How Did Curiosity Kill The Cat? And Other Things You Need To Know On International Cat Day.

August 8th is International Cat day and this year’s theme is #BeCatCurious.

International Cat Care

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Paw-don me? Did someone say it’s International Cat Day?

Fur-tunately it is, so to all our feline friends and family, it’s your day today (8 August).

Although celebrating cats began thousands of years ago in Egypt, the international recognition of our fair-weather felines was only established 19 years ago.

Founded on 8 August 2002 by the animal rights organisation International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), International Cat Day was created to raise awareness for cats and to learn about ways to help and protect them.

Independent, inquisitive and nearly impossible to get into their carriers.

Official custodians for #InternationalCatDay – International Cat Care (ICC), are making this year’s theme #BeCatCurious – Training for Cats and their Humans.

The theme is a play off the old saying “Curiosity Killed the Cat”, which serves as a warning not to be too inquisitive.

However, a recent poll run by ICC showed that 95% of cat owners want more advice on training their cat. So for cats and their owners, it’s actually curiosity that SAVED the cat.

#BeCatCurious

Up until 8 August, cat companions can sign up to receive emails with tips and advice on how to positively train your cat into the cat carrier at home and for trips to places like the vet.

Not only that, but you’ll get invitations to free online events, Q&As, podcasts and easy to follow short training videos with cat behaviour expert Linda Ryan and her cat olive.

If you didn’t sign up on time, you can still follow Linda and watch her video here, along with 15 other videos specially curated for International Cat Day.

…But satisfaction brought it back

In the spirit of being curious, let’s celebrate our feline friends with a few facts about ‘oyens’, ‘chomels’ and the rest of the feline family.

Cats ‘own’ more humans than any other pet in Malaysia

According to a report by Rakuten Insight, cat owners make up the highest percentage of pet owners in Malaysia at 34%.

They love to sleep

If you’re wondering why most of the photos you have of your cat is of them sleeping, it’s because cats spend 70% of their lives snoozing!

Eyebrows were shaved in mourning

As briefly mentioned earlier, cats were highly celebrated in ancient Egypt and according to Ancient History Encyclopaedia, Herodotus wrote in 440BC that when a pet cat died, the family members would shave off their eyebrows in mourning.

Purring in cats has the same effect humans get after exercise

Purring releases endorphins in cats which helps lower stress hormones, is helpful for healing, lowers blood pressure, and helps cope with illness too.

They are basically tigers

Not only do cats share the same behaviours with tigers like scent and urine marking, prey stalking and pouncing, there is also a study that shows that our beloved house cats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers!