Meet my other cat, Ozzie

April 23, 2007

in Personal

Heh. Danny shows off his dog Daisy in a recent post. One good turn deserves another, so I would like you to meet Ozzie:

Ozzie Cutts

He’s hard to get a picture of because normally he is streaking around at faster-than-the-human-eye-can-track speeds. He’s also a bit of a talker; this picture caught him in mid-meow. You might have also seen Ozzie in his two-second debut on Google Video. Last summer when I was doing my video series I needed a test video to upload and Ozzie obliged.

How Is My Site?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

{ 91 comments… read them below or add one }

Silver April 23, 2007 at 10:26 pm

Not enough pet choices! I have pet hermit crabs – they’re the perfect office pet!

Multi-Worded Adam April 23, 2007 at 10:46 pm

Is that poll thing a plugin, Matt?

I’m one of the dog-types, although I don’t own one now (can’t because of where I live…landlady is allergic or something, I don’t know…she explained it and I wasn’t paying attention.)

Ciprian April 23, 2007 at 10:52 pm

Ha ha, I had no ideea GoogleBot can be someone’s pet. One would be very fortunate to have GoogleBot as a pet :) ). Can I get one from the local PetStore?

Hawaii SEO April 23, 2007 at 10:54 pm

I had a very cool cat but it’s difficult to move to Hawaii with a pet. Since Hawaii is rabies free and requires a 120-day quarantine on dogs and cats, I thought it would be best to give her away than to put her through something like that. I miss my cat. :(

Eimantas Vaičiūnas April 23, 2007 at 11:33 pm

I have tarantulla: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachypelma_smithi
.) and tomorrow i’m going to get a scorpion for me ^_^

Altermac April 23, 2007 at 11:39 pm

There are some pets missing:
Guinea Pigs, Fishes, Hamster, …
Hamster are fine pets when you work at night. He wakes up when the sun goes down. I’m definitly a Hamster-type.

Rxbbx April 23, 2007 at 11:45 pm

Dogs… First i had a Yorkshire.. too small for me. Now I ve champi. My friend allready for 9 years: Champi.

Option 4: “Pets are for weaklings” :(

MacPug April 23, 2007 at 11:50 pm

A Dog, I guess he’s the only Pug on the planet who’s into SEO :-)

Harith April 23, 2007 at 11:51 pm

Matt

Thanks a bunch. Now we know how Speedy Ozzie looks like. Very fucused Performing Paid Links Killers :)

Brian White April 24, 2007 at 12:31 am

“LOL Cats” is one of my favorite current internet memes…this pic is screaming for a superimposed quote :)

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=lolcat

Henry Elliss April 24, 2007 at 1:19 am

We have two cats – Holly and Daisy.

We made them a website when they first arrived, but haven’t updated it recently! – http://www.ourfirstcat.com/

Henry

Dyce April 24, 2007 at 1:37 am

Love cats, although I cant have one at the moment.. one of the neighbours has one that visits every house near us… and my mum n dad have had loads where they live. Im definately a cat person :D

Andrew April 24, 2007 at 1:37 am

I have a Nabaztag/tag (http://www.nabaztag.com/en/index.html) From time to time he reads me bits of your blog!

Dr. David Klein April 24, 2007 at 1:42 am

Brian, your link killed me.

Matt, your cat looks very similar to my childhood Siamese cat named Janie.
I was actually raised by Janie.

For years I thought she loved me so much when I was sick that she would curl up on my head to protect me.

It wasn’t until decades later I realized she just liked the heat from my fever.
dk

Thomas April 24, 2007 at 2:16 am

Hi Matt,

nice cat! We got one called Isis and she acts like it too. No chance to take pictures of her in the short moments she “grants” us an audience (dos one say this in english? sorry not a native english speaker)

The vote box is cool! How do you integrate this into wordpress?

Alan April 24, 2007 at 2:25 am

I have to be honest, I’d prefer having Googlebot as my pet :)

Creased April 24, 2007 at 2:30 am

‘Cats do not have owners – they have staff.’

Pim April 24, 2007 at 2:40 am

Nice cat. I have a wireless mouse.

Adam April 24, 2007 at 3:02 am

I currently have two cats and a dog, and we’re actually looking into breeding Ocicats. They’re certainly interesting creatures to say the least.

Danny Sullivan April 24, 2007 at 3:30 am

Ozzie looks very nice. Now let’s see some pictures of him at work, Matt!

ne1home April 24, 2007 at 3:51 am

I noticed a remarkable effect on my Asian moggie:

She sleeps on a mat next to my monitor, but whenever, and I mean every time, I quietly turn on the Chopin, (Berceuse Op. 57) she wakes up and flops right in-between me and the keyboard in fruity mode.

Curious, I ran a control trial using the Mazurka in F maj instead. She either stayed asleep, or left the room.

Quite remarkable!

PS. Despite every effort to discover why our G traffic has fallen over the last year, emailing Adam, and following his suggestion of a re-inclusion req. (“It can’t do any harm”.)

It did harm!

Months later our traffic is down to 30 G referrals a day.
This on a NFP, clean site.
Not even a clue why, from G.

Would really appreciate you checking it out Matt.

omni April 24, 2007 at 3:59 am

Here’s one way to slow your cat down enough to take a picture of it:

http://picasaweb.google.com/omni.digitaldarkness/Scriptlet/photo#5056946860173262626

And it looks like our cats are almost identical…

Harith April 24, 2007 at 4:35 am

Danny Sullivan

“Ozzie looks very nice. Now let’s see some pictures of him at work, Matt!”

Oz is a very dynamic busy cat and has better things to do than watching Matt at the plex doing all those very boring tasks. At present Oz is at Matt’s homeoffice testing the effects of the new algos on all those paid links without rel=nofollow :)

Michael Goldberg April 24, 2007 at 4:40 am

Heh, I have a cat he is 7 years old and looks exactly like that cat. The only exception is that my cat weighs a lot more. Alot more…

SEO Company UK April 24, 2007 at 4:45 am

Great Pic.. I’ve got a Child. Does that count?

Carla April 24, 2007 at 5:51 am

Actually, I really love cats…but just kept finding them dead (guess the neighbourhood does not) so I got me a poodle.

Matt, I am not good at math

Clark April 24, 2007 at 5:58 am

Hi Matt Nice Cat

maybe my next website will be an Catwebseite

Greetings from the philippines where you need a dog

Kate Morris April 24, 2007 at 5:58 am

Got a border collie … Luke. Scared of all human except myself, roommate and her mom. Shelter dog.

But I was debating between that and Googlebot. Makes a fine pet. Hmmm … wonder if Google could market that?

“Get your own Google Bot!” (small grey plastic thing with Googlebot name … I’m sure some SEOs would love that on their desk)

martial April 24, 2007 at 6:01 am

Why dont you film your cat and place him here from youtube?

Alistair April 24, 2007 at 6:08 am

Matt,

Nice looking cat, I think Ozzie needs to meet my Ragdoll named Princess!

Regarding the strange behaviour from ne1home, Princess sleeps on her back with all four legs in the air. When she first did it as a kitten, we thought it was fantastically funny — then it stuck and it makes my wife and I smile every time we see her do it. Not to mention that she also fetches like a dog, that video was taken when she was only a kitten and was still learning. She is about 15 months old now and we’ll play fetch in blocks of 10 minute intervals regularly, hell – she brings her toys into the bedroom of a morning for us to start the game!

Al.

Tom April 24, 2007 at 6:13 am

My wife collects stuffed bears… I guess they are our pets :) As far as my Googlebot pet, I try and feed it every day!

Venu April 24, 2007 at 6:16 am

check our home cat stuck to a wall here :)

Paul K. April 24, 2007 at 6:54 am

We have one cat and one dog in our home. Suppose that says something about our decision making abilities?

/pd April 24, 2007 at 7:08 am

hey Matt, any chance of getting a Google collar for my Mr.Socks ?? :) -

Doug April 24, 2007 at 7:39 am

I thought of getting a cat once, but my friends told me to get a girlfriend instead :(

Charles Stankovich April 24, 2007 at 7:43 am

We have a Pomeranian named Cujo.

Maurice April 24, 2007 at 7:44 am

“Get your own Google Bot!”

Nice idea I remember when netscape did a plush version of the lizzard logo – that was back in the day when netscape fitted on a 1.44 floppy.

Matt Cutts April 24, 2007 at 8:36 am

Multi-Worded Adam, it’s a plug-in called Democracy. I saw the Shoemoney recommended it, so I figured I’d try it.

Brian, remix into lolcat form at will. :) You’ve see the lolcat builder?

Dr. David Klein, you worry me just a little.

Venu, that’s a scruffy cat. ;)

Danny, remind me to show you my scratches when we took Oz to the vet last time. Oz doesn’t like to get in the car. At all. I think Emmy would enjoy meeting the team though. :)

/pd, there used to be dog collars at the Google Store (I think). I’ll ask around.

Maurice: Plush Googlebots. Hmm….

Brian White April 24, 2007 at 8:53 am
l'Optimiseur April 24, 2007 at 9:26 am

I don’t understand why anyone would prefer a cat over a dog. Can someone explain this to me? The only reason I can think of is maybe you want a low-maintenance pet? Other than that, what’s the point… cats don’t do anything. 90% of cats I’ve seen don’t even interact with their owners. The only reason I would ever own a cat is to give my dogs something to chew on.

Amber April 24, 2007 at 9:40 am

Finally! 2007 Looks to have more cats posts! :D

Rob April 24, 2007 at 10:00 am

Hey Matt – you have very cute cats! Love the fact that one rests on your chest as you work!

I was a dog owner (would rather have punted a cat) turned CAT-LOVER. My girlfriend wanted a cat – so I surprised her with a little black kitten named Cricket – and he is quite a character… got him when he could fit in the palm of your hand. Of course, he followed the non-cat person around and is now my best buddy.

He sits between my arms while I type and even wakes me up in the night to ’spoon’… what can I say…?

Django April 24, 2007 at 10:19 am

A dog. I guess he’s about the only Pug in the world who’s into SEO. Ok, except for Nickey

bd_ April 24, 2007 at 10:50 am

Might want to look into your feedburner config – when reading your blog’s feed via google reader I was linked to http://feeds.mattcutts.com/~r/mattcutts/uJBW/~3/111478831/ , which had no particularly obvious way back to the real post – and nonfunctioning poll buttons :)

Matt Cutts April 24, 2007 at 10:59 am

Brian, you hooked me. There’s the lolcat builder at
http://www.kscakes.com/LolCats/

and it’s easy to make it say anything, e.g.

Fun stuff..

Silver April 24, 2007 at 11:41 am

l’Optimiseur, I’m surprised you’d ask that question!

Everyone knows that you have to have a cat in order to become an ultra-villain and control the world.

From the How To Be A Villain handbook: “…Gradually expand your turf, and be sure to pick up a fluffy white cat to stroke constantly…”

Laura Mandzok April 24, 2007 at 12:11 pm

Your Ozzie has a striking resemblance to my Tigger (sorry photo lacking). Does he like to open cupboards, dispell contents, and hide in them as well?

Heather April 24, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Ozzie looks just like my cat Tiga (although Tiga is much fatter). She is also very vocal and streaks around like crazy. My husband calls her “Cracky” because he says she acts like she’s on crack.

Thanks for letting us see your kitties!

Scott April 24, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Nice cat, but I have to stick with my dog. He causes fewer allegeries. Although he does occasionally eat one of my shoes.

rob April 24, 2007 at 1:53 pm

He looks like he’s hard as nails too – I vote he’s saying ‘come an have a go if you think ur hard enough’ failing that ‘you want some’

Harith April 24, 2007 at 2:09 pm

And the winner Brian White for generating this one !!

Ian Kennedy April 24, 2007 at 2:21 pm

What is it with all these cats people? The more I try and ignore them, the more they taunt me.

http://cavitate.net/flashpoint/2007/04/hairball.html

Ryan April 24, 2007 at 2:55 pm

sweet.. that lolcat builder is nice. Going to have some fun with that.

For those of you considering breeding / getting more cats, get a bengal. They’re part leopard part cat. Just like a regular cat but faster, stronger, longer, better at climbing, not afraid of water, and less fuzzy (short hair.)

Mine’s awesome. She plays fetch, hide and seek, swims in the bathtub, and answers when you talk to her.

I’ve almost got her trained to walk on a leash too. After that comes using the toilet instead of a litter box.

BaGRoS April 24, 2007 at 3:16 pm

Sweet, but I prefer dog:
http://www.bagros.home.pl/mini/MINIWWW03.jpg
this has 6 months, beautiful boxer :)

BEST REGARDS FROM POLAND!!

dockarl April 24, 2007 at 6:14 pm

Matt,

I went out with a veterinary surgeon for a good few years and scratches were all part of the fun :)

During that time I invented and perfected a cool way to avoid scratches when transporting cats.

You know those ‘knitted rugs’ that granny used to use on her rocking chair? Try and get hold of one. Should have plenty of holes in it, and be min 1m x 1m. Lay it out on the floor, flat.

Take cat, position cat on one corner of the rug. Give cat a pat, and then tightly roll moggie in rug like a burrito.

This makes the cat immobile, keeps him warm and comfy, lets him see and breath through the holes and is guaranteed to make your vet crack up laughing.

Cheers,

doc

Matt Cutts April 24, 2007 at 9:42 pm

Yup, dockarl. After getting scratched up taking Oz to the vet for a check-up, I learned about a wonderful technology called a “towel”. Wrapping them in a towel apparently makes things much easier. :) The “grab the cat and push them into the carrier” technique had worked up until then. Oh well, you live and learn. :)

dockarl April 24, 2007 at 9:48 pm

hehe.. that’s a good version too.. just WHATEVER YOU DO.. don’t keep ozzie waiting in the car while you organise the next toolbar PR push, unless there is plenty of food water and balls of wool to keep him amused :P

doc

Elaine April 24, 2007 at 10:48 pm

Bad poll, bad poll. I have both cats and a dog. Must offer multiple options. I shutter to think that if you can’t get a simple pet poll right, what other mistakes are you making at Google? Sorry I’m so critical, but it’s a pretty basic thing. Many people have multiple pets.

Fargham April 25, 2007 at 2:21 am

I do have a dog.
most interesting, a friend of mine has a monkey as a pet.

AjiNIMC April 25, 2007 at 2:35 am

I had many but now no.

>> Googlebot, a pet, that will be interesting
Every website having one pet of its own, which can be managed (fully or partially) by the website owners (in collaboration with Google). How will that help? Hmm… Improved crawling for advance users. Afterall a pet should be pet, not profitable always.

Mike April 25, 2007 at 7:03 am

It’s hard to admit to people I have 2 cats, it’s sort of emasculating. It my wife’s fault really! I’m a dog man but I moved to Florida and I think it’s just too hot for dogs. Cats are cool.

Liam April 25, 2007 at 8:09 am

Am I right in guessing you too are a fan of Dean Koontz’s “Odd Thomas”? Only other possibility I can think of is that Ozzie was named after the well-known Brummie musician. Slightly surprised that no-one else has theorised about the origin of your pet’s name yet.

Matt Cutts April 25, 2007 at 1:21 pm

By the way, Googler Craig Nevill-Manning has given me permission to show his incredibly cute cats, Lady Penelope and Brains. :) Here’s the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/craig.nevillmanning/LadyPenelopeAndBrains?authkey=gGI1ewxDZmg

Liam, for Ozzie’s name, think more about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. :)

veli001 April 25, 2007 at 3:10 pm

I really like your cat, I had 11 cats before two of them have been crashed by a train and 3 of them mysteriously disappeared. Now I have 6 of them and I can say that cats are animal that is easiest to take care of. Dog brings very big responsibility and looking after him whole time. I had a dog too two years ago and I can say that taking care of 11 cats is lot easier that taking care of one dog.

grassbudgie April 25, 2007 at 4:50 pm

I have a Budgie. William is his name. Cats are a big problem for wildlife in Australia. I rescued a small possum recently that was being harassed by a cat.

ak April 25, 2007 at 6:39 pm

Matt – You got pet insurance for your talking felines?

Andrew April 25, 2007 at 9:21 pm

Thats a good Image, cats can be such fickle subjects.

Googlebots are nice if you have a hair allergy, but they want to eat different things on a regular basis. The other day all we had in the pantry was a can of spam and now our Googlebot hasn’t returned in a few weeks. We made a sitemap and posted it on some telephone poles but there has been no update so far.

Liam April 26, 2007 at 10:19 am

Ah! Thanks for the explanation, Matt. Obvious that a cat should be named after a werewolf, really. %>}

Goran April 27, 2007 at 4:26 pm

Just love cats! I have a bunch of them, to be exact 12 i think :p, one just like yours. Also have 2 dogs, cows, rabbits. What can I say, I live on a farm :)

Ron Chaplin April 29, 2007 at 10:12 am

I don’t have an actual pet, but a virtual one. I recently read an article about my bank, Wells Fargo, in a story I discovered on http://www.webnewsblog.org/ and it talked about how they are going to be joining the Second Life realm. Well, I decided to check out Second Life as well. Long story short, I eventually acquired a pet dragon that follows me around!

Jason was here April 29, 2007 at 3:03 pm

Why dont you have a button for Saltwater Fish? I have a reef tank that i love..haha….I dont like the smell of crap so it works for me..
But if I did have a cat, i would like a grey one with blue eyes…..

Av Da April 29, 2007 at 4:23 pm

I think the google web history feature should be turned off by default.

Robert Earl April 29, 2007 at 7:06 pm

I have a dog, The Baron Earl. Baron is a 1 year old Bichon that also give his “ruff view” on what he likes to look for in a home.

Sreejith April 30, 2007 at 6:10 am

Lol. Its tough to get pictures of cats. I mean, I had a cat when I was 10 years old and I believed that it is the cutest in the world. But, I can’t take a picture of it to show off !! Bad.

I don’t have a kitty now. I’m 16. Having a pet is uncool in this age. :)

Tobsy April 30, 2007 at 9:03 am

Hmm, I like cats, but I’m allergic to animal hair, so – no cat for Tobsy.

On this picture I’m not sure what to say. Either “Oh, he’s cute :-) ” or “Uhm, he looks scary. Does he eat fat German dudes?”. Pick one *g*.

Jose April 30, 2007 at 9:26 pm

Matt,
I didn’t like cats… I am on my second one by now :)
Still love dogs, had them for most of my early years.

ChinaSEO May 5, 2007 at 2:25 am

I love dogs.but I don’t have a dog.

Dog Clothing May 8, 2007 at 9:45 am

I love dogs very much and I am even trying to do some business in dog clothing!

Kuiken May 8, 2007 at 5:18 pm

Hi Matt,

I only care for ducks, they are the coolest animals on the planet.
In fact, I like them even better than humans :)

Red May 9, 2007 at 5:59 am

My cat has the same colouring, she even has her own blog and myspace page!

shehap May 9, 2007 at 12:58 pm

Thanks a bunch

Joi May 14, 2007 at 8:28 am

Ozzie’s a handsome little guy. I have two male cats, two female cats, and an invisible bulldog named Duchess.

Mike Day May 17, 2007 at 9:57 am

‘Cats have the same look on their face; whether they look at a butterfly, or an axe murderer.’

kokoro May 18, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Ozzie is quite a poser!My cat Spot is a sleeper and his best friend is rottweiler Xing!

kokoro May 18, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Leo Web Design May 21, 2007 at 7:12 am

Matt,

Cool cat!

Your poll should have checkboxes! Some of us have dog(s) and cat(s)!

WebWalas June 17, 2007 at 12:22 am

I don’t know why, but cat seems a “careless” creature to me. While dog responds to all your emotions.

May be I am love “hungry” guy, but it is really hard for me to hug a cat while she seems very careless about “Hug”.

Artur June 19, 2007 at 8:39 am

Similar on my cat :)

Novel October 20, 2007 at 4:37 am

Thats a good Image, cats can be such fickle subjects.

Thanks again!!

seo November 7, 2007 at 1:47 am

Your poll should have checkboxes! Some of us have dog(s) and cat(s)!

Deeho SEO June 12, 2009 at 1:29 am

We can safely assume that cats are the IT industries friends then? I am missing animal company at the moment as my girlfriend is scared of all animals……. except me of course!

Leave a Comment

If you have a question about your site specifically or a general question about search, your best bet is to post in our Webmaster Help Forum linked from http://google.com/webmasters

If you comment, please use your personal name, not your business name. Business names can sound salesy or spammy, and I would like to try people leaving their actual name instead.

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous post:

Next post: