2021 January Spotlight is on: National Answer Your Cat's Questions day

Cats are complex creatures that can be affectionate and loving on one day and terrified of everything the next. They’re sensitive and curious creatures that love being social, but they also value their alone time and will strut around like they own the house if they’re confident enough. Their nature makes them difficult to understand, and that’s why Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day is such an important bonding experience that can help you understand your cat better.

Of course, you’re won’t actually be talking to your cat. Instead, it’s more an exercise that will help you see things from the eyes of your cat. It’s the equivalent of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, only you’re replacing the shoe with cat paws.

It’s about paying closer attention to your cat and trying to understand their motives, movements and attitude. Whether it’s the volume of their meowing or their incessant scratching of certain objects, taking the time to sit down and try to imagine yourself in your cat’s body can help you bond with your feline friend.

It’s an incredibly fun event that has you pondering what type of questions your cat would ask you if you could communicate. While your cat can’t speak human and you can’t speak cat, there are still plenty of ways to interact and communicate with them, such as showing affection or scolding them when they do something bad. By putting yourself in your cat’s shoes for a day, you can try to understand what they do, why they do it and how you can improve your bond.

How to celebrate Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day

Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day doesn’t require you to do anything outdoors or expensive. It’s all about sitting down with your cat and thinking about what questions they could be asking you in different situations. You then try to answer them and see if it helps you understand how you could improve your cat’s life and make them happier. It’s an exercise that encourages you to learn more about your cat, its behavior and how you can help them be happier.

Description from:

“Answer Your Cat's Questions Day.” Days Of The Year, 27 Mar. 2020, www.daysoftheyear.com/days/answer-your-cats-questions-day/.

Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle

Call Number: C278h

Publication Date: 1973-03-01

A little boy's cat is missing, and he embarks on a fantastic round-the-world quest to find his lost pet. Along the way, he meets lots of interesting people and sees many beautiful members of the cat family, including lions and tigers and panthers. But over and over again he has to say "This is not my cat!" until at last he finds the cat he's looking for -- who has a delightful surprise for him. Eric Carle's simple, repetitive text and distinctive cut-paper illustrations make this modern classic a book to treasure.

 

Among the pigeons : why our cats belong indoors by John L. Read

Call Number: 636.8 R283a 2019

During the last century, global domestic cat numbers rocketed past 200 million, along with a surge in cat diseases and numbers of feral cats and sick, injured and malnourished cats. Cat shelters are overflowing. Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanized every year by despondent animal welfare workers. Misplaced sentimentality, sometimes promoted by corporate greed of cat food companies, has exacerbated this situation through promoting irresponsible feeding of strays. Ecologist and author John Read has traveled the world consulting cat experts and collating the most recent science. In Among the Pigeons he balances the allure of indoor cats with the animal welfare, human health, and conservation issues they create when allowed to roam. But he also presents solutions, from breeding ideal indoor pet cats to development of humane and targeted tools to control feral cats. In striking parallel to the repercussions of human-induced climate change, warnings about the damage wrought by free-ranging cats have been largely denied or overlooked. But we ignore these issues at our peril. For our own mental health and endangered wildlife worldwide, time is running out.

Somewhere a Cat Is Waiting by Derek Tangye

Call Number: 828 T164s

Publication Date: 1976-05-01

Derek Tangye’s autobiographical tales of his life in Minack with his wife Jeannie and their menagerie of cats, birds and donkeys is the ultimate escapist novel, made all the better by the fact that it all happened in real life. Mr and Mrs Tangye abandoned their high-flying City jobs (Derek at MI5 and Jeannie as PR exec for the Savoy Hotel) to live the rural dream on the Cornish Coast. Starting up a small flower growing farm (back in the days when running such a business was possible) we follow the Tangyes in their simple life and, most importantly, chart their relationship with their feline friends; Monty, Lama, Ambrose and Oliver. (And Derek’s personal transformation from cat-skeptic to cat-lover.)

Description from: http://www.librarything.com/work/1555971/reviews/151363390

The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat by Nurit Karlin (Illustrator)

Call Number: K173f

Publication Date: 1996-08-01

When Wilma the witch leaves her pet rat and fat cat at home alone, they get into all kinds of silly trouble. The fat cat takes the rat's place on top of the mat and won't get off. The rat and his friends, a bat and a hat, try their hardest to get the fat cat to move--but to no avail. Only Wilma can sort out their disagreement in this hilarious story. Full color.