Product Details

• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
• VHS Release Date: November 21, 2000
• Run Time: 56 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792296184
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,823 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The tongue-in-cheek film noirish opening is the first clue that this will not be typical National Geographic fare. Writer-director-narrator Allison Argo manages to keep up the light tone throughout the 56-minute documentary despite the serious subject matter (feline interference with wildlife) and a prodigious amount of small carcasses. Argo uses dramatization to introduce the ills of unaltered cats run amok, but she also takes cameras to areas as diverse as the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, and Dade County, Florida, to show what happens when domesticated cats forge a life in the wild. In Australia she documents the anti-cat movement, with Aborigines making dinner of them and at least one activist making a hat of one. A British survey pinpoints a tabby named "Missy" as responsible for a vast amount of missing wildlife, and infrared cameras catch kitties raiding the nests of rare New Zealand shorebirds to the point of near-extinction. While this documentary ultimately slips back into joke mode rather than reaching a conclusion, it certainly raises many valid questions. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what you would expect!, March 4, 2004

By 

Ioana Boie (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic's The Secret Life of Cats [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I personally love Natioanl Geographic and its documentaries and I love animals. Otherwise, a very well done film, very well researched, but this one... is not quite just about the secret life of cats and their joyous way of being. It discusses the consequences of pets and their hunting on other species; it discusses pet owner responsibility and its impact on the environment.

My main concern and complaint is that there should have been some labeling to warn the viewer about some less than kind/ rather cruel acts against cats. Not everyone, especially cat lovers, would want to see aborigens hunting cats!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, August 19, 2007

By 

M. Kelly (Los Angeles,CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic's The Secret Life of Cats [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I caught this 'on demand' tonight and was impressed. This was an interesting look at cats and their impact other species, including man. I half expected something on the dull side, but this show featured some amazing characters: a group of women who care for a growing stray cat population, a conservationist who damns the cats for wiping out native species, a creative ornithologist/cat owner and many others. Some of the content may not be suitable for children or the faint of heart.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Typical Environmental Poppycock, May 15, 2009

By 

Robert Harmon "Robert Harmon" (Campbellsville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: National Geographic's The Secret Life of Cats [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I bought this hoping that it would be much like the "caressing the tiger" doc they did earlier. WRONG!!! Come on; a dude with that wears dead cats on his hat!!!!! If that was a spotted owl, these schmucks would be out protesting, tying themselves to trees, and throwing blood on him. Typical hypocrisy on the part of "naturalists." If you have kids, DON'T GET THIS!!!! Get Cats: Caressing the Tiger. If you are a wacko that feels I have to keep my cat inside 24/7 so he don't kill mice and other wonderful household pests, then by all means, knock yourself out, pal!