Happy National Cat Day! This is a holiday specifically created to raise awareness of the millions of cats in shelters that need homes and encourage adoption. It is also the purr-fect day to celebrate cats and all the love and joy they bring to our lives. Treat your cat to extra snacks, a new toy, or a few more kisses and cuddles to let them know how much you appreciate them.
Here are a few great ways to celebrate this special day.
Treat Your Cat
Show your cat some extra love today! Whether it’s extra playtime, a new toy, or their favorite snack your cat will love celebrating National Cat Day with you. Turn on some Cat TV and enjoy ten more minutes cuddling in bed before starting your day. Pamper them with a nice grooming session or sprinkle some catnip on their favorite spot to laze and let them roll around and enjoy themselves. Take some cute selfies and share them online using #NationalCatDay. Buy them that scratcher/cat tree/tunnel/etc you’ve had your eye on. They deserve it for all the joy they bring you.
Adopt, Volunteer, or Foster
So many amazing cats and kittens are in shelters or rescues hoping to be adopted into loving homes. When you adopt a pet from a shelter, you are quite honestly saving their life. Public shelters in the United States are open intake, which means they sometimes become inundated with animals and don’t have enough space to house them all. As a result, animals are euthanized. The number of euthanized animals would decrease significantly if people adopt pets instead of purchasing them.
When you adopt from a shelter or a rescue, that also frees up space for the shelter to house another cat, which means that you are actually saving two lives! The cost of your adoption goes right back to helping the shelter provide for the new animals that arrive in their facility. The more cats get adopted, the more cats can be rescued.
Visit your local shelter and see for yourself all of the wonderful animals they have available for adoption or foster. Bring the shelter some food or toys or treats they can give to the cats to brighten their day. Take photos or videos of the pets and share on social media to help them find homes. Sign up to foster until a cat finds their forever home or start volunteering. Volunteers are always needed to socialize the animals, play with them, and give them some love.
TNR
One of the main reasons there are so many cats and kittens in shelters is overpopulation. Cats can become pregnant when they are as young as four months old. An average litter has 4-6 kittens so the cat population can grow exponentially if cats don’t get spayed or neutered. Spaying and neutering helps to control the pet overpopulation crisis by decreasing the number of community cats born outside with nowhere to go.
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a compassionate approach to managing community cat populations. TNR allows community cats to live out their lives in their colonies without producing more kittens. This process involves trapping cats in humane traps, having them spayed or neutered, vaccinated, flea treated, ear-tipped for identification, and then returning them to their outdoor home.
If you notice community cats in your area, get in touch with a local TNR group and start volunteering or become a colony caretaker. A rescue group can teach you how to trap and help arrange spay/neuter appointments to get the cats sterilized. Rescues are always looking for volunteers to help with TNR and transporting cats to and from the vet clinics.
Donate
Shelters and rescues always need more funding to save more lives. If you’re able, contribute to your local shelter or favorite rescue to help them care for their animals. Financial contributions or supplies like food, toys, treats, and bowls are always appreciated. Towels and pillowcases are usually welcomed too to keep the animals cozy and comfortable. Newspapers are often needed to line cages and keep them nice and clean.
Every cat deserves to be loved the way we love our cats. Raising awareness of all the cats and kittens in shelters hoping to get adopted is something easy we can all do to help make that dream a reality.
Wishing you a very happy #NationalCatDay to you and your furry friends!
Love, Nala