It's National Cat Day in the US. What Can I Do?

National Cat Day was started to heighten the awareness of people to rescue cats in shelters and to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the life of their cat companions. So what can we do on this day? It must be about improving the lives of our cats. That must be the underlying purpose of National Cat Day. I would like to suggest one overarching goal which affects every aspect of cat caregiving: respecting the cat. So what does respecting the cat mean? First it means reminding ourselves that we are living with another species of animal. It means not treating our domestic cat companions as little people although that is very nice to do and what one is almost compelled to do but it can lead to relating and interacting with our cats in the wrong way.

Picture: Figo Pet Insurance

Respecting the cat really means understanding the cat which is going require some book work if you like. If not book work then some thought and consideration. Perhaps watching some videos or reading articles like this one. You have to understand domestic cat behaviour to respect the cat. You have to understand a little bit about their anatomy, their diet and their physiology. You need to get into the head of your cat is best you can to understand their desires and motivations. Then you need to allow them as best as possible to express those desires and motivations. The more they can do this the happier they will be. A domestic cat is happiest when he is able to behave as naturally as possible. That means creating an environment where you can do this. And the concept of ownership should be rejigged to to one of 'relationship'. The concept of ownership does not sit well with good cat caretaking.

  

Another aspect of respecting the cat is to remind ourselves that we are a human-animal and much larger than a domestic cat. How do they see us? Do they respect the human? Well we don't know for sure how they view us but they probably relate to us as if we are cats. This is because they do not change their behaviour around us. They behave as if they were behaving towards another cat, perhaps a mother cat. This indicates that they think of us as cats. Dogs, conversely, relate to people differently than they do towards other dogs. This indicates that they view us as a species other than a dog.

  

So we need to remind ourselves that we are much larger than them and that they live in our world. We have complete control over that world. We can make it good and we can make it bad. We have to also realise that domestic cats are not "independent" to the point where they can be left alone all day. They are social animals. They have learned to be sociable with their human companions and other cats and dogs. Therefore we need to be around them, interacting with them.

  

As one last point worth making and that is the obesity epidemic. This is almost like loving a cat too much. It almost inevitably boils down to providing a cat with too much food and not enough activity. The simple fix for feline obesity is to feed in a more controlled way and interact with your cat to play a lot more. The first is easier to do than the second and it means providing high quality cat food, no dry cat food ideally, and rationing the portions. Your cat will complain initially until he gets used to it. Obesity causes health problems and loving a cat by providing too many treats causing health problems is not truly loving your cat or respecting him or her either.