Fine fare for fans of felines

There are two sorts of people in this world: cat people and dog people.

Dog people are easy to recognise, not just because they walk dogs.

Their noses are often stub-ended and rough, their faces stubborn and angry, their ears large and ungainly, and their minds clumsy and dull.

They are not creative, free-thinking people; instead their best quality, if you can call it that, is an unmovable, thoughtless loyalty to whomsoever they find themselves attached, no matter how badly they are treated.

Dog people like to shout and drool, and they have unspeakable habits.

Then there are cat people.

Cat people have smooth, refined noses, faces that speak of a depth of intelligence and appreciation of the finer things in life; art, music and witty but cutting conversation.

They are creative, free-thinking people, loyal certainly, but that loyalty means something - it is the reward for being an equally intelligent and refined friend.

The pre-eminent place of the cat in pet society - and the cat owner in human society - is obvious when one considers the importance of cat videos on the internet.

The numbers are made up, but almost 83% of videos placed on the internet are of cats.

Finally, savvy television-makers have got wise to the wants of the cat community, taking a cue from the internet to develop a whole show just about cats.

On Sunday, April 5, at 7pm, TV One is broadcasting The Secret Life of Cats, billed as ''the incredible story of a newborn kitten as it grows into a nimble, athletic neighbourhood cat''.

It is worth pausing for a moment to consider those words: nimble and athletic.

How different from words I will now use to describe dogs: ponderous and cumbersome.

The Secret Life of Cats offers an intimate and revealing glimpse into the world of the feline, using natural history filming techniques to reveals how a cat's super-senses develop and how its fine, slinky physique takes shape.

And it cuts through a few cat myths, as the narrator explains.

''Distant aloof self-absorbed, cats.

''Untrainable lazy bundles of fur?

''Think again.''

Of course not.

Cats are super beings, able to pinpoint a mouse scratch 10m away, not to mention being able to leap, bound, and fall (in wonderful slow motion) and sit on knees appealingly.

They have a sense of smell 30 times that of humans.

They are the most popular pet, the show explains, and they seem to be evolving.

They even save people's lives - the show says so.

The Secret Life of Cats begins with terrific shots of newborn kittens, and only gets better.

Watch, dog people, and try to understand why you are so manifestly inferior.

- Charles Loughrey 

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