Scat Cats

Scat Cats is a 1957 Spike and Tyke cartoon produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It is the second of the only two Spike and Tyke cartoons in a spin-off for Tom and Jerry.

Plot

George and Joan are going out for the night. George tells Spike to keep an eye on the house while they are away. Butch the cat, who is also owned by George and Joan, telephones his friends Lightning, Topsy, and Meathead (who is for some reason portrayed as a gray cat instead of a brown cat with a red toupee) to come to a party at his house.

The three cats attempt to sneak into the house but are seen by Spike. Butch waits at the door, but Spike unexpectedly grabs him by the neck and throws him into the house, and stands by the door. The cats sneak up, but realize it's him, so they run off. While Lightning runs off, he showed Spike that Tyke had bitten his tail and asks "Is this your kid?". Spike pulls Tyke off his tail.

Lightning uses a lasso and throws it to the antenna. Spike realizes that he is trying to get into the house through the window, so he pushes a chimney in front of the window, causing Lightning to crash into it. Topsy then attempts to use a slingshot to get in through another window, but Spike catches him with a glove, uses a tennis racket and smacks him away with it.

Meathead uses a ladder to try to get in through one of the top windows, but while he is climbing, Spike picks the ladder up and takes it away from him. Meathead jumps off the ladder and holds onto the roof, which causes the roof to be completely destroyed.

The cats then make a huge paper plane. Topsy sits on the plane, and Lightning and Meathead set him off. Spike uses a lighter to set fire to the plane when it goes past, with Topsy being unaware that it is on fire. It stops at one of the top windows in the house, but it burns out completely, causing Topsy to land on the ground with a parachute appearing as he lands.

Lightning and Topsy use a big seesaw to fly into the house, with Butch trying to catch them in a net. Spike then cuts the net with hedge trimmers, which causes Meathead to land in a bin on a second seesaw. Spike then jumps onto the seesaw, causing the bin to land on the other seesaw, which also causes Lightning to fly into the bin.

Butch uses Morse Code to tell the cats to try digging into the house. Lightning digs into the ground and goes underground. Being unaware that Spike got the Morse Code message as well, he has dug a hole in his path and sat in it. Lightning feels Spike’s nose as Spike bites his hand and carries him out of the front gate with Lightning’s hand still in his mouth.

The cats then attempt to use a tandem bicycle to get into the house. Spike and Tyke notice them as they close the front gate. The cats run the front gate over and head towards the house. Butch then closes the house door, causing it to be run over as well. They also run over the back door, and attempt to stop, but instead Spike causes them to end up digging themselves underground with the tandem. Spike appears and collects the dust using a dustpan and brush, and empties it into the bin. The cats then peep out from under the lid.

ln the last attempt, Lightning and Meathead disguise as George and Joan with Topsy in their suitcase. They successfully convince Spike they are home but Tyke, now realizing they are the cats in disguise, bites Lightning’s tail. Thinking as if Tyke really attacked their owner, Spike apologizes to "George" that Tyke lacked experience and attempts to pull him off, but pulls Lightning’s disguise coat off, causing Spike to realize they were cats in disguise. Butch gasps, and grabs some sandwiches and runs out of the back door, followed by the other cats when chased by Spike. All four cats climb up the tree, but Lightning comes down and shows that Tyke had bitten his tail again. Spike pulls Tyke off his tail and the Lightning climbs back up the tree with Tyke barking.

In the last scene, the cats are eating the sandwiches in the tree and Lightning refers to Spike as a good watchdog — and Tyke as a "chip off the old block." Spike in a successful and happy conclusion says to Tyke: "That's my boy!" as the film closes.

External links

• Scat Cats at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Scat Cats at the Internet Movie Database