Respect Your Cat Day

Dogs Have Masters Cats Have Staff

I know, you respect them everyday – they demand it! Today seriously is Respect Your Cat Day and I think its a good idea to keep us in check when it comes to our cats.

There are cat lovers and dog lovers in the world, that is a fact and people can be both. No matter which you are – you know cats demand and deserve a different level of respect. There is a saying that, “dogs have masters and cats have staff”, which essentially means the dog works for us but we work for the cat.

I wrote a post a little over a month ago listing the many benefits of cats to our lives. While it’s fantastic to learn about the wonderful things they can do for us – it’s equally important that we make certain we are providing a beneficial life for them. Its important to have a better understanding of cats in our lives and Abigail Tucker helps shed light on this.

The Lion in Our Living Rooms

Abigail Tucker, author of the book, “The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World” did some fascinating research on just how cats came to be domesticated. According to Tucker it is quite complicated considering their wild relatives whom they are genetically very closely related to, stay far far away from humans. She also explores in her book the amazing impact these “lions in our living rooms” have on the environment. While we think they don’t have much impact because they live inside and never or rarely go out to kill or poop on things – they can’t do that much right?

Tucker estimates that there are between 600 to 1 BILLION little lions in our living rooms (house cats) and they require a substantial amount of protein to live. Whether we like it or not, they have a pretty big impact even if their food is coming from a can.“Basically, house cats have been able to succeed by sidling up to humanity and harvesting our resources without giving us too much in return and without compromising their feline forms in a way that would prevent them from surviving without us,” Tucker concludes from her research.

So, when you see your little lion or lioness perched on the coach, bathing in the afternoon sunlight or grooming themselves in the corner – take more notice. While they may be straining the environment and your wallet, they deserve quite a bit of respect. The house cat has broken the wild cat mold and instead of avoiding humans to survive, they have figured out exactly how to train us to feed them. Your cat can survive just as well in your 1 bedroom post-college apartment as it could out in the woods munching on morning doves. They chose to go against the grain, against their natural programming and take up residence in our homes.  Tucker has traveled the world studying animals but notes that the domestic feline “is an interesting animal that has come to meet me in my living room. This cat is a creature of conquest and a creature that is a global survivor, and is an example of how amazing nature is.”

While you enjoy your cat’s company after a long day at work and benefit from the medically therapeutic Hz of your kitty’s purr, remember that cat is just a little lion in your living room – she’s a huntress who has convinced you to give her the next meal. We owe it to her to let her be the wild being she still is at heart and of course know how to recognize when she is not well. We need to know how to act when she needs us – as her staff that’s our job. Cats are extremely stoic beings. They never want you to know they could be suffering because that would show weakness. This makes it even more important for us to stay tuned to our cat’s health.

Besides learning how to recognize and act through cat first aid and CPR training, remember to keep your wild beast fit mentally and physically. Here is a video showing some things you can do to keep your kitty well-balanced.