Cats, Pt. 2

Have you ever tried to pick up a cat by the scruff of its neck? Apparently this is something that can be done. Apparently the mother cats do it. I am also told that the adult cats like to be picked up this way more than any other way. I had heard all these things, but I had never tried to pick up a cat this way.

One day I put theory into practice and grabbed the cat by the skin between his shoulders. That is the right place I am sure. I am sure I was not pinching him because the mother cats do it with their teeth and come on. Cats are plastic beings. I pulled him upwards and he stood there, all four feet on the ground, nowhere near rising into the air. He cried. Have you ever heard a cat cry? It is this thin anguished noise that is not at all like a meow. What am I doing wrong? Did I have a bad cat?