The number of “cat days” keeps growing, with separate dates for national and international cat days, dates honoring black cats, tabbies, calicos and tortoiseshells, and more.
But National Cat Day is one of the OGs, beginning 21 years ago, and it’s endorsed by the ASPCA. The main purpose of National Cat Day, per its founders, is to help homeless kitties find forever homes by inspiring people to adopt.
So we’ll say what we always do: shelters are full of little buddies who are just as lovable and deserving as Little Buddy himself, and all they need is a home, some love and patience to help them feel secure. Once they know they’re safe and loved, their personalities shine through.
If you like feline-centric fiction, Mollie Hunt released her 12th Crazy Cat Lady Mystery novel today. It’s called Cold Case Cat and you can read more about it here.
Meanwhile over at Catwoods, Leah writes about — and includes great photos of — her “Halloween cat,” Shelley. She also revisits the Facebook hoax posts we wrote about a few weeks ago, in which users claim the big cat was spotted in places as varied as Louisiana’s bayou, the Houston region, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Finally, the satirists at McSweeney’s have a new post titled “A Brief Questionnaire Before You Adopt This Rescue Cat,” which takes aim at overzealous shelter/rescue operators who make the process of child adoption look easy by comparison, and are constantly at capacity because they’ve made perfect the enemy of good.
Wanna adopt this cat? Hand over a list of every person you associate with along with their addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers, prepare for a 30-day in-home evaluation by a shelter staffer, and agree to feed kitty a diet of sushi-grade tuna!
While it seems outlandish, I encountered some contracts that were only slightly less onerous before I adopted Bud, and it’s obviously the McSweeney’s team has too.
Now I understand a bit more why some shelter staff are so cautious. They see some of the worst behavior, after all, including people who return cats because they’re too affectionate, animal abuse cases, and cats on death’s door because their humans ignored decades of research and tried to turn their obligate carnivore pets into vegans.
They want to make sure the cats go to good homes, which is admirable, but they shouldn’t overlook potential adopters who are well-intentioned and looking for a little pal.
Pain In The Bud 
When Brandon was adopted it took hours to process the paperwork – plus I had to hand over my D/L for what seemed forever before they finally gave it back to me. With Ramses it was more humane. I felt like I was treated as a real human being and never had to hand over my D/L. Wish the shelters here were more like the one in Diamond Springs.
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Yup, they want ID, the contracts stipulate that the cats belong to the shelter, which can take them back at any time for any reason, and some shelters said vet references were mandatory, even if you’d never had a pet before.
Do you think the shelter ran a background check on you when you gave them your license? That must be an expense that quickly adds up if they do.
That’s one thing I wouldn’t mind, within reason. If they want to check that people haven’t been convicted of animal abuse or domestic abuse, that would help screen out the worst.
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Thank you so much for posting about National Cat Day! Those pictures of Little Buddy are just fabulous! All your information about adoption is spot-on. I feel the process of adopting from a good shelter is well worth it; we’ve never done that as we’ve adopted the cats who came to us (we always checked to make sure no one was looking for them). I adore Mollie’s books (and her volunteer work for shelters); I am behind on reading them but hoping to catch up soon. LOL I managed to miss posting on both the recent cat day dates, and the kitties and I appreciate the link to the post we did get to do!
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Yeah, you live in an area where there are lots of free-roaming cats, and they’re lucky to have kind people like you who care for them.
I feel like there are probably too many of these cat days now because they’re getting hard to keep track of, but it’s still good to bring up “adopt, don’t shop” more frequently and remind people there are lots of little ones who need homes.
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Ya know, I didn’t mean to make light of the red tape it takes to adopt from some shelters. I’m sure it’s off-putting and can discourage some good adopters, and even eliminate some. I’m glad there are good rescue groups and shelters screening adopters, but they do need to put lots of thought and intuition into their requirements.
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No worries! I didn’t get that vibe at all from your comment. And yeah, shelter staff do have good reasons to be careful.
Now that I have experience, when I adopt again I would like to adopt an adult cat from a shelter, a cat who might otherwise be overlooked.
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Four of our cats came from shelters and one showed up on the doorstep (Sgt Stripes). I’ve seen some of those questionnaires. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t qualify for some of them.
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And then five or six cats wouldn’t have a good home where they’re obviously adored and doted on.
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Thanks for sharing my Cold Case Cat book launch! As always, my hero Lynley takes on the care of shelter and rescue cats, but this time it’s a new job for her at a sanctuary for senior and hospice cats. “Old Cats Rule!”
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