{"id":610793,"date":"2024-06-19T04:52:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T08:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?p=610793"},"modified":"2024-06-19T04:59:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T08:59:34","slug":"pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n Click to Skip Ahead \n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n \r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/path>\r\n <\/svg> <\/div>\n
\n <\/span>\n \nOverview<\/a>
\nOrigin of the Myth<\/a>
\nFirst Debunking<\/a>
\nThe Myth, Resuscitated<\/a>
\nFinal Debunking<\/a>
\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Have you ever heard of the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat? If not, you\u2019re certainly not alone. We hadn\u2019t heard about it either. Don\u2019t feel as if you\u2019ve been missing out on learning about an incredible cat breed, though. Despite the fact that the refrigerator cat has been repeated as a fact in many cat books throughout the decades, it isn\u2019t a breed that ever existed at all. The story of the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat is an interesting one that dives deep into the phenomenon of urban legends and humanity\u2019s fascination with animals.
\nRead on to learn more about the myth and how it spread so rampantly in the late 1800s and early 1900s<\/p>\n

\"dividerWhat Is the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat?<\/h2>\n

The Pittsburgh refrigerator cat is a mythical cat breed that was said to open fridge doors and slink inside to steal food or have a cozy nap in the cold comfort of a kitchen appliance. They were said to have whiskers of five to six inches in length due to their need to live in semi-darkness and dependence on their sense of touch.<\/p>\n

It was believed that these cats would suffer from seizures or heat exhaustion if they were removed from their homes in the cold warehouses.<\/p>\n

\"Cat
Image Credit: DimaBerlin, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Origin of the Myth<\/h2>\n

In July 1984, the New York Times wrote a news story about a breed of thick-furred and short-tailed cats that had naturally arisen in the chilly storage warehouses of Pittsburgh. The report said that these cats were developed as a way of controlling the thick-furred rat populations that were commonly found in storage warehouses throughout Pittsburgh. The writers claimed the cats were \u201cof great economic importance\u201d as, without them, the cold storage rats would take over and destroy the perishable produce throughout all of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

The tale of the refrigerator cat took on a life of its own when it started to get reprinted in other papers across the country. Some papers reported that the cats originated in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, which explained why they were able to adapt to the cold climate in the warehouses and why they were better equipped to handle the freezing temperatures than the rats running rampant in these storage units.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the newspaper that perpetuated the myth of the refrigerator cat. Even respected English naturalist Richard Lydekker took the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat story at face value. It was, in fact, his monograph in one of the volumes of Allen\u2019s Naturalist\u2019s Library that coined the term \u201crefrigerator cat.\u201d In his later book, A Handbook to the Carnivora: Part 1, Lydekker went on to describe the conditions in which these cats lived, their appearance, and how they\u2019d develop seizures if they roamed too close to a stove.<\/p>\n

The First Time the Myth Is Debunked<\/h2>\n

The authenticity of the tale of the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat first came into question in the summer of 1895 by The American Naturalist, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal. In the article, the writer spoke about how Alice Bodington, a British-Canadian science writer, wrote a letter to the secretary of a cold storage company to make out the facts about the so-called refrigerator cat breed. She received a response that claimed there may be some \u201cfoundation\u201d for the articles about the cats living in the warehouses, but they\u2019re exaggerated.<\/p>\n

The cold storage warehouse staff did indeed have a cat they took from the \u201cordinary atmosphere\u201d of the building and moved her to the cold rooms to deal with the rats. While she was living there, she birthed a litter of kittens<\/a>. Once they were old enough to care for themselves, the mother was taken out of cold storage to live back in her original quarters. However, she soon fell so sick that the staff became concerned for her well-being. They thought that the change in temperature may have negatively impacted her, so they returned her to the cold room, where she recovered. They found that it was impossible to keep her in good health in the warmer rooms of the warehouse, so they took this to mean that she had evolved in the refrigerated rooms to be a \u201ccold storage cat.”<\/p>\n

The secretary wrote that the whiskers were not five to six inches long but were instead regular whisker length. However, they did comment that the fur was thicker than an average cat\u2019s fur.<\/p>\n

The American Naturalist concluded that the cats living in the cold rooms grew thicker coats as a response to being in a colder climate<\/a>. This isn\u2019t anything new, as many animals\u2019 coats will change naturally due to the changing of the seasons. They also concluded that the reason the mother cat fell ill when moved from the cold storage to rooms with warmer temperatures was because she was finding the sudden shifts in temperature uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\"Closeup
Image Credit: Kristi Blokhin, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Myth, Resuscitated<\/h2>\n

It would seem as if that would be the end of the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat myth, but the story received a new lease on life in 1901 when it was, once again, widely spread through newspapers. This resurrected story added new fictitious details and completely disregarded the previously debunked myth.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Tribune published an article in February 1901 describing the refrigerator cat as a result of a deliberate breeding program. The offspring of the original pair were apparently able to withstand even the lowest temperature settings in the storage rooms. The paper also reported that these cats were born with whiskers like walrus bristles and that they had to be sent in ice-lined boxes when shipped to other cities; otherwise, they\u2019d suffer in the heat.<\/p>\n

The story then went quiet for several years until 1912, when the New York Mail published a report on cats that were employed by the government. Again, the story spread across the country, as it would periodically throughout the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Finally, Debunked Once and for All<\/h2>\n

In 1949, a cat expert named Ida Mellen took it upon herself to investigate the refrigerator cat myth. According to her research, there had never been any cats in Pittsburgh cold storage warehouses, as there weren\u2019t any rats there to begin with as the extreme cold temperatures kept them away.<\/p>\n

Mellen found that there was, indeed, a cat that gave birth to and raised a litter of kittens in one of the cold storage warehouses. However, these kittens were far from the super-felines reported in newspapers around the country. They weren\u2019t capable of withstanding frigid temperatures, nor were they distributed to other warehouses throughout the city. Quite the opposite, in fact, as these kittens did not thrive in the cold at all.<\/p>\n

Mellen did uncover one interesting tidbit about these kittens living in the warehouse, however. The mother was a pink-eyed albino<\/a>, as were all of her kittens. While the father\u2019s eye color was unknown, it was assumed he was either a carrier of the albinism gene or also a pink-eyed albino. It\u2019s entirely possible that the parents were also closely related. While the kittens and mother cat all had fantastic hearing, none of them were able to tolerate bright lights due to the nature of their unpigmented eyes.<\/p>\n

\"white
Image Credit: Elena Fedorowa, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"divider<\/h2>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n

As cute as a cat with thick, winter-hardy fur and six-inch-long walrus-like whiskers would be, there sadly was never a refrigerator cat breed. This myth, which evolved over decades, highlights the sensationalism of an urban legend as well as the fascination we, as a human race, have with animals.<\/p>\n

\n

Featured Image Credit: DimaBerlin, Shutterstock<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever heard of the Pittsburgh refrigerator cat? If not, you\u2019re certainly not alone. We hadn\u2019t heard about it either. Don\u2019t feel as if you\u2019ve been missing out on learning about an incredible cat breed, though. Despite the fact that the refrigerator cat has been repeated as a fact in many cat books throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3841,"featured_media":550615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained - Catster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you heard of the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat breed? In this article we delve into the origins of this myth and how it was ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained - Catster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you heard of the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat breed? In this article we delve into the origins of this myth and how it was ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-19T08:52:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-19T08:59:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chantelle Fowler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@catster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@catster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chantelle Fowler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained - Catster","description":"Have you heard of the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat breed? In this article we delve into the origins of this myth and how it was ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained - Catster","og_description":"Have you heard of the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat breed? In this article we delve into the origins of this myth and how it was ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/","og_site_name":"Catster","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/","article_published_time":"2024-06-19T08:52:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-19T08:59:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chantelle Fowler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@catster","twitter_site":"@catster","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chantelle Fowler","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/"},"author":{"name":"Chantelle Fowler","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c8f1c5567a52646247b6abecd09b05"},"headline":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained","datePublished":"2024-06-19T08:52:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-19T08:59:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/"},"wordCount":1314,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg","articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/","name":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained - Catster","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg","datePublished":"2024-06-19T08:52:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-19T08:59:34+00:00","description":"Have you heard of the Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat breed? In this article we delve into the origins of this myth and how it was ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/young-woman-training-cat-in-the-kitchen_DimaBerlin_Shutterstock.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Image Credit: DimaBerlin, Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/lifestyle\/pittsburgh-refrigerator-cat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pittsburgh Refrigerator Cat: The Myth Explained"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/","name":"Catster","description":"Cat care guides and Shop by Veterinarians and Experts","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#organization","name":"Catster","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Catster-picture.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Catster-picture.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Catster"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catster\/","https:\/\/x.com\/catster","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/catstermag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CatsterOfficial","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Catster"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c8f1c5567a52646247b6abecd09b05","name":"Chantelle Fowler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0687f5c6dc7a7db917ca7a9086fcaeb8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0687f5c6dc7a7db917ca7a9086fcaeb8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Chantelle Fowler"},"description":"For Chantelle, writing and animals are the two driving forces in her life. Growing up on the Canadian prairies surrounded by pets, she now shares her home with five cats, two guinea pigs, and a bearded dragon. Chantelle, her husband, and their child pride themselves on being dedicated pet parent , even spending a fortune on wall-mounted cat shelves to provide their cats with an indoor jungle gym. When she's not snuggling with her cats or photographing their humorous moments, Chantelle is exploring the Rocky Mountains, rewatching her favorite Netflix series, and reading up on various random subjects.","url":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/author\/chantelle-fowler\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Catster Editorial Team","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3841"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610793"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613158,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610793\/revisions\/613158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}