![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Black Cat Appreciation Day
Apparently it was Black Cat Appreciation Day yesterday (17th) in the US. They're adopted last there (my Sebastian, shown here, was at the Lonely Miaow months after his sibs, but that may have been shyness) and are five times more likely to be put to sleep at shelters in the US because of this, but why? Stupid superstition? [Edit: yes, apparently, they're regarded as bad luck there.] Going by the black cats I've known, they're stunningly beautiful, sweet-natured, and so loving and faithful. Adopting Sebastian was one of the best decisions I've made.
Just after we adopted him
In a snuggler
In the garden
What's not to love?
no subject
no subject
Another theory proposed on FB is that you can't see their expressions easily, but I certainly can. I think it's the US where they're so disliked, but certainly Sebastian was at the foster home a while. Anyway, I've found homes for two rescues I'd have kept if Tessa and Claudia would have let me, and finally I have one, so I've shown my appreciation.
no subject
Ironically, it comes from the same root in folklore: Black cats were seen as companions to the goddess Hecate (though before the Greeks got to Egypt, it was black rabbits), who was goddess of roads and highways. So if a black cat was walking alongside the road, in the same direction you were, that was a sign that good luck was ahead. But if a black cat crosses your path, than that means bad luck is ahead.
So... Some cultures kept the first half of that belief, and hold that black cats are good luck... But Americans kept the second half, and expanded it, so now, the belief is that a black cat crossing your path causes bad luck, rather than just warns of it...
Then again, some of the first American settlers were Puritans, who thought all association with magic and luck is evil, so that was probably a factor in the belief's evolution.
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Awww, your gorgeous girl in a tiara! (Do you watch The Big Bang Theory? "It's a tiara, it's a tiara, put it on, put it on, put it on!")
(no subject)
no subject
One day I'll get around to posting the story of my cats, with pictures. Monty's mother Gloria is a black cat (semi-longhaired, and rusty-reddish on her shoulders) and was at the SPCA for a month with nobody interested in adopting her after her kittens were taken away. If we'd known that when we adopted Monty we'd have taken them both at the same time! But she still remembered her son when we re-introduced them. She is a gorgeous cat and I'm glad to have given her a home.
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
And it's funny; I could think of a lot of people who'd want to adopt black cats exactly because of what they're associated with. Also, I could be happy with a house full of black cats because I mostly wear black clothes. The fur wouldn't be nearly as much of a nuisance as it is with Noki, whose every single hair goes from pure white at the root to black at the tip so it shows up on *everything*.
no subject
And I know what a beautiful and loving cat Noki is!
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Gorgeous photos!
no subject
So now I have a sepia, a B&W (Ashley's fur is, if you look closely), and a black, all monochromes! Before that it was grey Claudia and dark-brown Tessa who was sometimes taken for black (see icon).
no subject
These are all precious photos.
no subject
He's a precious cat, very much loved. He just ran past in pursuit of Jasmin, who can actually run faster but stays just in front to prolong the fun.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
Alex and I adopted Jack from the county shelter in an October and they almost didn't let us have him because they had learned the hard way to NOT adopt black cats during the run-up to Halloween. People either did horrible things to them, or used them as accessories for a party and then returned them to the shelter (which ran a 30-days-no-questions-asked return policy)
But when the lady behind the counter saw Alex and I splutter with outrage at hearing this, she decided we must be legit and so the cat later known as Bowling Ball Butt joined the household. ;)
no subject
Oh God, that makes me feel sick. That doesn't really happen here (I think Sebastian was shyer than the other kittens at the foster home so that may have been a factor) but I found homes for two black cats in the past, a stray and a rescue from a garage prison (an unwanted gift). I'd have kept them if our other cats at the time had accepted them but one went to a colleague who spoiled him rotten on steak, and the other found a home via the vet. I used to visit him every day and promised him that I'd keep him anyway if he didn't find a home, but a family adopted him. The vet did say that a woman had been interested earlier but they got bad vibes and turned her down, but really, I've never heard of anything bad here, and don't want to. I truly hope we don't import more of that sort of American culture.
I've also heard that people think they can't see their expressions as well (I can!) and that black kittens aren't as appealing. SO what; they grow into magnificence.
I'm glad Jack is so lucky and found a great home and lots of love. A pity black cats aren't the lucky symbol they are in England.
Are he and Pixel getting on any better?
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
It's funny really, as I think of human Sebastians as blond. Claudias are meant to be dark, and Tessas blonde but I got that pone reversed with our grey Claudia and dark-brown Tessa. But their names suited them anyway. :-)
no subject
Sebastian's fur looks like velvet :)
no subject
He really is like glossy velvet, so soft and cuddly. Moritz is a cute name; is that from Katzenjammer?
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
no subject
YES!!!
After I left for college, whenever I came home for a weekend, as soon as I arrived Meg would hear me and come running from wherever she had been, outdoors or in, and jump up and purr and purr and purr and purr and rub her chin against my hands and ears and glasses while I petted her. (When I switched from plastic glasses frames to metal ones in my late teens, I kept the plastic frames for her because she loved to bump up against them so much, and I didn't think rubbing up against metal frames would be comfortable - so I kept the plastic ones handy and switched to them whenever she was in the purring-and-bumping mood.)
She used to sleep curled up next to me - or, when I wasn't home, curled up against my mother - every night. In the winter she would sleep under the covers - I would lift up the blankets and she would consider for a moment and then dive under. Going to sleep with her curled up against me, purring...oh, I miss that.
If I am ever in a position to adopt a cat again, I will adopt a black cat.
Sebastian is so beautiful and so wonderful!!!
no subject
Sebastian is very much like that and sleeps either between our pillows where we can cuddle when I wake up, or curled up against our legs (which Jasmin does too). When they go under the covers, it's known as "duvet-diving" in this house. :-) He likes Greg too, but he's definitely my cat and was from the first.
I'm so glad; they need a lot of love over there. In the UK and Europe though they're seen as good luck so they're a lot better off.
(no subject)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Some shelters here won't allow people to adopt black cats in the weeks leading up to and following Halloween.
no subject
I'm so glad you and your friends and family do indeed appreciate black cats. They're delightful and so loving.
no subject
no subject
no subject
And of course beautiful Bagheera the foundling, a beautiful tomcat who was scared of men but loved me and kitten Tygrosek...
no subject
They sound so beautiful! Bagheera is a perfect name; what are the others: Mica like the glittery rock, and Blackie? Is Tygrosek Tygr as a kitten?
Funny how animals are often afraid of men [she says sarcastically].