by Kerri Reed

Created on: January 18, 2009

Announcing the newest reality television extravaganza! Coming soon to a living room in your area; it's "The Purina Cat House." This remarkable new series from Animal Planet involves eight shelter cats, two alley cats, one celebrity cat stunt double, and four pet store kittens. The premise is that each cat will live and work side-by-side with the other cats, without soiling the carpet, or starting a rumble.

Each week, the sponsors of the program will put the cats through both mental and physical challenges. They will have to be able to learn a foreign language, such as "bird", and they will have to show their physical prowess by jumping over furniture, and knocking cups off the coffee table. Inevitably, conflict will ensue when the tom cats insist on dominating the remote litter box, but all is resolved in the end, when two shelter cats decide to share custody of the kittens. One by one, the cats are voted out of the house until there is only one cat left. That cat will be named "Purina Cat of the Year" and will be photographed exclusively for the premier issue of the magazine entitled: "Frisky over Forty."

Of course this reality series is fiction, but not too far off the mark. There is a reality show in New York where homeless cats are kept in store-front windows and voted on by onlookers. In Britain, there is a "Big Brother" version of a cat's house, where the cats are secluded and forced to endure challenges to stay and possibly gain a new family in the end. There are pet psychic shows, "Cats 101", and the Animal Planet favorite "Animal Precinct", where the average viewer can see the results of a police investigation into animal cruelty on a daily basis. This is great for the education of young children who can see the effects of TLC on these abused fur-babies.

The reality TV show market is packed full of ideas for animal lovers. The newest craze is filming the cat pageant circuit, which is uncomfortable to watch when you consider that these people leave their lives, spouse, homes, and children to haul cats named "Missy Cupcake" and "Tutu" to places like Des Moines and Albuquerque for a living.

Although animal welfare is still the number one television draw on Animal Planet, it is the ever-popular reality show that will eventually have us all watching a cat using the litter box on a Saturday night. As sad as that sounds, just you wait. You may be the one glued to the set when that cat does his business!

Learn more about this author, Kerri Reed.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.