Black Cat Appreciation Day

Every year on Black Cat Appreciation Day, people are faced with the erroneous "fact" that black cats are overlooked in shelters and that they are less likely to be adopted when they are in shelters. I accepted this 'fact' for years but yet never really saw it in practice in my local shelter. I would have whole bunches of black kittens that would be snatched right up on adoption day.

Then I stumbled upon an article that actually turned that myth on its ear. Dr. Emily Weiss did a study to find out if black cats really were not being adopted. She looked at the data from the ASPCA's A Comprehensive Animal Risk Database, which pulled numbers from 14 communities and nearly 300,000 dogs and cats. She wondered if it could be that there are simply more black dogs and cats entering the system, making it appear that they are more at risk? A quote from her blog post: "Let’s say 4 black dogs and 1 white dog enter the shelter, and the next day 1 white dog and 1 black dog are adopted—that leaves just 3 black dogs in kennels, shifting a perception of risk. However, the same number of black and white dogs were adopted!"

Her post has some wonderful charts looking at the actual data of intakes and adoptions and those figures appear to support her theory. You can read a few more stories on this phenomenon at VetStreet.com, NYMag.com, and OregonLive.com.

I recognize that a lot of people have superstitions about black cats that harken back to the dark ages, but people who subscribe to that generally aren't adopting cats anyway. Personally, I swore to never adopt another black cat after adopting Ollie because taking photos of him was so hard. Fortunately, my photography skills increased quite a deal since 2010, and I now look forward to the challenge of adopting black kitties.

I do not want to diminish the need to adopt black cats and I am all for any adoption promotions that make use of Black Cat Appreciation Day,  I just think we need to not fall prey to myth and misinformation when it comes to kitties.

I learned from A Tonk's Tail that black cats are genetically prone to be more friendly. She quoted what Dr. Temple Grandin wrote in her book "Animals Make Us Human": "black cats are friendlier than other cats, are better able to deal with crowding and urban life, and have greater aggregative tendencies" and "black cats are more social overall, whether it’s with other cats or with humans."

This may, or may not, be your experiences with black cats, but regardless of our personal feelings on coat colors, all cats deserve appreciation - but today is the day we stop to appreciate the black ones.

Black Cat Appreciation Day

Years ago animals who went into the shelter had a worse than a 50/50 shot of getting out. Black cats and dogs had a far worse time of it. Thankfully the word has gotten out that black cats aren't bad luck, and the stats no longer say that black cats are more likely to die than others in a shelter.

But cats are still dying in shelters.. black, white, tabby, tortie.. they are all dying. I think instead of highlighting 'black cats' we should be highlighting the awesome cats that end up at the shelter. They are not broken or damaged or nonredeemable.. okay some are broken and some are damaged, but all of them are awesome. Some of the best relationships I have had with cats were the ones that needed more from me than a 'normal healthy cat'.  Out of the 370 fosters I have had I remember the ones who had serious health issues more keenly. My time taking care of Em after she became diabetic brought us closer.

So take another look at the black cat (little black cats go with everything you know) or the diabetic, or the three legged cat.. because money can buy you love when you use it for an adoption fee.

And, as it just so happens, I happen to have three wonderful friendly happy, purring cuddly black kittens that are going back to the shelter for adoption on Thursday.. so lets get to the appreciatin..

Cats just like these, or like your own, are dying because people do not understand how awesome shelter kitties are, so tell us about your experience with a rescue kitty.

Hodge Podge of a post

Happy National Black Cat Appreciation Day!

I'm a little sad that Tina, Keith and Adele aren't with me to celebrate, but I can celebrate they are in their new homes.

I am loathe to admit that I once said I would never adopt a black cat... the reason being when I adopted Ollie I had a devil of a time taking pictures of him.. instead of taking it as a challenge to improve my photography skills I just let the frustration annoy me.

Then I learned that black cats and dogs are far more likely to be euthanized when they enter a shelter because people do not adopt them. The reasons why vary from old superstitions to pet hair.. It is so sad that any pet looses it's life before it gets to begin, but even more so because of the color of it's fur.

Speaking of which, today is also apparently International Homeless Animals' Day

Millions of animals are killed each year simply because there are not enough homes.  No matter what the no-kill movement tells you right now, we are still a very long way from solving this problem.  Education is the only way.. Helping people understand the plight of the animals is the first step in helping the animals.

Speaking of helping the animals..

My poor momma cat is not doing well at all.  I weighed her yesterday and she was 5.5lbs; this morning 4lb 14oz.  I force fed her maybe a third of a can of A/D and some KMR which she took far better than I thought she would... she even licked some of it off the towel I had her wrapped in, so I hoped she would eat it out of a bowl, but she wouldn't.  I gave her 20ccs of fluids yesterday before she got mad at me.  This morning I gave her another third of a can mixed with KMR and got about 15ccs of fluids in her before she started hissing at me and threatening to bite me... I gave all of the kits some KMR as well and sadly they all took some.  Prior to this when I would feed the wee one some would take a little, most would refuse.

They also have started soiling the bed.  This isn't unusual, but it is also a sign that mom isn't up to taking care of them or maybe she doesn't like KMR waste.. *shrug*  She is taking care of them, she is grooming them and letting them nurse.  She also looks fine.  You would barely know she's not eating.. she is not sneezing, no inflammation, she is bright eyed and likes attention when I finally get my hands on her.. (she avoids it when ever possible) other than the fact she feels like fur and bone and she is shedding quite a bit..

But she has started drinking water again, which is something.  *paws crossed*

How I celebrated National Black Cat Appreciation Day

I picked up two black kittens to foster.  One is fluffy.  She is a girl, she's mostly outgoing and has a tendency to growl and hiss and make a general nuisance of herself simply because she doesn't know better.    But she is willing to come up to me and let me pat her, so we'll just have to teach her that hiss and spit is for warnings of backing off and nothing else.

The second is short haired.  He is a boy.  He is mostly NOT outgoing and would much prefer it if I would simply go away.  Although he did really like that yummy chicken baby food I gave him, enough that he was willing to come out of the box for it.  He's really cute and has a stubby tail, about an inch and a half long.  He is also an absolute mess.  Completely and utterly covered in flea dirt.  His ears are covered in ear cleaning solution so his ears must have been a mess when he showed up too.  I'm letting him rest tonight and I'll give him a bath tomorrow.  It should be quick enough because all kitties get flea treatment so he shouldn't have any on him *knock wood* *knocks again to be safe* so I should be able to simply get the dirt off of him with a water bath.

So hopefully they'll only be here a week or possibly two. *knocks more wood* before they are adoptable and of size.  I am so determined to hit 300 kitties fostered this year.  Although considering the fact that the leaves are starting to change already I'm not sure that is going to happen.  But you know what they say, you shoot for the moon and miss at least you are among the stars!

Girl

Boy

Short stubby tail.  Calling him "Stubbs" would mean I have no imagination right?

Nom nom nom

Hey, bring that back!

OK

Fine

if I must

I'll get my own

Girl on my lap

Girl playing

She had run of the room last night because she kept forgetting he was in the cage with her (because he was hiding in the box) and when she noticed him she would hiss and spit and act all tough.  He's in the cage until he comes up to me on his own.