Do you really know what it means to respect your cat?

Do you really know what it means to respect your cat?

On the 28th of March a celebration of respecting our cats goes around, but what does this really mean? Surely the love I have for my animal is all the respect they need?

If you own a cat or have owned a cat or grew up with a cat or had a neighbour with a cat, you’ll be well aware of the personality that they have. Some don’t want to know, some occasionally want to know and some always want to know. This isn’t even that clear cut and the cloudy bit between each one of those statements is a hundred cat personalities over again. Even if you think you’ve nailed a cat down to one of these, it still seems as though they could wake up on an interdimensional side of the bed on any given morning and be another matrix level of personality that we don’t even know if they do or don’t exist. If you’ve followed this train of thought thus far, you’re probably now thinking… how on earth do I respect a cat if I never know exactly who it is on anyone day? Don’t worry. Here’s how to respect your cat (spoiler: you’ll want to read all these points to put your mind at ease but it’s most likely you’re already doing everything they need (you deserve the salmon treat!)

Body Language

As we’ve just discussed, you can never predict on any one day how your cat is feeling and therefore learning their body language is key to being respectful. But, it’s fair to say you know what a certain meow or tail carriage means for your pet.

Keeping Healthy

Your job as an owner of anything is to ensure they’re healthy. From the amount of what they’re fed every day to when they get groomed - if you respect your cat they’ll be in tip-top shape!

Happy is Healthy too

Clean places to toilet, toys to chase and surprise treats are all integral to a happy lifestyle. (It’s okay. We all know you’ve bought something that you lied about the price of because you wanted to spoil your cat… we also know the devastation when they didn’t like it (if you’ve got the sudden urge to purchase something for your cat click here!)

Only scruff in an emergency

Scruffing is the true reason your cat hates the vet (as well as not being at home, not wanting to be there and everything else.) They feel vulnerable and then to be examined they have to be scruffed. A mother cat does this to get her kittens out of danger. If you scruff your cat now they’re thinking there’s danger around. Don’t scruff your cat, it’s scary for them!

It’s most likely you respect your cat. You’ve read the points, you know you’re doing your best and your cat is living a luxurious life. We remind ourselves that actually respect your cat day is confirming that our pets are living very good quality lives. Keep it up!