Greetings Fabulous Felines and Hoomans of Hivelandia and surrounding communities!

I hope everyone is doing well this week!

As briefly mentioned during some previous posts, the Dad-Hooman and I have been working on assembling a calendar of "cat days" here in the USA, and around the world!

It turned out to be a little more work than we had expected, but we have finally compiled a fairly comprehensive list. Of course, if we come across something new, we'll be sure to add it!

Presenting: The Great Calendar of Cat Days

January 29th: Tuxedo Cat Appreciation Day — There's no clear trail to the origins of this day, which is not the same as National Tuxedo Cat Day in November, but there's little doubt that "Tuxie" owners love their feline friends!

FEBRUARY: National Cat Health Month — is basically an entire month dedicated to cat health awareness; perhaps a good time to make an appointment to let your feline companion see the vet for a checkup!

February 17th: National Cat Day in Italy — this not only celebrates the millions of domestic cats in Italian homes, but also the 1991 law that protects Italy's street cats and supports spay/neuter programs and the creation of feral cat colonies.

February 17th: Cat Day in Poland — cats are very popular in Poland, and this day is used to raise cat adoption awareness.

February 20th: International Cat Day — Interestingly enough, this day came about because President Clinton's cat "Socks" passed away on February 20th, and is thus also a day of cat remembrance.

February 22nd: National Cat Day in Japan — is held on 2/22 (or 22/2!) every year. Allegedly the date was chosen because saying 2-2-2 in Japanese somewhat resembles "meow meow meow" as pronounced in Japanese.

March 1st: Cat Day in Russia — In Russian culture, cats are considered symbols of spring, and March is also associated with cats. Here's a bit more about the day, from the Moscow Times.

March 2nd: International Rescue Cat Day — has been celebrated since 2019, and is dedicated to promoting awareness of cat adoption from shelters.

March 23rd: Cuddly Kitten Day — wasn't able to find much on the origins of this particular day, but it seems well chosen as there are always many new litters of kittens in the spring!

March 28th: Respect Your Cat Day — established in 2005, Respect Your Cat Day encourages people to show extra love and respect towards their feline companions, and to learn about the amazing characteristics of cats that we perhaps take for granted.

April 6th: National Siamese Cat Day — Siamese cats — known to their fans as "Meezers" — are one of the most popular cat breeds in the world, so it seems only right that they have their own special awareness day!

April 17th: Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day — This particular cat day was created by author (and cat expert) Ingrid King, who wrote the book Tortitude: The Big Book of Cats with a Big Attitude which is the definitive work on tortoiseshell cats!

April 27th: Free Feral Cat Spay Day — observed every year, this day is dedicated to helping feral cats get spayed and have basic health examinations. This, in turn, helps feral cat colonies stay healthy and balanced.

April 30th: National Tabby Cat Day — started in NYC in 2016, as a celebration of of our favorite tiger-striped felines! Here's a hint: ALL cats are striped, even if you can't immediately tell. Tabbies are not actually a breed of cat; we notice and celebrate them because their appearance is perhaps the closet to the natural wildcats around the world.

Our cat Kramer was a classic tabby cat

May 30th: International Hug Your Cat Day — although some cats are not fond of being hugged, many are! Of course, we think you should hug your cat daily, but here's a special "excuse" to do so! This is one of the older cat days, dating to 1990.

June 4th: National Hug Your Cat Day — This is a good time for cats! A separate USA cat hugging day first went viral in 2005, and is celebrated as an encouragement for people to bond with their cats.

June 18th: National Internet Cat Day — this day was established to celebrate the fact that... well... Cats rule the Internet! Seriously, though, no other animal has had a greater influence online, with dozens of celebrity cats from Grumpy Cat to the CanHasCheezburger cat, to Didga the skateboarding cat. And let's not forget that we celebrate Caturday, every Saturday... a tradition started on the 4chan image boards sometime around 2003.

July 10th: National Kitten Day — was created by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige in 2013. Of course, it's a great day to show appreciation for cats and kittens of all ages!

July 15th: Feline Leukemia Awareness Day — this day offers an opportunity to learn, raise awareness, and take action to protect our feline friends from this viral disease which can often be fatal. It's also an important reminded of paying attention to feline health!

August 8th: International Cat Day — It was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It is a day to raise awareness for cats and learn about ways to help and protect them. Since 2020, it has been managed by International Cat Care.

August 8th: National Cat Day in Canada — Canada has its own day for the celebration of all things cat, and to raise awareness of cat welfare and adoption.

August 17th: Black Cat Appreciation Day — And this one is my own day! Wayne H. Morris created Black Cat Appreciation Day in 2011. He established the holiday to honor his sister June and her black cat Sinbad who was 20 years old. It's a day to spread awareness of black cats and their adoption and welfare, and to dispel myths and superstitions that bias people against black cats.

September 1st: Ginger Cat Appreciation Day — This day of celebration was dreamed up by software developer Chris Roy, to commemorate his large orange cat Doobert, who lived to be 17 years old!

September 5th: National White Cat Day — the special thing about white cats is that they are actually not "a color;" genetically, their coats show an absence of color. More than any other cats, white cats are seen with different colored eyes; moreover, about 3/4 of white cats with blue eyes are deaf.

September 29th: Maneki-Neko Day or Beckoning Cat Day — primarily a Japanese tradition to celebrate the white cat of good fortune; legend has it that if a cat raises its paw to you, it brings good luck. Chances are you have seen "Lucky Cat" at Japanese and Asian places of business.

OCTOBER: Black Cat Awareness Month Black Cat Holistic Rescue experiences a surge in requests from the public and local shelters during October, and started this movement to bring greater awareness for the well-being of black cats.

October 16th: Global Cat Day — is a worldwide awareness day on which advocates around the world join to raise awareness of shelter cats and cat adoption.

October 27th: National Black Cat Day in the UK — was established in 2011 by animal welfare charity, Cats Protection, who found that black (and black-and-white cats) took around a week longer to find homes than cats of other colors.

October 29th: National Cat Day in the USA — This is a celebration day to raise public awareness of cat adoption and welfare. It was created by Colleen Paige in 2003 as a way to draw attention to the many cats that need to be rescued every year.

November 17th: National Black Cat Protection Day in Italy ("Festa del Gatto Nero") — cats are very important in Italian culture; they originally were kept by wealthy Romans for pest control. Black Cat Protection Day was established in 2007 by activists from the Italian Association for the Protection of the Environment and Animals as a step towards removing old superstitions surrounding black cats.

November 29th: National Tuxedo Cat Day — Tuxedo Cats (known among fans as "Tuxies") are those striking mostly black cats with white chests and sometimes white paws. They are often the result of a mixing of breeds.

DECEMBER: National Cat Lovers Month — Supported by the Humane Society, this is not just a month to celebrate cats, but also to encourage donations for the holidays to help shelters with the cost of care for homeless cats.

Thank You!

I appreciate you coming by to check out the calendar, and I hope you will bookmark it and share with other cat lovers in your life!

This is, of course, a "living project," so if you come across any additions or changes you'd like to see made, please do leave me a comment!

And thanks for coming to visit... and hope to see you again, soon!

=^..^=

Love Cats? Get Involved in Hive's Cat Communties!

If you're a cat lover and often/sometimes post pictures or other content that includes your feline friends, why not become an active part of Hive's growing Cat Communities?

These are some of the more active Cat Communities — why not join them ALL? Many of the allow you to share your cat posts, even if you started at a different community!

HiveCats by @curatorcat is a central "gathering place" for cat content on Hive; promoting the use of the #hivecats tag for feline content!

Cat Snaps by @manorvillemike is a place to post pictures of your cats when you don't have a whole lot to say beyond just sharing your cute photos!

Caturday by @saboin is a community where we get to celebrate posts relating to Saturday — aka "Caturday" — our own special day!

Cat Photos by @andrarchy is a "mixed use" cat content community; posts can be just photos or longer, as long as the subject is CATS!

Cats by @captainklaus (and Sissi!) is another "general" cat content community.

There are a number of other feline communities listed on Hive, but I am not sharing them for now as they have not had any activity (by their Admins OR users) since the Steem/Hive fork. Updates as they become available!

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