It's National Hug Your Cat Day.  OK, I will.    In fact I do it everyday.

We have two cats, sisters, nicknamed thick and thin for physically obvious reasons.  Thick always climbs up on my bed in the evening and hangs out til I go to bed and I have to pick her up and carry her to my daughter Kate's room where she happily spends the rest of the night.

My affiliation with these felines is unusual.  I'm not what you would call a "Cat Guy".  I'm allergic to long haired cats but the two we have now are shorthaired and sneeze free.

Growing up on a farm, cats were part of daily life but they were basically self sufficient and lived in the barn. These two are a much more integrated pair.  In fact just last night Kate gave me a big spontaneous "THANKS AGAIN DAD" for letting her get the cats 3 years ago because she loves them so much and they add so much interest, humor and drama to our lives.

Are they fed, are they safely in for the night, are they climbing on things they shouldn't, look how cute they are, watch thin stalking prey, watch thick being lazy...they truly do add to quality of life so I can see why cat lovers came up with the National Hug Your Cat day.

From their website: : "All kitten aside, if you’re fur-tunate enough to have a feline friend, any attention they give you may be a blessing. Others never leave your side and cuddle often. Of course, most cats have purr-sonality in spades"

 

 

Some cat numbers from Petpedia

42.7 million US households have at least one cat.

It’s believed that roughly 73 million cats in the US are feral or unowned.  (That's a lot of furballs!)

Every year, 1.6 million cats get adopted.

One final thought. Cats haven't always been with us in America.  They aren't indigenous.  Cats came over with the explorers and settlers in the 1600's as official mice catchers onboard the ships.  So they earned their way over and they've worked their way into our hearts and our households ever since. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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