The BOO bowl is a leftover from my kids’ younger days, and is adorned with cats on the inside, but surprisingly not black cats – Boo is filled with sleepy tabbies. I like the bowl as it is a rare item that doesn't portray a black cat of the season. Don't get me wrong - I love black cats, and have three of them. As a cat person, with a few too many cat-shaped things in the house, I’ve always liked the Halloween images – after all, what’s not to like about seeing black cats everywhere this time of year? Taking a step back, though, I realize that those images are anything but positive. Typically, the cat’s back is arched, the tail is fluffed, the cat is snarling or hissing and the eyes are a frightening shade of orange. In fact, when I asked my son to add a cat to his drawing, so I could feature it in this Newsletter, without my specifying the type of cat it first came out that way.
How did black cats become associated with fright, with witches, with evil? If any color of cat was associated with Halloween, shouldn’t it be an orange tabby? Black cats surely need to hire one of those image scrubbers who remove negative stuff about you from the internet…
For a long time, rescues believed that there was the need for special protection of black cats at Halloween, with some going as far as to halt all adoptions of black cats for the entire month of October. We’re now learning that is not necessary (see the article later in this newsletter), and that’s a good thing. Black cats are no more likely to meet an unfortunate fate than any cat is this time of year and, unfortunately, black cats fall into the category of “less adoptable” – a term that, as you’ll see below, is wrong as well.
I’m glad that FFGW does not give black cats only 11/12ths of the chance other cats have to be adopted.
Various studies have shown that any cat that is outdoors is at risk at Halloween, and that's one of the many reasons that FFGW’s adoption contract requires that cats be kept indoors (the greatest risk is the adopter's neighbor's children - not the adopter).
Read what some esteemed organizations say:
Best Friends Animal Society agrees:
If you're still not convinced that the greatest risk to black cats around Halloween is perishing in shelters, the University of Florida Veterinary College has collected more support from researchers:
It is a commonly held belief - and this one, our experience says is true - that black cats have a harder time than other coat colors with respect to being adopted - all year long. Perhaps it’s because they’re more difficult to photograph, or because their facial features seem to be invisible, except for those eyes. Or, maybe it’s their association with scary things of the season. How did black cats get such a bad reputation, that association with witches and goblins and all things scary? It doesn’t have to be that way! In England and Japan, having a black cat cross your path is considered to be – GOOD luck! And in parts of France, black cats are referred to as "matagots" or "magician cats." According to local superstition, they bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve.
Now that’s a superstition we need to encourage! So please help spread the word – black cats actually bring good luck, and deserve the chance to look for homes 12 months a year!
