Purrfect match: cats and their human doubles

We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. 

If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”

In 2018, Gethings had created a series of photographs of dogs that resemble people – based on looks, attitude or hairstyle – which became a bestselling memory-card game, matching poodles and chow chows with their human counterparts. “Everyone’s seen someone who looks like a dog. It’s been an idea for ever,” he says. “But I don’t think people have thought, ‘That person looks a lot like a cat.’ I suppose there’s a feline quality some people can have, but not in the same way. They don’t have huge beards, or things dogs have, like a centre parting and long hair – easy matches. Cats are more difficult.”

By Kathryn Bromwich, for The Guardian