmental consequences might be similar under feline dominion.

10. The Book’s Physical Design

• The Object Lessons books are visually distinctive; the “Cat” cover features an artistic version of Rebecca’s cat, Gus, adapted to the series’ color constraints.
  • “Gus has one blue eye and one green eye. ...you can only have shades of blue or shades of green… So we got as close as we could...” (23:05, Rebecca)

11. Reception of the Book & Violence in Pet Memoir

• Some readers are uncomfortable with depictions of violence (e.g., in pet memoirs or accounts of animal suffering).
  • “I've also been surprised at how many people are a bit taken aback by the representations of violence that I've either heard of, secondhand witnessed, or am writing about in other pet memoirs...” (24:05, Rebecca)
• Rebecca contextualizes this discomfort in light of most people’s distance from quotidian animal violence.

12. Upcoming Projects

• Rebecca is revisiting a horror novel manuscript, now shifting focus towards a “fungal horror novel about work and the ways that it seeps into every aspect of our lives.”
  • “So in that way, it's a continuation of Cat, of some writing that I did at the same time, and of just my larger interest in work in the 21st century.” (26:23, Rebecca)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Cats as mediators in human relationships:
  • “Our cats are very much at the heart of our relationship and are a way that we express our feelings towards each other, not just toward the cats.”
    — Rebecca (02:46)
• On the ‘cat person’ identity:
  • “It's almost like a more affiliative version of astrology... being a cat person or a dog person can convey, on the one hand, that you're a cat person, you're an indoor creature, you value independence and autonomy…”
    — Rebecca (04:10)
• On the real reason we keep cats:
  • “There's just a... cuteness that is biologically appealing to the human being. And I tend to think that we keep them in our life because of that cuteness, but also because of the trouble that they cause us...”
    — Rebecca (08:03)
• On cats as anti-work icons:
  • “The cat writ large is simply because of this history. Where their role in human culture writ large is certainly not to perform any task and also because they don't do what you want them to typically. So I think that independence and also their ability to do nothing... are kind of a little aspirational for me as a worker to do less, to resist when appropriate, and to know that simply being can sometimes be enough.”
    — Rebecca (10:40)
• Rejecting ‘pet parent’ language:
  • “I do not like the term pet parents... to equate pets with children as being destructive to children… I think... cats, even less than dogs, are beings who we can expect to exist within a family unit in predictable ways.”
    — Rebecca (15:18/16:40)
• On unique forms of care:
  • “All forms of care are beautiful, but each one is also unique, not some sort of progressive pathway.”
    — Rebecca (19:38)
• If cats ruled the world:
  • “If cats ruled the world, I think we'd be perhaps in much the same situation that we already are in.”
    — Rebecca (22:19)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:07 — Rebecca on her background and why she wrote Cat
• 04:10 — “Cat people” vs. “dog people” and identity
• 05:14 — Challenges of moving with cats
• 07:13 — Why do humans have cats?
• 09:08 — Do cats ‘work’? The question of emotional labor
• 10:22 — Cats as figures of resistance and anti-work
• 12:05 — On choosing/adopting cats
• 15:18 — Are we cat “owners” or “parents”?
• 17:30 — Is pet caretaking practice for parenthood?
• 20:29 — Thought experiment: if cats ruled the world
• 23:05 — The book’s cover and the physicality of Object Lessons books
• 23:58 — On writing about violence and the book’s reception
• 25:47 — Teasing Rebecca’s next project

Tone & Style

The episode blends warmth, philosophical curiosity, and vulnerability, mixing personal stories with intellectual critique. The dialogue often shifts from the mundane (vomiting cats on car journeys) to the conceptual (ethical care, identity, anti-work critique), honoring both the seriousness and the comedy in cat companionship.

For Listeners

Rebecca van Laer’s Cat is a reflective and nuanced exploration for anyone interested in animal studies, the ethics of pet-keeping, or looking for a thoughtful account of why cats mean so much in our lives. The episode balances intellectual depth with accessibility and heart.