Pull out your cat-eye sunglasses and do the twining with your cat, for today is International Cat Day and there could be no better way to show some extra love to your furry feline friend. Or how about immersing yourself in cat videos that make you want to run to the pet store to get one “or adopt one,” suggests a cat lover.
International Cat Day was first celebrated in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to honour, arguably, the most popular pet on the planet. Interestingly most stories of owning a cat for a pet begins with 'I found this little kitten,' indicating how it is almost impossible to look away from a kitten.
“Everyone who thinks it is easier to have a dog for a pet at home, definitely never had a cat. Actually, cats are the sorted ones. They know how to express their emotions way too well (which is essentially ‘cuddle me’ and ‘feed me’). Cats are moody and humans can identify themselves to them well. Those who have cats will know how absolutely therapeutic it is to annoy a cat who is not in a playful mood,” says the cat lover Kaberi B.
Faiz Rai and his brother's request for a pet cat was on a long hold. They tried every means to get home a pet but, “With us shifting into an apartment temporarily, it was difficult. Finally, when we moved back to an independent house, my brother brought a cat and placed it in my mom's lap. We haven’t looked back after that. My parents are more protective of them,” says Faiz who now has 10 cats. His Persian cats have exotic Arabic names.
Faiz’s mother, Sohela Rai’s cats
While raising cats in apartments does pose a problem, it’s not an impossible task. One hotelier who had moved to Hyderabad from Bengaluru took more than a month to remodel a room for her cats before she brought them home. Changes in the cats’ room ranged from making it danger-free to putting up scratch posts and a play area. Her cats move with her and she won’t part with them at any cost, she told me.
Then there are people who just let cats walk into their life Bengaluru -based entrepreneur Palak Singh shares her story of how she let them purr and cuddle into her heart. “I first came into contact with cats on the terrace of my apartment. My ex-boyfriend had paternal inclinations towards the feline species. When a female cat came looking for food, he fed her and the following day she brought her two kittens. Soon my terrace became a 24-hour diner for stray cats in the area! It was a low commitment relationship since they only wanted food (like warm milk and bread) and a safe space to play outside the house. I was warming up to them entering the house on the pretext of playing hide-and-seek.
The big breakthrough happened on my travels to Manali in peak snow time — I saw this furball of a kitten with specks of white snow fluff, shivering on the road, I picked her gently, cleaned her and took her to my room and fed her some warm milk, she immediately clung to my sweater and started purring. I named her Fia and decided to take her with me to Delhi. I cancelled my flight back and took a cab to Delhi with Fia. Fia turned me into half-mother half-rescuer, climbing neighbour’s balconies and chasing rowdy cats away. No cat-proofing could stop her from escaping. Then came Dawn because I found him at the break of dawn. I found this male kitten meowing for rescue in my neighbour’s car engine! I took him in, gave him first aid and lots of TLC and he became Fia’s playmate.” Given a chance, Palak can go on narrating tales of her many cats that followed Fia and Dawn.
Now, with people getting more broad-minded over the years, they seem to have discovered why a black cat crossed your path.
“Of course because it saw something more exciting on the other side of the road,” laughs Mani, another cat lover. “If a cat crossing your path is supposed to bring bad luck, then imagine the situation of people who have cats at home. If they believe in that superstition, they will have to operate from a chair all day,” adds Mani.
Vasumana Ghosh with cat her residence in Hyderabad. Photo: G. Ramakrishna
Vasumana Ghosh's cats Noah and Amber have changed her life. She best puts it “They have domesticated me. I have become a responsible person who now loves to spend time with cats after my evening yoga session. I totally love the fact they are demanding with their needs, it made me more responsible,” says Vasumana.
A study (reported in an online article) about cats states: “A National Center for Biotechnology Information study found that spending time with an animal can increase the hormone oxytocin. Sometimes called the “cuddle chemical,” oxytocin increases pet owners’ sense of well-being. In addition, playing with a pet can increase serotonin and dopamine levels, two key chemicals in regulating mood disorders such as depression.”
So that’s official then!
